After Sky’s touchline cameraman caught Didier Drogba’s meltdown brilliance on Norwegian referee Thomas Henning Ovrebo, which could go down as one of the most classic referee rants ever captured on live television, Ofcom (The independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries) announced they have launched an investigation into the situation that could have some very interesting ramifications for not only Drogba himself, but Chelsea and the game as a whole.

After excoriating the official for a performance even Ovrebo admitted had been error-strewn, a wild-eyed Drogba approached the camera to shout repeatedly “it’s a disgrace” before using an expletive. He was then pushed away from the scene by his manager, Guus Hiddink.

Sky’s lead pundit, Andy Gray, was quick to apologise for Drogba’s language and the broadcaster cut soon afterwards to a commercial break. On the return to the studio the clip was shown again and, once more, Drogba’s swearing was audible, prompting the studio anchor, Richard Keys, to apologise again for the error in failing to check the tape.

The broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, has requested tapes of the incident from Sky and it is not believed that a verdict will be reached before next week at the earliest. “We have had a number of complaints and are assessing these against our broadcasting code,” said a spokesman for Ofcom.

Sky’s defence will be the post-watershed time of the broadcast – it occurred at around 9.50pm last night – and its swift apologies. It is not the first time Sky has been the subject of complaints over the use of expletives.

And don’t forget about when this made the air……

Image via 08Direct