The beautiful game
Monday, March 3rd, 2008I don’t think I’ve ever talked about the beautiful game (soccer, or more commonly, football) here before, but I’d definitely like to start writing more about it. I’ve been involved with the sport for a long time (10+ years), and it’s something that’s both important to me and a big part of my life. Right now, I just want to touch on something that’s been in the news a lot during the past couple weeks.
It’s true that soccer is a physical sport, and many people don’t understand that, including: a) anti-soccer people who feel that soccer isn’t “manly” enough for them, and b) parents who explode every time their kid gets brushed on the arm. Well, as with any sport, soccer has its own share of “the good, the bad, and the ugly”, and the incident I’m about to describe is definitely ugly. A couple weeks ago, Birmingham City defender defender Martin Taylor made an over-the-top challenge against Arsenal’s Eduardo da Silva in an English Premier League match. The tackle literally broke da Silva’s leg (pictures here, obviously not for the faint of heart) and dislocated his ankle.
As I understand it, this happened very early in the match (about the 3rd minute or so), so it wasn’t in retaliation for anything that had happened previously. Still, it sounds like the referee handled the situation properly with an immediate send off (red card) to Taylor. This incident is a great reminder as to why USSF stresses that serious foul play (SFP, a sending-off offense) must be dealt with quickly and appropriately. We simply cannot allow players in any league to come in with over-the-top tackles, tackles from behind, or any other kind of tackle that endangers the safety of an opponent.
This has been the first of what I hope will be many football-related posts.