Associated Evidence Record

Evidence for
The Words That Sent Keane Back Before the FA

Companion notes

Roy Keane’s 2001 tackle on Alf-Inge Haaland and the later FA sanction

This companion does not retell the feud; it maps which contemporaneous reports, police statements, and later disciplinary coverage actually establish each material claim. It also separates the on-field dismissal and police handling from the later FA punishment triggered by Keane’s own autobiography.

Contemporary match and police documentation

The core on-field fact is securely anchored by contemporaneous match reporting: Keane was sent off for the tackle on Alf-Inge Haaland in the April 2001 Manchester derby at Old Trafford. That fact is repeated in BBC coverage and later explanatory reporting, with the later Sporting News piece functioning as a secondary summary rather than a primary record. What matters for provenance is that the dismissal is not dependent on Keane’s later memoir; it is established by match-era reporting and then carried forward consistently in subsequent accounts. [S1], [S5], [S7]

The police response is documented in separate contemporary reports from the Telegraph and BBC. Those accounts say Greater Manchester Police crime-recorded the tackle after complaints from a small number of witnesses, interviewed both players, and then closed the criminal angle after the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute. The reports are independent publications, but they converge on the same official policing outcome and stop short of any criminal charge. [S3], [S5]

Why the later FA punishment stands on a different evidentiary footing

The Football Association sanction is documented separately from the police handling. The Independent reported that Keane was found guilty of two counts of bringing the game into disrepute and received a five-match ban plus a record £150,000 fine, with the sanction subject to appeal and limited to domestic matches. That makes the FA action a disciplinary consequence, not a criminal disposition, and it is sourced to the association’s ruling as reported contemporaneously. [S2]

The disciplinary trigger was Keane’s autobiography, not the 2001 match report itself. The Independent and RTÉ both report that the book described deliberately hurting Haaland, and both preserve the crucial passage in which Keane wrote, 'I'd waited long enough. I hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that.' They also note that he linked the later tackle to the earlier 1997 injury incident. These are strong records of what was published and why it caused trouble, but they remain records of Keane’s own written account rather than independent proof of intent. [S2], [S4], [S1], [S7]

Claim provenance

Claim	Supporting records	Independence	Qualification
C1	[S1], [S5], [S7]	BBC, sportingnews.com	The sources describe the incident as a tackle and red-card dismissal; they do not need to agree on every descriptive adjective used for the challenge.
C2	[S3], [S5]	The Telegraph, BBC	This reflects police handling described in the reports; it does not imply a prosecution followed.
C3	[S3], [S5]	The Telegraph, BBC	The sources state both parties were interviewed; they do not provide the full contents of those interviews.
C4	[S3], [S5]	The Telegraph, BBC	This is the prosecutorial outcome reported by the police statements; it is not a merits finding about the tackle itself.
C5	[S2]	Independent	The Independent report states the ban and fine were subject to appeal and that the ban applied to domestic matches only.
C6	[S2], [S4]	Independent, RTÉ	The sources attribute the comments to the autobiography and newspaper serialisations; they do not adjudicate the historical truth of the admission beyond reporting the allegation and sanction.
C7	[S2], [S4]	Independent, RTÉ	The quotation is reported in the source text as a book extract; it is included as reported wording, not as an independent verification of intent.
C8	[S1], [S2], [S4], [S7]	BBC, Independent, RTÉ, sportingnews.com	The sources consistently report that Keane connected the later tackle to the earlier injury; they do not establish motive beyond that reported connection.

Source key

The associated evidence packet contains visible source URLs, source roles and the complete claim ledger.

Archival Sources & Verified Claims

Investigative question

What is firmly documented about Roy Keane’s tackle on Alf-Inge Haaland, the official and police response, and the later disciplinary sanction tied to Keane’s autobiography?

Event boundary

From the 1997 Leeds-United incident referenced in later reporting through the Football Association’s 2002 disciplinary decision and police review of the 2001 tackle; includes only the tackle, its immediate football consequences, the police/CPS handling, and the FA sanction tied to Keane’s published comments.