Double Standards!

It smells of that for sure. When Rooney got sent off against Villareal by Kim Nielsen, it was due to the same action (applauding sarcastically to the card) which got Becks sent off last weekend against Valencia which saw Real go down 1-2. Now Becks has won his appeal. Maybe the sending off was harsh, but look at what the committee says:

A statement from the committee, who fined Beckham 60 Euros (£40) over the incident, read: 'The player does applaud, but with his back to the director of the game, it is not in a confrontational attitude, but as he goes back to take up his position on the pitch.

'It is without doubt an attitude worthy of reproach, but which proceeds from the original protest,' continued the finding, contradicting Dauden Ibanez's assertion in his post'match report.

'In the 87th minute the player David Beckham was sent off for applauding in a mocking way after being booked,' wrote Ibanez.

But the committee stated: 'We appreciate in what happened, that there was no desire to insult or show disrespect to the referee, which leads us to sanction what happened as just one infraction.'

This is just too much! So facing a referee and clapping will get you sent off but if you do the same if you have your back to him it will not! Give me a break!