To: The Football Editor, Guardian FootballUnlimited.
I refer to Richard Williams' piece on the Manchester United vs Arsenal game. Yes, I am a Manchester United fan, but I also pride myself on trying to view incidents on the pitch as objectively as possible. In the present case, I can't help feeling that Mr Williams has got it completely wrong. While it is true that a good referee would allow for the fact that a big tie like this one would normally feature a number of 'full-blooded' tackles and hence should be judicious in doling out yellow cards, the same argument cannot possibly be correctly applied to acts of petulance, retaliation or violence - Patrick Viera's lashing out of his foot at Ruud van Nistelrooy, in my opinion, qualifies for all three. I would also add that, both in the Community Shield and in last night's match, the acts of retaliation were all coming from one side - Arsenal. A side that has consistently shown a lack (or complete absence?) of discipline and self-control over the past few seasons. For referee Mr Bennett to adopt the approach prescribed by Mr Williams would mean that one team would be getting away with such acts of violence, whilst the other team is expected to simply grin (or grimace) and bear it. Surely, that cannot be the case. Finally, I wonder how Mr Williams would seek to justify the snarling, thuggish behaviour exhibited by certain Arsenal players immediately after the game. Does the blame for such behaviour also fall upon Mr Bennett's shoulders? Or on Ruud van Nistelrooy's? Or should the blame rightly fall upon the players themselves, and also the manager who has abjectly failed to instill any sense of responsibility and accountability in them? By the way, I find it hard to comprehend how Mr Williams can describe Martin Keown's leap at the end of the game as a 'leap of joy'. To me, it was clearly a leap of unbridled, unthinking aggression, intended to do nothing other than humiliate and intimidate Ruud van Nistelrooy. In short, Mr Williams is clearly defending the inexcusable. Just as Arsene Wenger has done time after time. Thank you for your time, Christopher Ong. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Special Sale: 50% off ReplayTV Easily record your favorite shows! CNet Ranked #1 over Tivo! http://us.click.yahoo.com/WUMW7B/85qGAA/ySSFAA/GtUolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Subscription info WWW http://red11.org/list Reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] = subscribe to the list. [EMAIL PROTECTED] = unsubscribe from the list. Post message [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
