During the Manchester Derby last Sunday, a random nutcase in the crowd hurled a coin at Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, which struck him in the eye, and came dangerously close to causing a serious injury. Since the incident, PFA chief Gordon Taylor has called for netting to be installed around pitch to protect players, a suggestion that has polarised opinion across the board, but Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is not convinced it is a good idea.
When asked in his pre-Aston Villa press conference today if he supported the netting idea, Rodgers responded:
"It was scandalous what happened last week [the coin incident]. It could’ve taken out Rio Ferdinand’s eye, but no, I don’t see that as a way forward to be honest.
"You’ve got one or two mindless people at games, and I think the focus has to be on them, and how they can be punished, rather the thousands of fans who are there for the love and passion of the sport".
I agree with Rodgers - injury-inducing coin attacks on players are extremely rare, so introducing netting would be a disproportionate response to the issue. Granted, the Ferdinand attack is a major incident, but over a season, how many players are actually struck by objects from the crowd? As usual, it is the minority of idiots spoiling the game for everyone else, and the best thing to do is to weed out these fools, and ban them for life.
Rodgers also blasted UEFA for the pathetic €80,000 fine handed out to the Serbian FA for the racial abuse directed at England U21 player Danny Rose. He scathed:
"It was bitterly disappointing. UEFA have given them a fine that basically amounts to a slap on the wrist. It's poor, really:"
The paltry fine just underlines once again that UEFA are gutless when it comes to tackling racism in football. Such an insulting sanction is, admittedly, hardly surprising though, especially when UEFA are overseen by football's Godfather of ignorance, Sepp - 'there is no racism in football' - Blatter.
Jaimie Kanwar
When asked in his pre-Aston Villa press conference today if he supported the netting idea, Rodgers responded:
"It was scandalous what happened last week [the coin incident]. It could’ve taken out Rio Ferdinand’s eye, but no, I don’t see that as a way forward to be honest.
"You’ve got one or two mindless people at games, and I think the focus has to be on them, and how they can be punished, rather the thousands of fans who are there for the love and passion of the sport".
I agree with Rodgers - injury-inducing coin attacks on players are extremely rare, so introducing netting would be a disproportionate response to the issue. Granted, the Ferdinand attack is a major incident, but over a season, how many players are actually struck by objects from the crowd? As usual, it is the minority of idiots spoiling the game for everyone else, and the best thing to do is to weed out these fools, and ban them for life.
Rodgers also blasted UEFA for the pathetic €80,000 fine handed out to the Serbian FA for the racial abuse directed at England U21 player Danny Rose. He scathed:
"It was bitterly disappointing. UEFA have given them a fine that basically amounts to a slap on the wrist. It's poor, really:"
The paltry fine just underlines once again that UEFA are gutless when it comes to tackling racism in football. Such an insulting sanction is, admittedly, hardly surprising though, especially when UEFA are overseen by football's Godfather of ignorance, Sepp - 'there is no racism in football' - Blatter.
Jaimie Kanwar
Someone from the audience at Goodison Park threw a coin on Luis Suarez, fortunately it didn't hit him. No one in the media reported and probably no one will as long as its Luis Suarez. But when Rio gets hit, it is suddenly scandalous.
ReplyDeleteLife time bans are a good idea as a person won't have the chance to do such stupid thing twice, but it won't eradicate the problem just like capital punishment didn't eradicate felony.
ReplyDeleteAs for UEFA, FIFA and probably most FAs being gutless, well, we all know it, don't we. Don't know what could be done about that. Those organisations just do whatever they want irrespective of law. They make their own laws and they are not exactly democratic organisations.
Ferdinand got hit in the eye and was gushing blood. I think there's a slight difference, don't you? This silly 'everyone is against Suarez' stuff is getting ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteClubs should be deducted points for incidents like these, then not only do they get a life ban from the club, they will suffer the consequences of their peers.
ReplyDeleteThats ridiculous, you can't punish a whole club and all of its fans because of one nutcase.
ReplyDeleteDon't know it that is a good idea. Someone could sneak into the crowd of a team he (or she) didn't like in order to get them a points deduction. Clubs would have to ask their supporters to attend naked in order to avoid them carrying stuff with them that can be thrown or used to strangle another person (like a scarf). And punishing an entire club and all of it's supporters because of the stupidity of a single person is like bringing back kin liability.
