Quote:
Originally Posted by TroyF
This is what I don't understand at all. You ARE ONE THE SIDE of the player who kicked the ballboy? I don't understand this attitude. So the ballboy wasted time, IT DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO KICK HIM. (and please, stop it with the "he kicked the ball garbage", he made contact with the ballboy, end of story.
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Honestly, yup, although I'd characterize it more of "on the side of Hazard in the context of this thread" - i.e. I think the 3-game ban is sufficient - but that's mostly only because of the profile of the incident and the attitudes of the general public and how many would go crazy if he wasn't punished. I've never played in a game with adult-age ballboys running around, but I've made stronger physical contact than that with opponents who were trying to keep the ball away from me, and if I did anything resembling what the ballboy did when the ref had awarded the ball to the opponent I'd expect to get hit physically.
It's the responsibility of first the FA, then the referee to prevent anything like this - I didn't watch the game, but I highly doubt that this was the first incident of egregious time-wasting by that ballboy. The first time it happens in a game I play in, I'll complain to the ref, the second I'll take matters into my own hands and do what I have to to get the ball back. Here's my question - if Hazard hadn't dislodged the ball, how long would the ref have allowed the ballboy to delay getting the ball back to the GK for the goal kick?
(And for purposes of discussion, can we stop acting like he kicked a 12 year old kid who didn't know what he was doing? It was a 17 year old who knew exactly what he was doing between his pregame tweeting, to his initial reaction (falling on the ball), to his comical injury faking after.)