"We have responded to Newcastle and our position is that we have no jurisdiction to take retropsective action."
"The basic premise of the laws of the game is that a referee makes a decision and there is no retrospective action permitted.
"The referee saw the incident, dealt with it at the time and we can not take retrospective action."
No surprise with this outcome given that if the FA had acted retrospectively (or even looked at the incident) it would have set a huge precedent.
The statement is carefully worded and of course, makes no comment as to the validity of the challenge, merely stating that as the referee saw the incident (perhaps fortunately for the FA to help them avoid making a contentious decision) and deemed it not even worthy of a free-kick, let alone sterner punishment, no action can be taken.
The incident, I think, has been intensified by the fact it came before the international break and allowed the focus on it to run on longer than it may otherwise have done.
Hopes that the issue may be put to rest following the FA's announcement may be dashed however with the announcement that Marseille (whom have loaned Ben Arfa to Newcastle) may seek damages of upto £5 million as a result of a potential transfer not being completed following his loan spell.