This blog was going to be complimentary about Newcastle United. Granted this is somewhat of a departure into previously uncharted territory for me given my history with the Toon and their followers. 47,000 still packing out St James’ Park for a televised match on a Sunday afternoon and with relegation still not out of the question is admirable in comparison with attendances at some other Premier League grounds. But the idea of a positive slant on NUFC vanished on 44 minutes of the Newcastle-Everton match. Kevin Nolan changed all of that.
The challenge on Victor Anichebe was rightly rewarded with a straight red card. It was horrific, it was diabolical, it was, well, deserving of a ban somewhat longer than 3 matches.
There have been many such challenges in the past. If nothing is done to stamp out acts of violence, and that is what they are, then there will be more in the future resulting in the type of injuries sustained by the likes of Eduardo and David Busst (although neither sustained their injuries through a two-footed lunge).
So let me set the record straight before I go any further. It is the tackle I am writing about, not specifically Kevin Nolan. It just so happens that he was the culprit this time around.
The laws of the game are there to enable fair play. They are also there to lay out the punishments to be dished out to those who infringe the law. A booking for kicking the ball away in dissent, a straight red card for a professional foul, a three match ban for a dismissal for violent conduct, a reprieve from relegation for ignoring transfer rules (West Ham Utd – sorry – had to get that in). It is a sad fact that the laws of the game, written well over a century ago and amended countless times since, are simply not keeping up with the game and are woefully inadequate to cope with the speed of today’s football and the amount of money that rests upon almost every result.
The type of tackle that the former Bolton man made today should be punished by a lengthy ban and I’m not talking 3 games. Such challenges could be career-ending. I have written before about how a minimum ban should be enhanced depending on the injury sustained. If a player is out for two months, then the man who caused the injury should play no part in the game until the return of the party on the receiving end. Granted this should also have a maximum term but some way to rid the game of one of the blights one it must be found. It ranks alongside diving and the inability to deal out retrospective punishment for misdemeanors missed by officials as one of the main bug-bears I have with English football in general.
Kevin Nolan will be roundly and rightly condemned for his abhorration of a tackle. But it has happened before and it’ll happen again, and again, and again……..until the punishment is deemed to outweigh the crime to such an extent that even the most hardened Sunday League-style midfielder will think twice before launching into a tackle which has more chance of taking someone‘s leg off than winning the ball.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Although it is a horrible challenge, Nolan took full responsibility for his actions. He waited to appologise for the challenge in the tunnel. If he did it again then it should be looked into but his 3 match ban is only what he deserves, nothing more. Why? Nolan isn’t known for these types of challenges, he made sure he appologised and made it public. He is a respected footballer who made one mistake unlike his team mate Joey Barton and also i am not a Newcastle Supporter. I don’t agree with a career ban for one of these challenges, it’s part of the game and always will be. Everyone makes mistakes, unfortunately he jumped in on Anichebe’s outstretched leg and caught him, he didn’t want to purposefully hurt him just caught him at the wrong time.
Players like that just don’t deserve to play football. Those Vinnie Jones wannabe should be banned for good, ’cause they’re not football players. They don’t have any skills an their only way of participating in a game is sharing their savage behavior. Clearly he wanted to break Anichebe’s leg. Sometimes people just think it’s allright, since Anichebe is Anichebe. If it was Anichebe tackling Rooney or Lampard, I’d like to see how people would deal with this…
I absolutely disagree with Nick and will go with the author’s opinion – such challenges must be punished by a much more severe penalty than a 3 match ban. It does not matter if Nolan is not known for these kind of tackles, the matter is that he went full on with both of his straight legs to stop Anichebe nowhere close to the ball. Regardless of anybody’s personal record such horrific challenges must be stopped at any cost, be it suspending players for the rest of the season if that’s what it takes. I can’t even imagine the feeling of your life’s work and passion taken away in a flash of a second by some careless individual.
I agree with milk and chris N. That tackle was sick. It didnt look like Nolan was trying to play the ball.
