Moss faces legal action for tackle

THE 2015 FA Cup final referee Jon Moss has been threatened with legal action by an assistant match official alleging he was deliberately injured by Moss in a referees kickabout.

Linesman John Flynn has been out injured for 15 months since the collision with Moss during a training session at St George’s Park.

Flynn is now fit to return to assistant referee duties but has not been given a match this season by the Professional Game Match Officials — and is understood to be taking advice from lawyers as to his next move.

The PGMO had investigated the incident following earlier complaints but found there was no case to answer. A PGMO spokesman said Flynn had yet to pass his fitness test but made no further comment.

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journey between Birmingham New Street train station and Villa Park has never been described as the ‘Walk of Champions’ before — especially as Aston Villa haven’t won any silverware since the last century. But England Rugby 2015, following the success of the pedestrian route to Auckland’s Eden Park at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, are hoping to replicate a similar experience for the Australia and South Africa group games in Birmingham. FA CHiEF executive Martin Glenn (below), who will speak at the Soccerex conference next week, has the platform to voice his support for his chairman Greg Dyke’s campaign for a quota of homegrown players in Premier League squads — especially after a weekend when the number of England-qualified players in the top flight starting line-ups was just 29.5 per cent — the lowest this season.

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big screen stadium replays of foul play at the Rugby World Cup are always a contentious issue — and the initial World Rugby guideline was that only one replay should be shown to avoid winding up crowds. However, England Rugby 2015, whose sports presentation team control the big-screen broadcasts from the world TV feed, have decided two replays will be shown during the tournament.