Thursday, May 5th, 2011 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

By Walter Broeckx

One of our readers gave me a link to http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/mls-suspends-mullan-additional-nine-games and ask me to give my comment.

And it couldn’t come on a better time than this week. Because on Sunday we have seen what good a player Aaron Ramsey was and still looks to be. Last season in the cold winter months he slowly came  in the team.  And the more he played the better he became. He was making his breakthrough so it looked.

But then he crossed the path of Shawcross who made another breakthrough. A tackle that went through the bones in Ramsey’s leg. We heard all kind of sick excuses about what a nice friendly little boy that Shawcross was.  Wenger and Ramsey got the full blame because Wenger was unhappy with another of his players being his leg broken. And Ramsey was to blame because he was too quick for the nice lad that Shawcross was.  It was all Arsenal’s fault and the leg breaker got a call up for the English team just a few hours later.

Oh and he got a ban. Of 3 weeks. We all know that it took Ramsey more than 1 year to get even close to the level he had before. That is 52 weeks. Just let this sink in once again 3 weeks suspension against 52 weeks of pain, operation, recovery, more pain to come back and hard work. And still not sure of knowing you will be able to come back completely.

But now in the Major League Soccer in the USA they have shown how to deal with such things. As a few days ago   Brian Mullan from Colorado Rapids broke the leg of Steve Zakuani a player from the Seattle Sounders. Mullan was angry because his team didn’t get a free kick and to compensate this he came in with a dangerous tackle and broke his opponents leg.

But unlike the FA the MLS decided to act. In fact they had spoken about this before the start of the season.  According to a spokesman the MLS has worked with all its players, coaches, referees and the two federations to develop, illustrate and discuss several key points of emphasis. And one of those points of emphasis is to protect the safety of the player on the ball and reduce or eliminate reckless and violent tackles.  And Mullan’s tackle was the type of play they wanted to eliminate from the game.

So instead of the 3 weeks ban he would have got in England the MLS decided to give Mullan a ban of 9 games and an extra one for the red card itself. Hello FA are you still reading? And do you still feel you are doing a job? Not even to mention a good job. NO, there is no comparison between what you do to protect your players and to what the MLS is doing to protect their players.

Oh, some of you might say: Well just another example of those Americans who know nothing about football and how it should be played.  So yes the USA might not have the biggest record when it comes to football. But let us take a look at how other leagues deal with violent tackles.

In Belgium we had Witsel who broke the leg of the Polish international Wasilewski and how got a punishment of 10 games which was reduced to 8 games after an appeal.  So it can be done but the Football federation must have the guts to act.

In the USA the MLS has clearly shown that when they speak about protecting their players they mean business.  In Belgium the KBVB has acted and has given a punishment that was very long compared to other countries.

So it is up to each Football Federation to ask the question: are we going to protect our players or are we going to let tugs run the show? In the MLS and the KBVB they have chosen the way of given severe punishment to the leg breakers.

In the MLS the committee gave as a reason: The Committee felt the egregious nature of the foul and the severity of the injury warranted the discipline issued,” executive vice president of competition and game operations Nelson Rodriguez said in a statement. “The Committee believes the challenge showed an utter disregard for Zakuani’s safety.

“In making this decision, the Committee took several factors into account: the timing of the challenge, the location on the field, the moments immediately before the challenge where it is clear that Mullan is frustrated and the severity of Zakuani’s injury”

And then we come back to Shawcross and his leg breaking tackle. Shawcross showed also an utter disregard for Ramsey’s safety. And if you look at the other factors:

–          the timing and the location on the field: A tackle in the Arsenal half when nothing was going on really so no need to come in flying like that.

–          The severity of Ramsey’s injury: a double fracture is rather severe for a football player.

So the FA could and should have acted then. And then maybe Benzema wouldn’t have his leg broken this season. Maybe Diaby wouldn’t have been kicked 2 times off the field resulting in a serious injury and a lengthy spell on the sidelines. But the FA chose the side of the leg breakers. They just gave the usual suspension as they do for someone who gives a push on another player.

And for those who might say: well sometimes you are unlucky to go in a challenge and to break another player his leg. Well yes this could be the case. But when you do a tackle you know what you are doing. When you throw yourself to the man as a professional football player you know what you are doing.

Let me compare it to this as someone did on the site. If you drive through a red light you get a fine. But if you drive through a red light and hit another person you will not just get a fine. No you will be send to jail. Just as a professional football players knows when he starts a possible dangerous tackle it is just the same for any driver who has a driver license. He knows he cannot drive through a red light so he has no excuse if afterwards he injures someone.

Let us just protect the players from the tugs. Let us ban the tugs and get rid of them so we can enjoy watching football as it should be played. With skill, with technical ability and yes with some good defending and some tackles. But not with careless and dangerous tackles. They should be banned and be banned for good.