Congratulations to the Football Association.
After years of tireless work, you have identified the real menace to the beautiful game: a teenager who got upset after being clattered.
Not the clatter itself, of course. That was fine. A poor challenge, the kind that could have put a young player on the treatment table for a serious stretch, barely registers on the FA’s outrage meter. Boys will be boys, and tackles will be late. Besides, who needs knee ligaments?
And the refereeing? Weak? yes, but let’s not be harsh. Officials are only human, and the FA is clearly a forgiving institution. It forgives bad challenges, forgives missed calls and forgives the whole mess, right up until a 16-year-old reacts to it.
Then it springs into action. Three games. Swift, decisive and almost impressive in its misplaced energy.
The message to every young player in the country is crystal clear:
If someone goes through the back of you, take it like a professional.
Smile and say thank you.
If you must express a human emotion, please do it quietly, in a small room, away from cameras and disciplinary panels.
A bit of understanding for Max Dowman was all this called for.
A kid got hurt, or nearly did, and reacted in the heat of the moment.
A sensible governing body would have seen the context, had a word and moved on. Instead we got the sledgehammer, swung at the one person in the story who was on the receiving end.
The FA talks a lot about protecting players, particularly young ones.
It’s on the posters, in the press releases and no doubt in a very nice strategy document somewhere. But protection apparently means shielding players from the consequences of their reactions, not from the actions that provoke them.
So well done. Priorities perfectly in order: tolerate the dangerous tackle, shrug at the refereeing and come down hard on the kid.
Protect Players, the FA says.
Just not from this.
English by birth, Australian by choice. Traffic Engineer, Arsenal ST Holder, Sun DreamTeam Winner, Writer on @GunnersTown, Depeche Mode, Welcome to my world…
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