Association Football is 150 years old and still we are seeing things that boggle our eyes. Straight away though I started thinking about consistency. It would've been a red card if the ball was in active play and he'd kicked a player in the ribs. The ball wasn't in play though. And he wasnt going for the ball. So surely this is more on a par with Cantona's air kick? I don't have confidence in the authorities to be consistent when these things happen. And in this case Eden Hazard is probably not above the law either. What do others think should happen?
I think it's the funniest thing i've seen since Cantonas kung fu kick...as for the punishment, he should be banned for a year, should be made to do community service (pick up litter in the stadium) and be made to apologise publicly to Hazard for not giving his ball back!!
No sympathy for the ball boy at all, IMO he deserved a kick in the ribs for his actions and got exactly that!
No football player should be above the law and watching the incident a few times it is common assault and the ball boy should press charges.
Big difference between Cantona and Hazard...Cantona had already received the red and then then attacked the Palace fan while leaving the field of play, Hazard's offence was dealt with by the referee while he was still on the field of play, so there can be no retrospective punishment above the red card by the FA... I'd have had both the ****s hanged, drawn and quartered, but unfortunately football's moved on since the good old days...
Warky, you are right hazard will face charges from this not just from the FA.....I do have an issue with the ball boys actions though, he clearly was not doing his best to get the ball back in play in a timely fashion. Time wasting all game was not dealt with by the ref, week in week out we see keepers holding on to the ball for well over 6 seconds, one of the laws of the game that is always ignored....Apparently on Twitter the lad has been saying he was going to try to waste time if he got the opportunity tonight.
I don't have any issue with the ballboy. If Hazard doesn't get involved he'd have the ball back in five seconds. He pushes and shoves and gets tangled so the lad goes over. Then Hazard gives him a deliberate kick in the ribs. It's not on the ballboy at all. He has just done what tens of thousands of ballboys, fans and players have done before him and wasted a couple of seconds. It's up to the ref to add it on if he sees fit.
I think the kid should be charged with being the worst child actor in history. If I was Hazard, i'd have gone for a head shot.
A) The kid was a complete bellend and deserved everything he got. B) The kid wasn't hurt anyway he just rolled around for dramatic effect. That is all I have to say on this tonight.
