Richarlison suspended one match by FA for flare incident at Everton

Tottenham Hotspur’s newest signing Richarlison will be joining his new teammates at Spurs’ Hotspur Way training ground today for his first day of preseason after flying in from holiday in Brazil. However, he will not be able to play for Spurs during their week 1 match against Southampton on August 6.

According to news first reported by Sami Mokbel in the Daily Mail and later confirmed by numerous other sources, Richarlison is set to be handed a one match ban by the FA for an incident involving a blue flare in Everton’s 1-0 win over Chelsea in May.

Richarlison had scored the only goal of the match and in the celebrations that followed a fan in the crowd had thrown a blue smoke flare on the pitch at Goodison Park. Richarlison controversially picked up the flare and chucked it back into the crowd, which earned him criticism, an FA inquiry, and as of today, a one match suspension.

Flares are banned by the FA at stadiums in the UK and for good reason — they’re dangerous. That doesn’t prevent them from showing up in the stands every so often. Throwing flares back into the stands also seems dangerous and probably not something players should be doing if they end up on the field of play. I don’t know enough about the situation to really have a take on whether this is appropriate discipline or not, but I do know it provided some really cool looking photos in the Getty editor.

The suspension means that Richarlison’s regular season Tottenham debut cannot come before Spurs’ trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on Sat. August 13.