Ridiculous! Carlisle escape punishment for pitch invasion TSS June 11, 2010 Leeds United 32 Comments Back in February, fans that travelled to Carlisle for the ill-fated JPT semi-final and the tens of thousands more watching back home, witnessed some ugly scenes as Carlisle’s celebrations were marred by several assaults on our players. Following those scenes in February, I observed that ‘The stewarding, policing and protection afforded to our players following the JPT clash on Tuesday night was quite frankly atrocious.’ I felt that Carlisle had massively underestimated the potential for trouble at the game, and were undeniably at fault for the events that followed. Not only were the numbers of stewards and Police too small to meet the requirements for the match, but the ones that were there did nothing to help the Leeds United players who were trying to get off the pitch. At the time, Richard Naylor was the most outspoken on this issue, quite rightly condemning the actions of those who were supposed to be there to prevent such situations. In February, I concluded my initial rant by predicting the FA’s punishment for Carlisle would be pathetic or non-existent. Unfortunately, my prediction came true as the FA decided to put the matter to rest, claiming that Carlisle did everything in their power after the events to bring those responsible to justice. Strange, since the ones that were responsible are still being hunted. What really irks me about all this is the unavoidable double standards of the FA. It’s something we’ve grown used to at Leeds United, but that doesn’t make it any more acceptable. My prediction that the FA would do nothing was largely based on the lack of media coverage. The FA have become the media’s plaything and only seem to act when there’s mass coverage and outrage about a given event. Since this was the Carlisle fans at fault, the media simply couldn’t care less, but I’d be willing to bet all my worldly possessions that if the boot was on the other foot, Leeds United would now be suffering the consequences.