Leagues, players’ unions, and officials’ unions often have some disagreements over disciplinary proceedings, and that’s understandable. But it’s rare to see one of those groups claim outright that another group lied. That’s what the MLS Players Association is doing towards the Professional Soccer Referees Association around discipline handed to FC Cincinnati’s Matt Miazga, though.
This stems from an incident with Miazga and officials after a Nov. 4 road match against the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena. Both sides agree that Miazga entered the officials’ dressing room after the match, which saw him given two yellow cards and receive an automatic one-game suspension. And they agree that Miazga had a verbal exchange with officials. That’s now led to the league suspending Miazga for three matches (which will include Saturday’s Eastern Conference Final against the Columbus Crew, potentially Dec. 9’s MLS Cup if FC Cincinnati makes it that far, and at least one match next year) and issuing him a fine.
But what’s disputed between the players’ union and the officials is just how that exchange went, and just how Miazga left the room. On Nov. 7, the PSRA put out a statement claiming Miazga was “forcibly removed by stadium security while acting in an aggressive & hostile manner,” and called for heavy discipline against him.
This is an unacceptable and, as we recall, unprecedented violation of league policy and sporting integrity.
We have urged MLS to take appropriate disciplinary action against the player and to remind all league participants that violations like this will not be tolerated.
— PSRA Officials (@PSRAofficials) November 7, 2023
Miazga, the team, and the MLSPA strongly dispute those claims. Here’s the statement the union put out on this Thursday, including claims the match report and the PSRA statements “contained material falsehoods” and PSRA president Peter Manikowski “has continued to repeat them publicly.”
Statement on the suspension of Matt Miazga. pic.twitter.com/4R7F9uS2qo
— MLSPA (@MLSPA) November 30, 2023
The last part of that statement, cut off by the embed:
“Players in MLS are held publicly accountable for their actions. It is high time that the same standard be applied to officials. Refereeing is a difficult job. Mistake on the field happen and the game moves on.”
“Matters of integrity, however, are rightfully taken more more seriously. The behavior of the referees and the PSRA in this case did not demonstrate a level of integrity commensurate with a league of MLS’s stature.”
FC Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan also had strong remarks on this. Here are some of those, via Pat Brennan of The Cincinnati Enquirer:
“Matt made a mistake and now we’re − he’s paying the consequences. We’ve had good conversations internally just about moving forward from this and Matt’s leadership and the importance of having him on the field,” Noonan said. “Having said that, I think the punishment is way over the top for the actions that transpired. You know, I think this is something that’s unprecedented. Taking everything into account, I think this could have been a heavy fine and you try to keep your most important players on the field for key games.
“If you look at the NBA or the NFL, some of these other leagues. Are you really taking off your top players in key moments because of things like this? I think you probably don’t and that’s not the case here but, again, Matt made a mistake and we suffer from it.
“I also would like to see just some transparency and accountability with the officials. I’m talking about it. At some point, Matt’s gonna have the opportunity to talk about it. Let’s have an official up here talking about what transpired so it’s not just transcript. It’s not just ‘here’s the report.’ I think we can move forward in a strong way if we have that as well. It’s disappointing but I’ll try to leave it at that so we can focus on the game.”
And Brennan also cites his own source questioning the veracity of the officials’ comments:
Sources said Miazga went to the referees to discuss the second yellow card he received in the Nov. 4 match. At dispute was how aggressive Miazga was during that exchange.
A league source with direct knowledge of the events at Red Bull Arena took issue with the characterization of Miazga being hostile while being removed, telling The Enquirer that stadium security did not intervene. The source said an FC Cincinnati communications department employee helped move Miazga along from the area of the referees’ locker room.
There are a few important things at issue here that could matter for future disciplinary proceedings. One is the allegation of the match report and the PSRA statements containing “material falsehoods.” Opposing statements often paint happenings in a different light and attempt to provide different context, but claims of “material falsehoods” are well beyond the usual.
And that’s especially true when it comes to one union making that accusation against another union. And there is an absolute black-and-white answer here: “acting in an aggressive and hostile manner” is at least somewhat a manner of interpretation (it comes down to what witnesses or those involved determine to be ‘aggressive and hostile’), but either Miazga was “forcibly removed by stadium security” (as the officials claimed) or “stadium security did not intervene” (as Brennan’s source said). It will be interesting to see if MLS has any comment on what their investigation determined on that front.
Beyond that, this also carries questions about why the MLSPA “refrained from public comment until the process was complete.” While there are some merits to the idea of contesting sides airing their arguments out in closed-door proceedings rather than in public comment, that’s not really seen that much these days. And that didn’t happen here, with the PSRA weighing in very publicly and officially on what they claimed happened and what they wanted to see happen as a result. Perhaps this causes the MLSPA to rethink their stance on no-commenting during these kinds of proceedings. As we’ve seen elsewhere this week, everyone keeping quiet can sometimes cause even more problems.