Everything wrong with unjust, scandalous Aune Heggebo suspension after West Brom goal vs Norwich

Aune Heggebo's two-match suspension is not only unfair, it's also setting a dangerous precent that all footballers should be worried about.

West Bromwich Albion beat Norwich City 2-1 at Carrow Road on Saturday, with Heggebo controversially opening the scoring with the ball coming off his arm.

Jimmy-Jay Morgan's lashing cross deflected off the glove of Norwich goalkeeper Vladan Kovacevic before striking Heggebo's out-strecthed arm and falling into the back of the net.

Heggebo celebrated a goal that should have been disallowed. The score should have stayed at 0-0 and, if deemed appropriate by the referee, the Norwegian striker could have been booked.

The 25-year-old would not have been sent off solely for that incident and if he did get sent off as a result of a second booking, he'd have only been banned for one game.

So why did Heggebo get a two-match ban for the ball deflecting off a goalkeeper's glove and into his arm?

FA have made example of Aune Heggebo - but what example are they trying to set?

There's been all sorts of outcry from West Brom fans about this.

Some have said it's an EFL conspiracy (it's not the EFL, by the way), some have said it's a media witch-hunt and some have claimed it's referee Tim Robinson who should have been banned for not spotting the incident.

Referees miss things, it's part of the game when you don't have VAR. It's one of the things we've all said we would accept happening if VAR was to cease to exist.

The big issue here is that the FA have called Heggebo, in no uncertain terms, a cheat.

It's damaging to his reputation, it's damaging to him personally and it's damaging to West Brom.

What proof did The FA have to say that Heggebo "deceived" a match official? An independent Regulatory Commission "found it to be proven" that he did willfully decieve Robinson.

Written reasons will follow but ultimately, only Heggebo knows whether or not he did it on purpose.

But everything about the incident suggests that it was a total accident.

The proof that Heggebo didn't mean to handle the ball

Heggebo denied the charge against him and after the ban was announced, West Brom said they argued that 0.1s passed between the ball deflecting off Kovacevic's glove and hitting Heggebo's arm.

That's an insane reaction time for anyone.

But Heggebo did start to raise his arms before the ball hit the Norwich goalkeeper's hand, not long after it left Morgan's boot when he started to cross it over to him.

Heggebo's arms then outstretched in front of him, which if anyone at The FA ever watched someone jump before, is a very common way of gaining momentum needed to lunge forward.

Maybe someone at The FA needs to check what Olympic long jump competitors do to help themselves propel forward more - their arms go forward.

What The FA are trying to say here is that Heggebo, within milliseconds, made a conscious decision to score with his hand or arm.

What their punishment is trying to do is to deter players from trying to deceive referees into winning penalties, scoring goals or getting opponents sent off.

But what is Heggebo going to learn from this punishment? That he's not allowed to have arms anymore?

The written reasons will be released soon and there's no doubt they will raise yet more questions about this farcical decision.