The Football Association has managed to do something only football can do: take a genuinely awkward, genuinely human incident and turn it into a full-blown headache. Aune Heggebo’s two-match ban for deception has not just ruled him out of West Bromwich Albion’s game at Burnley and the Carabao Cup tie away to Newcastle United. It has also dragged an already strange rule back into the spotlight, where it looks even clunkier than it did on paper.
James Morrison’s reaction was exactly what you would expect from a head coach defending his own player and, frankly, making a pretty sensible point. He said the Football Association had “opened a can of worms” and made it clear Albion were behind Heggebo. Morrison insisted, “We wanted to back Bo because he's not that type of person,” and added that the striker was upset because the charge felt like he was being called a cheat. That is the heart of this story: the punishment is one thing, the language around it is quite another.
Why this ban has landed so badly
The rule on deception of a match official was introduced in the 2017-18 season, but this case is unusual because Heggebo has become the first player charged under it since then. That matters. When a rule sits around for years and suddenly appears, people are going to wonder whether it is being applied cleanly or whether everyone is simply making it up as they go along. Morrison’s answer was not subtle. “If they're going to do it, we accept it, but they've got to be consistent throughout the season,” he said. “Be consistent throughout the season and we can all deal with that.”
He has a point. The first day of the Championship season already provided the flashpoint, when Jimmy-Jay Morgan’s cross hit Heggebo’s hand and Albion beat Norwich City 2-1. From there, the sequence has been straightforward enough: last week, Heggebo became the first player charged with deception of a match official under the rule, and now the 25-year-old has been handed a two-match ban. The punishment is now doing the rounds; the logic behind it still feels shaky.
Albion lose a forward in the middle of their week
Heggebo is not some bit-part squad filler either. Since arriving at West Brom in July 2025, he has scored 10 Championship goals in 47 appearances. That is not superstar territory, but it is the record of a player who matters. Albion missed him on Sunday in their 3-1 win over Burnley, and they will miss him again on Wednesday at 19:45 BST when they travel to Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup. For a club trying to build rhythm, that is a nuisance they did not need.
Morrison also made another important point in his defence of the forward: “He's not going to run to the referee is he, and say, 'I handballed that'? Not in a million years.” In other words, this was never going to be some theatrical confession. Football does not work like that, and pretending it does is part of the problem. If the Football Association wants to police these incidents, fine. But once it starts handing out bans, it has to be sure the standard is obvious, consistent and fair. Right now, that does not feel like a strong case being made. It feels like a rule that has finally found a victim before it has truly convinced anyone else.
That is why Morrison’s “can of worms” line lands so well. The ban itself removes Heggebo from two matches. The wider damage is bigger than that. The Football Association has taken a relatively rare incident and managed to make the conversation about confusion, consistency and intent. That is not a great look. West Brom have backed their player. The question now is whether the rule can withstand the scrutiny it has just invited.
