Tottenham midfielder Eveliina Summanen has been handed a two-match ban for her role in convincing the referees to send off England star Emma Toone during Manchester United’s 2-1 WSL win on February 12, Football Association announced on Tuesday.
Toone received a red card after a clash with Summanen towards the end of the game. Toone was seen shaking Summanen’s shoulders back down to the pitch. Soon after, Summanen grabbed her face very much as if she had been hit there.
Manchester United manager Marc Skinner reportedly called Summanen’s actions “play-acting,” and vowed to appeal the three-match ban that accompanied Toone’s red card.
The appeal was successful, and an independent hearing found that Summanen had “successfully deceived a game official”. As the cheating led to Toone’s sending off, it “constitutes inappropriate behaviour,” the FA said in a statement.
Tottenham are “deeply disappointed” and “shocked” by Summanen’s ban, BBC Sport said.
Summanen denied the allegation, and reportedly will continue to investigate the decision. She will miss the FA Cup game against Reading on February 26 and the WSL game at Manchester City on March 5.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Skinner said he was pleased with the FA’s decision and relieved at Toone’s availability.
“I’m very happy that the right decision was made, whatever happens, the game will be done, it’s exhausting,” he said. “Whatever happened now has happened, but I’m really glad we have Ella available.
Skinner expanded on his comments to address Toone’s decision to push Summanen:
“Just so we are very clear, we still talk about our tasks and what our responsibilities are within our tasks, everything will always be about education for our players and it’s up to us within that,” he said. “But the right decision was made and it was upheld by the FA and an advisory board so we thought the co- it was a correct conclusion at the time and now it has been confirmed.
“For me, what I think is really important is that it’s time, we’ve all learned from it and we’ll move on so I’m glad we have Ella available for the upcoming games.
Now, Manchester United will love Toone’s availability, while Tottenham are trying to get Summanen back.