ReplyDeleteYou mean a coin thrown at Suarez would only create a buzz if he would have gotten hit? This statement is ridiculous, just coz Suarez got lucky doesn't mean it was less of an offense. If a person attempt to harm someone irrespective of its attempted success or failure, must be marked as an equal offense. This silly 'Everything should be against Suarez' stuff is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteListen Jaimie Chirag and everyone else is correct SUarez has been hit twice by coins both times at Goodison this season and last season. Craig Bellamy got hit by coins and bottles at Old Trafford, years a go at Highbury Carragher got hit by coins from the Gooners and he lobbed them back which he got 3 match ban for. Why is it only now a Man Utd player gets hit only now the PFA and FA call for changes?????? Don't get me wrong it was bad what happened but every incident is just as bad as this one drew blood another didn't does not make a difference.
ReplyDeleteBy the way netting is the wrong way to go about it. JFT96 YNWA
I don't mind the idea, or something similar - we already see games being played behind closed doors in European football for similar actions. And if those were the consequences, the rest of the crowd would do everything it could to prevent these hooligans from plying their trade. A radical thought no doubt, but it could work.
ReplyDeleteIt's like red card for intention.
ReplyDeleteMissiles get thrown a lot and its usually only when it causes a bloody result is when it gets highlighted, especially in a high profile game. But it should be highlight every single time it happens. Surely with the technology nowadays, clubs should be doing more to ID these people and ban them for life. Maybe I'm being a bit naive to be so hopeful about ID-ing people. No justification for doing these things at all though.
ReplyDeleteI would only entertain a club punishment if their fans were guilty of doing it repeatedly AND the club did very little to ID & punish those people.
I think it would be wrong to punish a club collectively for the actions of one moron unless like the above stated the club has continually shown wilful neglect.Surely in this day & age & with the masses of t.v. revenue pouring into clubs more surveillance cameras could be installed to literally saturate the crowd, it may sound extreme but if it saves a tragedy one day it would justify it. As for netting i think its a definite backward step
ReplyDeleteMissiles happen a lot and only get highlighted, like it has done in the past week, when it causes a bloody outcome. Shouldn't be like that, it should be about intent but its the way it is. In the same game, Rooney got pelted with loads when he went for a corner but barely got highlighted by the media in isolation. The difference? a bloody outcome, i.e., the injury it caused. So I think the anti-Suarez angle your trying to put forward is somewhat far-fetched on this one.
ReplyDeleteIts like player X goes in for a two-footed tackle but player Z jumps over it and carries on with the ball, the ref sometimes don't make a issue out of it, despite the rules saying it is a red card, regardless of contact or not. When player Y does it and makes contact, the ref is more likely to make an issue out of it, especially if player Z is rolling around on the floor in agony.
So what you mean to say is even though the rules are improper, we should not complaint but get on with it? I don't care if Rooney got pelted or not, I care about Liverpool players. It's like when Rooney and Suarez dives and I defend Suarez by stating that even Rooney dived, most of you people will come up with "School level debate, he did cheating so even I did cheating", now that am talking about Suarez getting hit by a coin, you come up with "even Rooney got pelted, its a norm", don't you see a certain child like debate here? And then to say anti-Suarez angle is a far-fetched one is just adding hypocrisy. Why it ain't a "far-fetched" situation to criticize only Suarez when he dives? while apparently you see many others doing it in premiere league quite regularly. Again media never made that kind of buzz when Neville, Bale, Cazorla, et al dived. Talk about hypocrisy.
ReplyDeleteI did not mean to say that at all and nor does it come across as so, as clearly implied by 'SHOULDN'T BE LIKE THAT but its the way it is'. For the second time, your being far-fetched. I imply/said its normal for the media not to make a big deal out of a person that doesn't get blood from a missile, even though it shouldn't be like that. I did not say or imply that this is ok. I did not say or imply that we shouldn't complain. I merely implied/said the media treat it like so, did I say 'we'?, no I was talking about the media's highlighting of missiles. 'Talk about' conveniently misinterpreting what I have said to suit your silly 'oh its the usual anti-Suarez' moaning. This thread is about missiles, so your bringing of the diving issue into this is irrelevant, especially in relation to the context of my point. You have, intentionally or unintentionally, twisted my whole post to suit your tiresome anti-Suarez crying. I'll leave it there as you are not being rational, instead tiresome, as you are wearing your 'whole world is against Suarez' glasses.
ReplyDeleteI posted a question to Jaimie on the Lazar Markovic story(10 12 2012) which I would like you to read and answer if you too think Suarez' handball on WC was cheating.
