Two England U21s player are amongst the 12 people that are going to be charged by the Serbian police, following the disgraceful scenes at the end of the 1-0 victory there. They're all being charged with having "committed an act of violence during a sports event". 5 Serbian players and the assistant coaches of both sides are also part of the dozen. It's not known which two English players it is, though. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20147610
I saw that and wondered if the club would comment. Danny should post his 'piss off' letter with Croatian stamps.
I'm not Suprised,the Serb's are still trying to shift the blame,even though 2 of their player's have been banned for 2 year's for their part in it.
Shocking. I believe the extradition treaty we have with Serbia is no different than the one we have with the USA (go Wikipedia!). The CPS now have to decide whether to issue an arrest warrant for our two players. This cannot happen, can it?
Just seen that a few days ago they banned 2 of their players from playing for the national team at any level for a year and 2 coaches have got 2 year bans. Well at least they're not in total denial anymore, although I do worry that it's just to try and convince UEFA that they can sort out the punishments themselves.
If the whole country (nearly forgot the "o" there!) is not banned for at lest 2 senior tournaments, then there is something very wrong with the game. Or should I say, is even worse than I thought.
Twelve charged, and naturally the English press goes with the two English players charged, rather than the five Serbian players. Get over it, the Empire is long gone...
I haven't seen any footage where our players were actually doing anything wrong so I can't understand why they would be charged.
There's a few flying between 0:43-1:05 [video=youtube;HOSxKJnJGVg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOSxKJnJGVg[/video]
For once, I think you are wide of the mark here. All I see is English players being attacked and defending themselves. Why would England kick off after a game they had just won and qualified for the tournament? Are you also seeking to criticise the reaction to the chanting against the black players - should they just accept being called sub-human by a baying crowd. It is Serbia who have questions to answer and no amount of diversionary tactics from the Serbian authorities will change that.
There's not a single shot of an England player throwing a punch during that period. Caulker (5) and Lees (14) both try to stop Ninkovic (20) from getting to Rose and both are attacked for it. I hope that Markovic (11) isn't one of those charged, as he seemed to be trying to play the peacemaker throughout. Seemed quite embarrassed and apologetic. I'd suggest that the only England player that showed any aggression was Sordell right at the end, though you can't really see it on that clip. Wigley lost his cool too, but only after being headbutted. Given the way that they were being hounded down that tunnel, I'd say that criminal charges are quite ridiculous.
While these particular charges seem way OTT, I've never understood how players fighting on the field don't ever get arrested for the criminal offence they are undoubtedly committing.
0:45 - England number 5 0:47 - England number 14 0:54 - England number 4 The third one is a clear swing.
0.45 is clearly Caulker trying to prevent Ninkovic, one of those who's already banned, from going around him to get to Rose. He gets pushed in the back by one of their coaches and puts his arm out. Nothing like a punch. 0.47 is Lees putting his arms around Ninkovic and guiding him away from Rose. Again, nothing like a punch and it's clearly not a hostile action, either. 0.54 is Lowe being spun round by one of the Serbian coaches, who's trying to break it up. You'll notice that there's nobody to the left at all, so who's Lowe supposed to be swinging at?
He certainly shoves the Serbian number 20 twice in that period. He runs several yards before bundling into the Serbia number 20. The guy in the fluorescent bib with the Serbian shorts on to his right, who reacts to the swing coming at him.
The England players (certainly Caulker and Lees) clearly make contact which, if you follow the letter of the law, is something that they should be charged with - as I said in the original topic, UEFA are doing that rather than using common sense.
