Re: Disciplinary results : Tue May 29, 2012 8:56 am
Saddened! wrote:
A punch to the head can kill. It's always going to happen, but that doesn't mean it should be condoned or justified. Entertaining for the fans, but we'd think differently if something bad happened, wouldn't we.
I'm quite sure Magennis didn't get up that morning thinking he'd king-hit a pie-eater. It's very unlikely he was thinking such sixty seconds before the incident occurred and I'm willing to bet he felt very sorry after. Fighting is an unavoidable function of a very, very tough game. A team is losing, an incident occurs somewhere on the pitch, tempers boil over, the red mist descends and suddenly you have a whole load of people thinking outside their normal, rational patterns of behaviour. Had Magennis cold-cocked the kid as he was walking out of the tunnel I'd think differently as there would be clear premeditation.
Yes, a punch can kill - but so can any number of other actions. Hell, sportsmen have been known to keel over and die without a finger being laid upon them.
Ultimately it's about where you draw the line (not to mention whether a player accepts the risks and is willing to play regardless). Watching the incident again I saw NOTHING (from players on either side) to stir any card other than yellow (two young packs of testosterone-fuelled stags letting off steam). It's a travesty that such a relatively minor incident has the governing body handing out whopping bans.
I mean, let's just cut the sport's balls off and have done with it.
