Is it just me or rather than plunge the game into disrepute and blacken the name of English football, the scuffle between Arsenal and Chelsea players in the Carling Cup Final actually provided a nice sprinkle of spice to a thoroughly enjoyable game?
So a few shoves and pushes were exchanged and Wayne Bridge was floored by the worst punch seen since Michael Sprout dropped Audley Harrison, but come on, was it really that bad?
Listening to Radio Five Live on the way back from Newcastle’s dreadful defeat at Wigan on Sunday I heard all the usual moralising from pundits who labelled the squabble a disgusting, terrible act which ruined the game and cast a black cloud over both clubs.
Both teams should be ashamed of themselves and the FA should punish them all by hitting them across the knuckle with a ruler or fine them £2,000 because that’s what they normally do to “punish� big club offenders who can pay with the loose change in their suit trousers.
What the sanctimonious experts seemed to have misunderstood, though, is that football fans - you know, the people who finance the game and their wages - tend to enjoy this sort of thing. A good scrap always adds to the excitement and proves the player’s care. In that respect and as much as it pains me to say it, I agree with Frank Lampard.
I know it is not a violent game, but in contact sports emotions are always likely to spill over every now and again and as long as there isn’t anything that might be considered an assault in a court of law I don’t see what the problem is.
If something like that happened on a rugby field - and it regularly does - nobody would bat an eyelid, in fact, they’d say it was all part of the game and chortle into their beer.
You certainly wouldn’t have to put up with people crying that the little kiddies up and down the country will be imitating their heroes and ruining the game at grassroots level.
That was done a long time ago through a lack of decent coaching, the implementation of the Academy system, the rise in popularity of computer games and the sale of school sports fields.
These sort of scene have been seen countless times before and they will be seen countless times again. It is sport, it is a battle and sometimes it needs an extra edge to make it the drama we all crave.
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