The rules of the game of football are subjective. Make that, almost always subjective. Saturday at Carrow Road, the spirit of fair play trumped the rulebook, costing Norwich City three points. Fer play was denied, with Fair Play ruling the day. The least appealing match of the weekend on paper turned out to be the fixture with the darkest cloud hanging over. Norwich City and Cardiff City went 90 minutes without a goal. Cue the controversy. In stoppage time with a 0-0 score-line, Cardiff played the ball out of bounds for an injured Norwich player down on the field: a signal of true sportsmanship allowing the injured player to receive treatment. Its customary for the gesture to be extended in return, with the ball being played back to the opposition. When one team concedes possession to allow for an injured player to be seen, the favour need be repaid immediately. Or so convention says. Norwich City didnt oblige. Cardiff goalkeeper David Marshall showed for the ball on the throw, completely out of goal and out of position. Ricky van Wolfswinkel decided instead to throw the ball to his Norwich teammate, Leroy Fer. With little hesitation, Fer passed the ball into the wide-open net. 1-0, Norwich City. Or so it should have been. Chaos ensued with Cardiff players confronting Fer, the teams pushing back and forth and confusion, en masse. Fer broke a cardinal rule. He didnt repay the gesture. Cardiff City players had every right to be incensed. But Fer did not break a rule of the game. With the scoreboard showing 1-0 and hostility raging, referee Mike Jones took matters in his own hands, calling back the goal and ordering the throw to be re-taken. The reason for the goal being disallowed, as described by Fer? Jones told the midfielder he didnt blow his whistle. But a referee doesnt have to blow his whistle to restart play. Jones clearly signaled for play to carry on so wherever the ball is thrown, the play is live and teams are free to carry on with proceedings. Fer was in his every right to do with the ball as he pleased. The laws of the game were not broken. Yet Jones, overseeing the proceedings made a moral decision, standing up for the unwritten rules of the game. Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay called Jones decision to disallow the goal, "common sense for football". Norwich manager Chris Houghton agrees, hitting out at his own player and backing the match official. Fer doesnt see things the same way. "Would I do it again? If it was a zero-zero game then yes, because I just want to win." Norwich City currently sits in the relegation zone. They need all the points they can get. If the Canaries are in a similar situation on the final match day of the season, you dont think the players would bypass an unwritten rule to fight for their Premier League lives? Of course they would. Yet, on this day in October, a referee made a moral decision and not a judgment based on the rules of the game. And these dropped points based on this disallowed goal could come back and haunt them. Showing a lack of sportsmanship, but not breaking a rule, cannot be deemed worthy of taking back a goal. We see a lack of sportsmanship on a weekly basis with players diving, trying to earn penalties, all in the name of winning the game. Referees cannot be relied upon to use common sense in every call thats made on the field. Handballs in the box, challenges as a last man back, a player taken down in the box – many of these calls are deemed black-and-white, despite being harsh. The laws of the game dictate the call being made. But if Saturday at Carrow Road is the precedent, the referee seemingly has much greater level of interpretation as moral arbiter of the contest. We have seen it done before when a player/team SHOULD give back possession of the ball in the name of sportsmanship. But in times of desperation, where wins and losses matter, the code has been ignored. We saw a similar goal count in Capital One Cup play earlier this season, with Yeovil not giving the ball back after Birmingham City goalkeeper Colin Doyle played the ball out of bounds for one of his injured defenders. The match official allowed the goal to stand, despite protestations and the poor form. Weve seen similar in top competitions, like the Champions League and World Cup, when teams put sportsmanship to the side in favour of their own fortunes. There is no arguing, common sense dictates van Wolfswinkel and Fer should have played the ball straight back to Marshall or another Cardiff player. But the point is once the play happened, the goal should have never been called back. Fer may have acted like a jerk. His actions dont reflect well on he or the club. But the goal should have counted. It is a not referees job to manage fair play in this context. His or her job is to call the rules of the game. Its up to the players to play how they see best reflect on themselves and their club. Common sense didnt win out at Carrow Road. Wrong decisions did. Fer made the first wrong decision. Jones followed that up with a wrong decision of his own. Two wrongs dont make a right. Other Musings - The unreliability of Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart has already been discussed at length in this space. Was his gaffe at Stamford Bridge the last straw? Late in a 1-1 game against Chelsea, Hart inexplicably charged out of his goal for a long-ball defender Matija Nastasic was in control of. With Fernando Torres closing in, Nastasic made the right decision to head back to his goalkeeper. Never mind the poor communication, Hart came charging out of his box like a madman, leaving his defender on the lurch, gifting Torres the match winner. Hart was out of his box and out of position even before Nastastic touched the ball. All the City goalkeeper had to do was keep his composure and stay in a balanced, reactive position inside his own box, something he failed to do at Villa Park as well. The sheer disappointment and negative body language of the City players and manager after the calamitous goal tells the story. They have lost faith in their goalkeeper. Being a top goalkeeper is more than just being a shot stopper. Hart is that. A communicator, thinker and leader from the back, he is not. Now were left with pundits proclaiming a resurrection of the goal scorer Torres. Only if scoring every goal