Ever since John Fashanu broke the jaw of Tottenham's Gary Mabbutt and got away with it a few years ago, the use of the elbow or forearm seems to be one of those less attractive increasing traits in the game. Surprisingly it is also apparently seen by some top managers as perfectly acceptable.
For example, Craig Brown, Manager of Scotland, defended his skipper last week. Colin Hendry smashed his elbow not once but twice into the face of an opponent in the World Cup qualifying match against San Marino. "If you had someone tugging at your shirt," he asked, "What would you do?" Well hopefully Mr Brown, I wouldn't smash him in the face so hard that he was rendered unconscious and in need of hospital treatment.
Last season a similar but even more cynical foul was committed by
Brian Deane of Middlesborough. The referee had given a free kick to Middlesborough just outside the Sunderland penalty area about ten yards from the goal line. The referee, as seems inevitable, had to go over and persuade the wall to retreat the full distance.
While he was doing this, Brian Deane who was waiting in the goal area, deliberately smashed his elbow into the face of a Sunderland player. The referee had to sort out the commotion that this caused but',as neither he or his assistant referee had seen it, there was no action he could take. Very similar to the incident in the Scotland-San Marino game and, like
Colin Hendry's indiscretion, it was caught by the television camera. The F.A. asked for a copy of the video and disciplinary action was taken against
Brian Deane.
The attitude of Brian Robson, the Middlesborough manager was most enlightening. First of all he felt that the F.A. should leave such incidents to the
referee. This you might think odd coming from a Premiership manager. Usually they are only too quick to ask for video evidence when they think a referee has made a mistake in getting out the red card.
"It was just two players getting involved," he carried on, "it's been going on for years. One player is going to come off worse, but both players have got to hope that the referee doesn't see it".
Doesn't it seem strange, if this sort of behaviour is just part of the game, that managers complain that referees show too many red cards? The only wonder is that there isn't more. What Brian Robson was saying, which now seems to be backed up by Craig Brown, was that the F.A. and FIFA have got to accept that this type of violence is normal in the professional game, and the only time it should be punished is if it is seen by the referee.
There is another view of course. This is the belief that this type of behaviour has no place in the game, and that it should be stamped out when ever it appears and however it is detected. I am glad that despite objections from the clubs, the F.A. have this season set up a video review panel to consider offences not detected by the referee but caught on camera.
We should remember that we are not talking about a question of interpretation. This is not a referee failing to take action because he saw an incident in a different light. It is deliberate violence which has been committed behind his
back
It might be worth recording that the German F.A. have no qualms about using television when it comes to disciplining players. They first convicted players on T.V. evidence alone, for misconduct not seen by the referee as long ago as 1981. It doesn't seem to have done the German game any harm. Let's face it, they've won three times the number of World Cups that we have.
Dick Sawdon Smith