Death By Football

A look at one of the many Issues surrounding Manchester United

The Undocumented horrors of football life 

I'm sure by now everyone has seen the incident involving Ashley Williams and Robin Van Persie which occurred in the 1-1 draw between MUFC and Swansea and if not here is the video.

Surely such a vicious attack on the brave Dutch player would put the likes of Ron 'chopper' Harris and Billy Bremner to shame. You would probably see the same incident happen on a muddy pitch on a sunday at any local park in England and the two players would finish with a handshake, rather then attempting to rip the others head off. Though it is not the incident which has caused controversy in the football world last weekend, but the remarks of the acclaimed United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Ferguson obviously angered by the assault on his star player went on the rampage calling for Williams to "banned by the FA" while complaining that RVP's neck could have broken. However, what has come under heavy criticism by the soccer community, was the following comment that Van Persie is "lucky to be alive". This is something of an over-reaction by Sir Alex and there is an air of hypocrisy surrounding the red devils which is the focus of this article. I believe Ferguson punches way above his weight when it comes to media influence, I mean even the fact that this topic has been discussed over the past few days and likely weeks to come, shows the incredible reach Sir Alex has. If it had been the other way round, the views of Michael Laudrup sadly would not be worth commenting on.

Ferguson appears to be a man of double standards and was probably more concerned with his sides draw against lesser opposition then the health of his striker, but that argument is up for much debate. Moving on, we will now look back at the past to discover whether Ferguson was so quick to damn his own players when they attempted acts of murder as Ashley Williams clearly had done. 

When the seagulls follow the trawler

Eric Cantona 'kung-fu' style kick at Matthew Simmons

This is one of the most memorable events in football for all the wrong reasons. On the 25th of January 1995 'King Eric' saw red against Crystal Palace, not happy with his hack on defender Richard Shaw he followed that up by literally kicking out at a Palace fan for giving him abuse. Lee Sharpe describes how Sir Alex took the view that Eric "shouldn't be doing these things" and that he had sympathies with the emphatic striker taking offense to an over-exuberant referee. After 120 hours of community service and eight month league ban (United only wanted 4 months) Eric returned to a dazzling football career then branching out to movies, but I feel fans longer in the tooth will always look back to his incident of ABH. Alex Ferguson should obviously have called for bans and criminal punishment but for once old whiskey nose didn't get his knickers in a twist for something that was arguably a more damaging attack on another human being. 

Take that you cunt

Roy Keane's revenge tackle on Alf-Inge Haaland

In any critics list of dirtiest tackles of all time, this one has to feature in the top 3. It is a whirlwind of a challenge and Keane quite rightly was branded by the FA as bringing the "game into disrepute". The tackle effectively ended Haland's carrer, Keane's motive for the attack dated back to 1997 while he was laying injured on a damp Saturday at Elland Road, Haaland looking to add insult to injury (excuse the pun) shouted at Keane for diving. The Grudge was set and Keane had his mind made up, this extract from his autobiographer sums it up nicely, "I'd waited long enough. I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you cunt. And don't ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries." Incredible as it seems by today's standards that this tackle was only awarded with a 3 match ban and a £5000 fine. Later punishment came with the release of Keane's autobiography released in 2002, but Ferguson actually defended the challenge and his motive behind it. Sir Alex believed that he had "no case to answer" and did not believe the FA needed to enact further punishment on the United captain. Regarding the previous example they may be a case that footballing was being dragged out of the dark ages, therefore Cantona did not need such a heavy reprimand though Keane committed the foul in footballs brighter years. 

The concern of whether football is a a contact sport is no longer an issue. Ferguson never flinched during these two disgraceful incidents, but was willing to blow his top at a simple kick of a football. Surely the only thing left is to ban footballs, or create some freak hybrid between a jabulani and a beach ball. What this whole event has shown is something that we in football all already know. That Ferguson is a media diva having too much influence for a man about to fall off his perch. The second is something that happens very rarely, Sir Alex has made a complete fool of himself by a simple over-reaction and lack of consistency. While criticizing the likes of Williams with one hand and protecting RVP with the other stings of bias, the reaction of many within football was that Van Persie's reaction was worse then supposed 'attack' by Ashley Williams. 

May Ferguson's self humiliation continue, I hope however when Michael Oliver next referees the red devils he does not feel Sir Alex's comments hanging heavy on his shoulders. I am sure that many Arsenal fans did enjoy RVP getting a good kicking for that all it was a bit of fun followed by an old man's over-exaggeration. Hopefully RVP will recover from the terrible attack and Williams be banned for the rest of the season. Ferguson you have branded yourself a joke, get back to the red wine and whiskey, leave the precious neck of Robin Van Persie to the medics and stick to tactics geeza.

Merry Christmas!