Serious consequence have to be taken when these cind of tackles are made.
My dear brother Nikk. there is no relationship between jumping and mistakenly catching him on the leg. you dont jump on somebodies leg to tackle him. tackles will always be a part of the game but jumping on someones leg is not part of the game.as for him apologizing, well, he already did what he wanted to do right,so why not apologize. is he sincere, i dont think so.i think it is part of a publicity stunt to fool the public.the author is totally right. and i agree with the other comments made here.re-evaluate and think if someone just took away your career and passion in that one second.is it part of the game?
this is part and parcel of football.. i see worse challenges in my five a side league nights and we get up and run it off.. obv that guy from arsenal just got some very bad luck and if that happens the player gets a band and maybe a fine – A dont think any player intends to hurt any player on purpose.
Ok i obviously didn’t make myself clear, i didn’t agree with the career ban as one mistake could ruin a player..but is Nolan going to do this again? Probably not! It was just a late challenge, just be happy that Anichebe isn’t out of football for life. The only problem with that challenge is that he jumped in, if he didn’t jump it’s not even a red, it’s only one mistake by him. I’m not complaining about the challenge, it is disgraceful. I really don’t see it intentional, from looking at the videos several time and the picture above Nolan is trying to pull away, he knew he done wrong as soon as he was going in at the speed and Anichebe probaly would of come off worse if it wasn’t for Nolans reaction. I’m not using this as a excuse as it deserved a red.
Nick Griffin, i do hope that your statement is some kind of sick joke?
Nikk
Please re-read the article. I didn’t call for a career ban – I actually said that there should be a maximum term which means exactly the opposite of that. I know that you cannot take away the rest of someone’s career but they should at least serve a decent ban as a harsh deterrent. For example (and one close to my heart) if Lee Cattermole had been to blame for Didier Digard’s injury on Saturday (instead of winning the ball in a very hard but fair tackle) then if Digard is as expected out for the season then a maximum term of say 10 or 12 games should apply.
Oh, and Nick Griffin – please leave such comments for someone else’s blog – don’t lower the tone of mine with such ****.
Great article again
I’ve deleted that Griffin comment, unfortunately ones like that will slide through if a human types them as opposed to a robot, we tend to catch them quickly though.
I think a 12 game maximum ban would be an excellent idea, it might start making people think before they lunge in with these horrendous challenges – nobody wants to see people getting Eduardo-like injuries.
Re-read it again and i’m sure you said career ban the first time! But Yeah it doesn’t so i will appologise. I will agree with a extended ban for these types of challenges and i think it’s not long till it happens. They’ve only just brought in the red card for these types of challenges if you think about it. 5 Years of this would of resulted in a yellow card but i think they are changing the rules so that if it’s a over the top challenge the ban will result in being doubled or something. I read it somewhere. But yeah i did think you meant if someone does this type of challenge they should be banned from football for life which i think is a bit harsh but yeah a increased length on the ban of like a extra 6 games would be appropriate. Good article.
Nikk
Thanks for the comment and the feedback. Always happy to receive both AND to be told that I’m not always right (which in this game we usually always think we are) but I know I’m not – well, maybe only 99% of the time. And before anyone else comments – that is what’s known in the trade as ’sarcasm’ (not to you Nikk – to myself).
Cheers
yh nolan is a great player and he will be for newcastle. he is a top quality player. this always happens in football like the challenge from martin tayler on eduardo i dont think he wanted to hurt him but just like nolan he got the timing completly wrong in his challenge and yh he apoligised in public. and for everton he wishes that achibe will make a full recovery when hes back
and because of that nolan missed the next match against his former club bolton where her spent a long time at. and he really wanted to be a playing for newcastle butr at the end of the rules are rules
lol mised day out so at the end of the day rules are rules
abnd its just like in 2002 when cisse was playing for liverpool playing against blackburn in the 2-2 he was just outside thje penalty area then a blackburn player tried to get the ball but got cisses leg always in football bad things happen to players