La Liga - Messi fined for birthday gesture

Tue, 25 Jan 22:33:00 2011

Lionel Messi has been fined for lifting his shirt to reveal a vest wishing his mother a happy birthday after scoring a goal for Barcelona.

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The world player of the year ran over to a television camera to reveal the words "Happy birthday, mami" on an undershirt after scoring a penalty in Barca's 3-0 home win over Racing Santander on Saturday.

The referee did not book the Argentine forward for the celebration but mentioned the action in his match report.

The federation's disciplinary committee punished Messi under their article 91.1 for goal celebrations, which carries a fine of between 2000 and 3000 euros, and awarded him a yellow card.

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Reuters

Comment 14 - 33 of 33

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  1. Football rules is getting pathetic day by day . .­
    the beautiful ,, is getting ugly,
    well done ­ Messi and all he player o wish smutting good to­ there families . friends ,

    From Aurelio, on Fri 28 Jan 3:26

  2. Football rules is getting pathetic day by day .

    From Aurelio, on Fri 28 Jan 3:21

  3. He is representing gestures towards his family, not­ something vulgar. Many young people look up to him and­ literally do as he does and tell me how is this a thing­ to fine him 2000 euros for showing respect towards­ family?

    From none, on Fri 28 Jan 1:59

  4. i dont know

    From A-List., on Thu 27 Jan 23:48

  5. 2000-3000 euros is not a big amount for Messi or the­ spanish FA ... its just a silly rule .... and sure the­ people applied the rule on messi are selly as well

    From Tarek, on Wed 26 Jan 23:52

  6. Jay,
    yup Iniesta got the yellow for his tribute but not­ de jong's sidekick on alonso's chest.. who can­ forget that..!

    From carlamms, on Wed 26 Jan 22:12

  7. The stupidity of the rule is to fine Leo Messi or any­ other player 2-3000 euros for anything. When did they­ set the fine for that? 1954?? MIght as well take a coin­ from the beer mug on my desk at work. Fifa- Thanks for­ letting everyone know this is Leo's Mom's day­ when under most circumstances, this game and his­ gesture would have been completely ignored and nodody­ would have known what he did for her.

    From Maxx92, on Wed 26 Jan 22:01

  8. Leo- Please send Mum the yellow card and the email/­ letter notifying you of a fine with the picture in this­ article in a frame. Bet you she puts it somewhere that­ she can see it every day. Good kid. We need more of him­ in sports.

    From Maxx92, on Wed 26 Jan 21:57

  9. rules are rules but that was very harmless

    From Varnavas P, on Wed 26 Jan 20:39

  10. Rules are rules and although what Messi did was­ harmless if they don't implement the punishment­ then anyone could write anything on their shirt and­ show it. Iniesta was punished for the most poignant­ tribute to a fellow countrymen that died Dani Jarque­ but he still received a yellow card.

    From Jay, on Wed 26 Jan 18:08

  11. LOL! Messi getting fined for wishing his mum happy­ birthday... Couple of retards! my @#$%...

    From Més que un club, on Wed 26 Jan 17:53

  12. The rule is not just there to prevent politcal messages­ but also to protect sponsor interests, the photo on the­ papers is this now, instead of showing Messi­ celebrating with the Unicef logo on his chest. I know­ Unicef don't pay for their association with­ Barcelona but other sponsors pay big money to get put­ on teams shirts, if the pictures that people see around­ the world don't show their brand then they lose­ out.

    From tinkb15, on Wed 26 Jan 17:28

  13. They are misguided by share jealousy!

    From kwaku a, on Wed 26 Jan 17:10

  14. Bunch of misguided and outdated football officials­ making rules that don't add to the game. Just like­ the case of Mourinho ended on the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE­ matter. What the hell is wrong with saying HBD to your­ mum when you score a goal??? Where the heck is the goal­ line technology??? Nonsense!

    From edu u, on Wed 26 Jan 16:56

  15. at john l: you have entirely missed the point of the­ rule. by banning all messages on the undershirt, fifa­ and uefa do not have to deal with any gray areas or­ problems defining what constitutes an offensive or­ political message. From a regulatory standpoint, it is­ much better to just ban them all so that there can be­ no confusion about what goes too far.

    From captain Obvious, on Wed 26 Jan 16:21

  16. Comments 7, 8 and 15- If this rule is about showing­ political or offensive messages then the rule should­ state "The showing of political or offensive­ messages". To lump all messages behind this rule­ just shows the continuing lack of forethought by FIFA­ and UEFA. There is certainly no 'grey area'­ surrounding this message, unless it is a secret code­ used by an Argentinian underground organisation­ dedicated to the overthrow of FIFA and the destruction­ of Sepp Blatter!

    From John L, on Wed 26 Jan 15:41

  17. rules r the same for every1 bt saying birtday to mom is­ more worth than avoiding yellow

    messi u didnt do wrong

    From bobby, on Wed 26 Jan 13:36

  18. idiot fine...... i really don't understand..... why­ he cant wish happy birthday to his mother??? what is­ football? football has to be joy and he was showing it­ to his mother....

    From Francesco, on Wed 26 Jan 12:10

  19. this rule has a purpose. we've seen political­ gestures on t-shirts and all kinds of stuff over the­ years - it makes perfect sense not to allow players­ showing any kinds of messages

    From Bruno M, on Wed 26 Jan 11:01

  20. omg i cant believe spanish federations punks are doing­ this to messi, he was trying to dedicate his to his­ mother, go to hell you spanish fedeartions punks. lets­ say that messi's mother in a hospital and leo­ scores a goal and a lift shirts that say get well soon­ mom, would you fine him that too? then ur doing this­ for money a.s.s.h.o.l.e.s

    From Mike Sabbah, on Wed 26 Jan 9:53
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