JWM, I really am struggling to remember the withdrawal of the cards during the eighties, I assume referees went back to the pre 1970 scheme of using their little black book!
Always makes me wonder why events like Vaughan being elbowed don't count as Common Assult? If I went up to someone I worked with and elbowed them in the face deliberately I'd be a) sacked and b)in front of the magistrates.
Absolutely Dave Players were "Cautioned" by simply having their name taken and they were ordered off the pitch for serious foul play with a hand gesture from the referee.
Totally different scenario! Football is still a contact sport although the football authorities are wanting to change this!
don't see how that was any different to what duncan ferguson did while playing for rangers to be honest, and he got locked up. tamas should have faced action for that elbow against vaughan. it was assault, no question, and it did serious physical damage - the poor lad had to have plastic surgery to fix it
Christ Supers! If we go locking up players for rash challenges on the football pitch every Saturday there would be hardly any ****er left! I can't remember if Tamas got sent off for that challenge but the referee is quite rightly the arbitrator of justice on the football pitch. We don't want the Police getting involved FFS!
there is a difference between a rash challenge and aiming to injure someone though. this case was the latter, as was the ferguson case. and no, he wasn't sent off but he was suspended for four games if i remember correctly for violent behaviour cos the ref that day was a total dick. seem to recall someone on national radio questioning at the time why the police weren't involved, so serious was the offence.
So he served his punishment under the supervision of the FA which is the governing body. It would be bizarre in the extreme if criminal charges were then brought! You would have to prove intent and pre meditation which would be very hard to do and there wouldn't really be a case to answer through lack of evidence. Our judicial system is clogged up as it is!
i'm not suggesting that they should be charged, i'm saying its weird how some are and others aren't. where is the line drawn? this was the worst attack i've ever seen in the flesh on a football pitch and worse than some of the things you see down prince of wales road on a saturday night which do land you in court on assault charges. i just find it surprising.
You think that's bad, just watch an average Rugby match on a Saturday and the things that go on in the scrum when the ref isn't looking! Rugby is far more brutal yet rarely do players get severely punished!
A somewhat belated response to your question Supers, I've been sooooo busy at work. (Recession ? What recession ? I've taken thousands in orders today, loadsa money !!!!). I was in my twenties then so I remember it vividly mate, a player had to virtually cripple an opponent to even get booked back then !! It was a major talking point all week if anyone got sent off, it was so rare ! I know it sounds cliched but it really was a man's game back in the day. I don't really think the re-introduction of cards improved anything, as someone has previously stated, the referee didn't make rash decisions and inevitably 22 players remained on the pitch for the whole 90 minutes
Yep, he broke Glenn Cockerill's jaw with a single punch as I recall. Not sure if he went to prison, but he was certainly sent off!
.......he was, indeed, sent off but not with a waving of a red card, but by the ref pointing to the dressing room.
