*** A PFCSWSC photographic chronicle of ALL Portsmouth FC competitive fixtures played from Seasons 2006/07 until 2015/16 ***

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Ben Thatcher Assault

Having listened to The Quay Radio broadcast via the internet last night and the incident with Pedro Mendes v Ben Thatcher I was moved to write. I waited patiently to see the clash on Match of the Day. Shortly before midnight Pompey's match was (finally) shown. The elbow challenge by Ben Thatcher wasn't football, but common assault.

Why in this day and age do we rely only on the referee and his assistant?! What was the third official doing? They are wired up after all!

They can also refer to TV video clips of the incident to get the right result. This could have been dealt with whilst Pedro was sent to hospital etc.
But no. Football (The Premier League) does not require this evidence as the officials "can cope". They must be joking!

Rugby, NHL Ice Hockey, Cricket and Athletics all have video replays and decisions made by the Third Officials. For example, a few years ago an NHL player back checked a forward and broke his neck and received a year's ban and loss of his salary. Actually I felt even this was too lenient - should have been banned for life.

Come on Premier League, stop burying your head in the sand - get it sorted out!

Also, that handball in the City area - were the officials on the pitch the only ones not to see it??

It's about time retrospective decisions and points given / deducted are made by the FA. I quote from Sky Sports News: "if a player is booked by the official, then no further action is necessary". Can this be really true?


But, away from the above, well done Pompey - brightest start to the Premiership since the first season.
Thanks must go the Alexandre, Milan, Harry and all his staff and players.

Finally, thanks to Sol and David for deciding to work at Pompey.

PUP

Mark Blackmore
PFCSWSC

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mark , Im glad youve made the distinction between a tackle and a full blooded assault. Im time honoured fashion the Guardian has an on line forum on the lines of should he / should he not be banned. Barry Glendenning has ( I Hope ) played devils advocate to say not. Myself ( pfcdenis) and others say yes, jail , and throw away the keys. See the debate and contribute to it by clicking
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/08/24/the_big_debate_1.html

DEN