were as easy. Costel Pantilimon was handed the start in the Capital One Cup Wednesday. He should get a look as the short-term number one until reinforcements can be found in January. Manuel Pellegrini needs reliability at the back. Someone who does not make massive mistakes is all thats required at present time for a team good enough to win the title. - Pellegrini snubbed Jose Mourinhos handshake after the 2-1 loss, heading down the tunnel without acknowledging his counterpart. Mourinho made a fool of himself, jumping into the crowd to celebrate after being gifted the winning goal. You would have thought Torres goal would be a wonder-strike by the way Mourinho reacted. The celebration was a slap in the face to Pellegrini. Such an egregious goal and mockery of a celebration shouldnt sit well with anyone. Earn the goal, then fine, celebrate as you will. But the shocking way the goal went down, Mourinho should feel fortunate to go in the lead. Mourinho should be embarrassed by his reaction. Need more reason why Mourinho didnt get his dream job as manager of Manchester United? - SAS is on fire. Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez have scored 14 of Liverpools 17 Premier League goals. Enjoy it while it lasts. The unpredictable Suarez is perpetually unsettled and could be tempted to move away from Anfield at any time. Suarez summer of discontent and posturing has been forgotten for the time being. Let the good times roll. How long does that last? It is of concern for Liverpool where they will find goals if injury or suspension hits the tandem. For the meantime, they deserve all the accolades they are receiving. The goals have been special and the play has been top quality. - Time for a formation change at Old Trafford? David Moyes team has started to show some of the bite accustomed to Manchester United. Yet the team hasnt yet hit top gear. The players available for selection seem to dictate United play a more narrow formation. The wing play has been poor, and with Moyes not yet trusting Wilfried Zaha, perhaps hes best off relying on wing production from Patrice Evra and Rafael from the back rather than the attacking wing positions. A 4-2-3-1 makes more sense, with Wayne Rooney, Shinji Kagawa, and Adnan Januzaj taking up the attacking midfield positions. Kagawa is wasted playing outside left, with a preference to come in field. And Januzaj was the top player midweek in the Capital One Cup, playing in the middle of the park with freedom to roam and create. @WheelerTSNgareth.wheeler@bellmedia.ca Authentic California Jerseys . Coming off a 6-0 drubbing at Chelsea on Saturday, Arsenal endured another demoralizing result after rallying for a 2-1 lead -- only to concede a fluke equalizer. Stitched California Jerseys . You can watch coverage on TSN, TSN2 and CTV beginning today at 3pm et/Noon pt. 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The Toronto Blue Jays star won his second consecutive Hank Aaron Award as the most outstanding offensive performer in the AL on Monday after votes by fans and a panel of Hall of Famers were tallied.HOUSTON - The Houston Texans took care of business against two bad teams.Now they are moving on to face much tougher competition, starting with Sundays trip to Indianapolis, a place where theyve never won.Coach Bill OBrien doesnt have to say anything to his team about its history in IndianapolisWere well aware that we have not won there, OBrien said.The Colts are in first place in the AFC South, two games ahead of second-place Houston with three games left in the regular season. The Texans have already won five more games than they did in last years 2-14 season, but are still aiming higher.OBrien and the Texans dont talk about their possibilities for the post-season because they know theres no way theyll get there if they dont focus on each opponent.This game right here is a playoff game, OBrien said. As far as thats concerned, as far as our team, this is a big game.Houston lost to the Colts 33-28 in the first meeting this season after falling behind 24-0 in a disastrous first quarter. The Texans were forced to punt on their first three possessions in that game and the Colts recovered an onside kick to build the big lead.OBrien doesnt like to talk about the past, but he is reminding his team about its struggles in that one.The thing that happened in the last Indianapolis game cannot happen, OBrien said. If it does, we have no chance ... we cant get down like that to a really good football team and expect to win, especially on the road.The Texans have won two games in a row for the first time since the first two weeks of the season and OBrien believes his team has grown since the last game against the Colts. Houston trailed 13-10 at halftime on Sunday before rallying for a 27-13 victory over Jacksonville.ddddddddddddI thought our guys came in at halftime and really had a resolve about them that they were going to go out and win the game and that they were going to play better over the last half of the game, OBrien said. I think that has improved over the year.The Texans could have to face Indianapolis without Andre Johnson after the receiver suffered a concussion on a helmet-to-helmet hit on Sunday. OBrien said Johnson will have to go through the concussion protocol and that hell be listed day to day this week.If he cant go the Texans could rely more heavily on slot receiver Damaris Johnson, who has 250 yards receiving and a touchdown in limited action this season.That slot position is a very important position for us, OBrien said. We certainly want it to be more involved probably than it has been this year.Houstons defence was bolstered by the return of cornerback Kareem Jackson, who had missed three games with a knee injury. Its a unit that has been led all season by defensive end J.J. Watt, who had another big game on Sunday.He had three sacks against the Jaguars to give him 14 1/2 this season, which is third in the NFL. He returned a fumble by Andrew Luck for a touchdown and had two sacks the last time Houston played the Colts.OBrien knows that theyll have to try and slow down Luck if they hope to be successful on Sunday.Theyre a very, very good team, OBrien said. They have a great quarterback, great coaching staff. Its a big challenge for us. 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