Hey Roy here’s the thing, Shawcross was ‘careless’ with tackle and maimed a player, then he should be off. Intent has nothing to do with it. You as a player are responsible for the actions and consequences of your body on the field of play. In hockey if you accidentally touch another player’s face with your stick then you are off because you are responsible for your stick and whatever consequence occurs with its use. Whoever broke your leg should been given a straight red as well because they were probably just as ‘careless’ as Shawcross. Shawcross is working on getting his leg breaking skill down to a science since it’s his second one.

Martin Samuel, someone in the British media who gets it: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1254454/MARTIN-SAMUEL-Now-Aaron-Ramsey–broken-legs-chance.html

Ah yes, Lee Bowyer. He gave a recent interview where he states that he’s grown up and more mature than he once was. He is after all in his early 30′s now. He wants people to forget what he was and see what he’s become. He’s a father now, he’s scoring goals he’s a team leader and he’s trying to clean up his legacy. As Joe Biden said to Dick Cheney: “don’t try to rewrite history”.

I remember a similar ‘whitewash’ interview given by Joey Barton just before he pummeled a kid outside a McDonald’s in a drunken rage and was finally sent to prison. Then there is Steven Gerrard’s drunken escapade that he escaped punishment for. There is a class of people in British footabll who were it not for football would either be dead or in prison. These people are now given ‘license’ by their ‘mob boss’ managers to go out and ‘protect’ their ‘turf’ by breaking foreign gang members legs. Except for the missing scar, Allardyce could be Al Capone and McLeish could be Bugsy Moran.

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/2194/horrifictackle1.jpg

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4702/horrifictackle2.jpg

A lunge, high and late. Unnecessary force behind the challenge.