http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21174252 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd38KUjmOho If Troy Deeney was arrested for kicking a man on the ground, hazard should also be. I know what Deeney did was more serious, but the ball boy was under 18 so he was a minor,. this was bad in itself. What do you think.
This is altogether a lot less serious than the TD incident and it would appear that the 17yr ballboy knew exactly what he was doing , that is, preventing the flow of play to avoid Chelsea from scoring. I would question the fact that what Hazard did was right but surely at 17 years of age the swansea ballboy was too old perhaps he should be called an "adultball" because in the eyes of the law he is no longer a child. Does anyone remember when a ballboy deliberately threw a ball into the groin of a player, can't remember where..........
Absolutely ridiculous situation. The ball 'boy' knew exactly what he was doing, he'd bragged about doing it before the match on twitter. He wasn't injured. Hazard kicked the ball, not the 'boy' laying on top of it. The red card should be recinded. If i was that kid's mother i'd be blinkin' furious and would ban him from going to matches for the rest of the season! Adrian Durham had it right today. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...boy-Leon-Britton-Arsenal-Villa-Newcastle.html Yellowvoice - do you mean this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzHgKwms1Mg&feature=youtube_gdata_player&noredirect=1
How about they were both wrong? Why is it one or the other? Ball boy should not have "flopped on the ball" but did not deserve to have a kick aimed at him. Hazard should not have kicked out - whether he kicked at the boy or at the ball is irrelevant, because the ball was under the boy's body, any kick ran the risk of inflicting injury. Ball boy should be banned from football grounds for a minimum of 5 years and his account suspended from Twitter for that time. Hazard should get a 5 match ban for violent conduct. Simple, eh?
Agree with Vic. Hazard should have let the ref and/or club authorities deal with it. Easier said than done on all counts though. The heat of the moment. The boy should certainly not be allowed near the pitch again. Just hope it doesn't spark a war against ball-boys in general from neanderthal away fans of any club, or a spate of copy-cat incidents by ball-boys who fancy a bit of glory/notoriety. PS didn't see the incident myself- have read enough to disgust me about both Hazard's and the b-boy's behaviour.
The only positive either party can take from this as such is that they've met and accepted each other's apology rather than turn this into some sort of slagging match through the media as we see so often with incident likes this. Actually a few older more mature football realted people could learn from how to deal with the aftermarth of a problem like last night. Some might say the ball-boy was only doing what so many professionals do on the pitch each week in terms of time wasting which is sad really and Hazard reacted through frustration without thinking (an adult yes but at 22 hardly mature) but despite some claiming he ought to be locked up there was no intent and is did look sorry afterwards...as did other players. This was no Eric Cantona v Palace years ago like incident. Just unfortunate I suppose its Chelsea involved again...and took the shine off a great result for Swansea.
They were both wrong. The ball boy was a cheat trying to slow play - but it was up to the officials to deal with him - he could have been sent off and time added on. Hazard was wrong - you do not kick a person on the ground - the tenuous excuse that he kicked the ball does not mask the fact that he also kicked the kid. When players get sent off for squaring up to each other head to head then you certainly get sent off for kicking a person on the ground. This is not a tackle H where you can claim you got the ball - he was just plain out of order and rightly got sent off.
Thanks Hornette that was the one I was thinking about but at least it looked like a genuine accident unlike the Swansea ball boy who I understand is the son of one of the board members!?! C'mon Leo you know when a juvenile becomes an adult
Both parties were stupid but as someone else said they were savvy enough to close it on the night. It's a sad indictement of today's society that I actually felt quite uplifted when i heard they'd sorted it out there and then!
Shame the spoilt brat didn't get it in the goolies ! A great solution would have been for a new ball to be thrown on immediately, play to continue - with him still lying on the ground wasting time and the crowd laughing ! Unfortunately Hazard brought himself down to the same level and the referee had no other choice. Having said that, I have seen Peter Schmeichel throwing a pitch invader off the pitch (he was in the air for a good few metres !) with no negative consequences whatsoever.
I was only quibbling with your phrase - as in the eyes of the law is actually IS still a child. I agree though that he knew exactly what he was doing and is a horrible little cheat and has no sympathy from me, It still makes no difference - however much someone provokes you and however old they are you cannot kick them - and he did that (even if he did manage to get the ball too) - hence a sending off was the right punishment - noone is suggesting it is a hanging offence but I am amused by those who will not see his error just because the ball boy was also in the wrong. If you were in a hurry to catch a bus and some annoying little pr*t deliberately got in your way you would not be justified in pushing them over to get on the bus - in the eyes of the law - that is assault and battery
I agree with most that both are at fault. But some other observations:- - The ref did not see it as he was looking elsewhere. - I think the incident got smoothed over as the "boys" father is a director of the club and they did not want people asking questions as to the behaviour of the ball boys last night
Mountains and molehills spring to mind. Both wrong but not as heinous on either side as the media have suggested.
Well if it has been a League one this would have not even made the back of the sports news let alone front page. But its a top(ish) Premiership player and ofcourse you get the usual "if he was a teacher etc" Hazard would be sacked...but then you could say that for players swearing etc. Wear_yellow has a point but then its probably good that the dad of this lad did try to resolve the issue - I am sure some would have reacted in a much more threatening way!
Am I the only one that thinks that Hazard kicked the ball not the ball boy, thats why he was smirking afterwards he couldn't believe the pathetic acting of the ball boy, for me there is really no need for a punishment, I think they were both wrong, just an apology will do.
Both were in the wrong. The 17-year old was acting like an idiot, Hazard should not have reacted how he did, but the frustration of the time got to him. Seems like the senior figures at Swansea and Chelsea got involved to smooth out the issue on the night. Hazard was correctly sent off for violent conduct (Im pretty sure he got more of the ball-boy than the ball) and should get a three match ban. After this weekend's matches this whole incident would have been forgotten and everyone will be talking about something else. Done.