ReplyDeleteThis goes for Anteater also.
they only reply when they think there right if you put up a good argument you do not get a reply
ReplyDeleteI don't think it applies for Anteater and Original, that is why I am asking them(along with the fact i rate their opinions). It might apply on Jaimie, or I'm just not his level...
ReplyDeleteSince you are here, what is your opinion- was it cheating?
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with you there. whether suarez was hit or not, the intention to do harm was the same as the intention behind the coin thrown at ferdinand. it's unfair that everyone outcries over the intention to harm ferdinand, but noone cares when someone tries to hurt suarez.
ReplyDeleteGiggs got hit by a missile at the Chelsea game. Not much fuss made of it by the media. Strange, he isn't Suarez, so there should be a fuss(!)
ReplyDeleteOrme - there are hundreds of comments every day; I can't physically reply to every single one, and when I've answered the same question about a million times, I tend to avoid repeating myself if possible.
ReplyDeleteRe Suarez's handball in the WC - it's probably something I've discussed more than most things on this site (!), and yes, in my view it was absolutely, 100%, unequivocally cheating.
Jason, if you post rubbish like this again I will ban you permanently, with no appeal. If you don't like this site, do elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteDitto on the last sentence.
ReplyDeleteJason, if you post nonsense like this again I will ban you permanently, with no appeal. If you don't like this site, go elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteNo, that's not what I said at all. I see you edited your post from what you originally stated too.
ReplyDeleteThe Suarez and Ferdinand incidents are totally different; it's not a matter of intention as obviously, the intention both times was the same.
The media are not going to report on a coin thrown on the field that doesn't hit someone. That has nothing to do with Suarez it's just the way it is. What do you expect?! Front page headlines that scream: "THE HORROR! SUAREZ AVOIDS DEATH AFTER COIN LANDS 10 FEET FROM HIS BODY!"
Coins are probably thrown at lots of different players, not just Suarez, and the media don't report on those either.
Ferdinand was hit, and it drew blood, so obviously the press will highlight it. Blood and violence sells; coins that hit the grass don't.
bentner got fined 100000 for showing PADDY POwER underpants.
ReplyDeleteputs the fine into perspective, sorry if its its been mentioned already
Typo in article..... BR is convinced it is a good idea, should read is NOT a good idea?
ReplyDeleteMost clubs are dishing out lifetime bans for the more serious indiscretions, the message will filter through eventually.
Netting, fencing,standing areas just can't be allowed. Another tragedy could easily happen.
Rio might be better advised not to celebrate in opposition fans faces, obviously not condoning the two penny piece thrower. Cheap bastid, surely worth a pound coin.....
Haha. Good one.
ReplyDelete(P.S. Thanks for spotting the typo)
I thought Ferdinand celebrated in front of the away fans?
ReplyDeleteFerdinand didn't do anything wrong, if he celebrated in front of the away fans but Rooney did, he went off to slid and celebrate...in front of the home fans.
Not sure whether its a good thing or not but City have the away fans right in the same stand as the more vocal support of the home sides in the South Stand, with barely any separation between by the stewards/police. The away fans are behind the section of the pitch where Ferdinand went to celebrate, which is the South Stand area. It is kinda half-n-half behind the goal, in terms of proportion of City and United fans in the South Stand and looked to me, he was towards the away support half of the stand, from the youtube video I saw. Nothing wrong with celebrating in front of the away fans, if your the away team but what Rooney did was o.t.t.
Ferdinand ( plug ) :)
ReplyDeleteI edited my post from what I originally stated? What do you mean by that? I edited to correct the word scandalous as it was wrongly spelled. Really a cheap way to come back to a debate.
ReplyDeleteCompared it to "smart fouls", and wanted your opinion on that particulary because I couldn't find your post regarding that.
ReplyDeleteAnd sorry, I do understand you have a life, but it was a slow day so maybe I overreacted replying to Jason...
calm down lol you need to get a sense of humour i get stick ever day on here and the comments never get pulled
ReplyDeleteYeah, possibly a slight overreaction. Sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteThe irony. You've just used the irrelevant 2% of my post to avoid addressing the issues I raised in response to your post.
ReplyDeleteIf you paste your original question here, I'll answer it. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteBecause it would be a repetition of already discussed points in few other posts. Honestly, rest of all what you said is what I am complaining about...media categorically misses out on more then few incidents but reports almost everytime when it comes to Man Utd.
ReplyDeleteno problem m8 we all have bad days
ReplyDelete