I am an avid sports watcher and I would just like to comment on two incidents over the weekend that have caught my eye and made me think about what is going on.
First of all, on Friday night (UK time), Leeds were playing Sheffield Wednesday in a South Yorkshire derby. In other words a football game. After Leeds scored, a few Leeds supporters came on to the ground after their team had scored with one coming up to the goalkeeper and pushing him quite violently in the face. The shock value alone would have been enough to hurt him and he needed medical attention.
Here is my take on this, this kind of action is disgusting and is a disgrace for football in the United Kingdom. It is assault and the guy should be put in prison as far as I am concerned.
What can Leeds United and more specifically, English football do, so that this kind of incident never happens again.
1. Ban the guy for life and also ban some of his mates. Make an example of him and then show that that kind of abuse won't be tolerated and do it harshly. A pre-emptive strike so to speak. You would have to be a complete moron not to take any notice of that.
2. Play in front of empty stadiums. Unfortunately this is punishing the 98% of the fans who are there for the football and will be a big hit in the accounts of the football clubs but drastic times require drastic measures.
3. I know that after the Hillsborough tragedy, fences are not allowed but if players are continuing to be under threat from spectators then they may not have a choice.
4. Hire the local rugby team to stand behind the goals and act as bouncers and give them permission to smash anyone who dares come on the field. The rugby players will be wearing boots so if a spectator does come on then they have an advantage. The boots can also be used for rucking the offender.
5. Rather than a fence, they could have a net in front of the spectators. This net can be lowered at the touch of a button. It is also build quite high so the ball doesn't get lost amongst the spectators.
I don't know whether these ideas will work because in the UK, it seems that football is not a matter of life or death, it is more important than that. Maybe the problem is not just a football one but a society one on a whole. Some of the people who watch the matches seem to have a couple of screws loose.
The next incident I want to comment on is from a rugby match on Saturday in the town of Pukekohe, just south of Auckland in New Zealand. Counties Manukau was playing Southland in the semi-final of the championship section of the National Provincial Rugby Competition. In the first half, one of the Southland players was shown to be lying on the ground, apparently injured. He was put on a stretcher and carried off the ground.
It come through after the game that the player has suffered a cardiac arrest and was in an induced coma in an Auckland hospital. I wish that he has a speedy recovery and even if he can't play rugby again I hope that he has a long life in the sport that he obviously loves.
The first thing I want to comment on is the comparison between what happened with Fabrice Muamba earlier this year and this incident. After Fabrice Muamba was carried off the ground, the football game was stopped and his club, Bolton even postponed their following game. Yesterday's game continued as usual.
What I'm thinking about what does that say about the differences between football and rugby and even British society and New Zealand society? I can't work it out. I think the football game was right to be stopped, because at the end of the day human life is more important that anything else, while the rugby episode showed that life does go on. It is confusing.
Anyway, I'm glad to see that Fabrice Muamba has made a fantastic recovery. Lets hope that the Southland player can make a similar recovery and if he can't play again he can coach which he wants to do.
Rugby people in New Zealand are blaming the condensed nature of the competition and the fact that rugby is a physical game the stress on the body is quite high.
What can the rugby officials do to make the competition less stressful on the players:
1. Have a minimum of 6 days between games for teams.
2. Scrap mid-week games and only play Friday through Monday.
3. Increase the numbers in a team from 22 to 24.
4. Have 4 quarters of 20 minutes each instead of 2 halves of 40 minutes with ample drinks breaks. (The traditionalists are going to hate this.)
5. Play games earlier in the year.
For people who want to here are some videos of the two incidents.
Football: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9xElKblt5E
Rugby: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/provincial/7844177/Southland-star-serious-after-collapsing-on-field
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