Rough Justice?
Most of you will probably regard this as a trivial issue. Ok, in the great scheme of things you're probably right. However, this has been playing on my mind for while now. What is it? you wazzock!! I fondly imagine I hear you mutter through ever clenching teeth, well, it's this.
Is it fair that when a player is "shown the red card," or, more correctly, dismissed from the field of play, they cannot be substituted? The fact that they cannot, means that not just he, (or she), [Ethel! this goon is suggesting that a lady could be sent off!], but the team is punished. The latest example I saw was a very important Rugby League game, greatly anticipated by fans and media alike, which was totally ruined as a contest and a spectacle by the referee sending off a player for foul play after only 7 minutes. Consequently, the team with 13 players beat the team with only 12 players by, I think, 71 points to nil, instead of there being a keenly fought match, the outcome of which should have been in doubt until the final whistle.
Not only is the losing team punished for the actions of one player but that team's spectators are also hard done by. They, in this particular example, had to travel from Hull to Bradford and then watch their team getting hammered for 77 out of 80 minutes. OK, I admit that we'll never know what the final outcome would have been if both teams had remained intact, but I'm pretty sure that 71 - 0 wouldn't have been it.
In my humble opinion it's just not fair. Punish the player by all means, not the team - unless you can prove that the coach is actually encouraging foul play. Allow a substitute, even this will probably disrupt the coach's plans, but at least they won't be labouring under the burden of being a player, (or more), down and the supporters won't, necessarily, have made a wasted journey. The player sent off can be banned from future games or fined, or both. Think of that for a moment, he/she is punished for so many future games, the team isn't. That's fair, that's what happens now, BUT ONLY AFTER THE MATCH.
What's wrong with moving that back in time to the point when the player is actually dismissed?
posted by Eddie @ 2:45 pm
4 Comments:
I thought rugby teams had 15 players!
No Mark, That's not rugby, that's called kick and clap. Very strange game but at least they're now importing proper rugby players to teach them how to run with a ball!
Whatever the code, at least the ball is the right shape. Australian Rules football do something very similar to what you suggest, where people can be sin-binned, but can't be sent off but are then cited for following matches.
Mind you, if people can't be sent off, we would be denied the delight of watching David Beckham marching off the pitch!
Many thanks for dropping by and your thought about Dave. At present, he is doing really well to the point that he's now sending me insults via mutual friends. For that, I intend to visit him and bore him to tears!
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