The latest football incident to get the British media all excited concerns Chelsea footaballer Eden Hazard supposedly kicking a ballboy.
Hazard (pronounced 'Azarr', if you are concerned with the French pronunciation) was trying to get the ball back in Chelsea's League Cup match with Swansea. In doing so it seems he kicked a Swansea ball-boy, an act which saw him sent off. Now everyone is waiting to see what disciplinary action will be taken against him. The 'standard' for getting sent off is a three-match ban. A spokesman for the FA today said in this instance that was "clearly insufficient".
Rubbish.
If you ignore all the hype, what actually happened? Watch the video footage carefully and impartially.
First, in what was a tense cup match, the Swansea ball-boy flagrantly sought to waste time, falling on the ball and laying on top of it.
Second, Hazard, in wanting to get on with the game, attempted to kick the ball out from underneath him. He clearly did not aim at or intend to kick the boy.
Third, the boy writhed around as if in considerable pain. In reality, he was wearing a thick, padded coat (understandably, as it was a cold evening): If Hazard did make some sort of contact it would have been slight and I suspect the boy hardly felt it.
Fourth, not content with feigning some serious injury he gesticulated towards the referee (in fairness, where did he learn this sort of behaviour? From watching footballers who do it all the time). His acting was 'successful': Hazard was promptly sent off.
I'm not condoning Hazard's over-zealous actions - but one can understand his frustration. A booking at the time would probably have been more appropriate. The reaction has been ridiculous.
No comments:
Post a Comment