Foul Play
‘FOR every action there is a reaction, as Roy Keane and Ashley Cole are discovering. In the Sun, we find that Keane is facing a ban of up to four games after admitting in his autobiography that he deliberately fouled Manchester City’s Alf-Inge Haaland.
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| ”Surely that handstand deserved two points?” |
”The FA will charge Keane with misconduct as soon as the player’s controversial autobiography goes on sale in a fortnight,” it writes. The FA takes ”a dim view of what they see as glorifying the incident in his book”, and is under pressure from City and Haaland – who are also pursuing legal action against Keane and United – to penalise Keane further.
”In a bid to send out a strong message to the rest of football, they intend to impose a ban on Manchester United’s captain rather than a fine,” says the Sun. Good to see that the FA has finally learned the lesson that fining sportsmen who make more in a week than most people make in a year isn’t exactly acting as a deterrent.
But will Keane learn his lesson? And what about Ashley Cole?
The Mirror reports that ”Cole faces cheat rap” and could be hauled before the FA after referee Mike Riley rescinded the red card given to Birmingham’s Aliou Cisse on the weekend.
Riley watched video replays of ”Cole’s theatrical response to Cisse’s attempted challenge” and overturned his decision, and now senior figures at the FA are considering taking action against the young England player.
”There is a growing feeling that a stand has to be taken on incidents where players are deemed to have deliberately engineered bookings and dismissals for opponents,” writes the Mirror. ”And Cole, whose reputation has been sullied by a series of accusations over the past 12 months, now faces the shame of being the first player charged on video evidence this season.”
Kanukai Jackson, winner of two gymnastics gold medals in Manchester, has also been reviewing videos – but to rate the weekend’s goal celebrations for the Guardian.
Scoring eight out of 10 is Newcastle United’s Lomano Lua-Lua, who has ”set a high standard for the rest of the Premiership to follow” but needs to work on his backflip technique. His team-mate Alan Shearer’s ”very dull routine” only scored him one point, despite his experience in celebrating goals.
Robbie Keane scored five points for his celebration after scoring for Leeds, though Jackson notes that his combination round-off and handspring would be ”bordering on an illegal move in competition”. He recommends that Robbie add a bit more variety to his routine.
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s John Arne Riise notched up four points with the judge for swinging his shirt during his goal celebration, but comes in for the harshest criticism.
His performance, says Jackson, was veering ”towards rhythmic gymnastics – which I’m sorry to tell him is strictly for women”. ‘
Posted: 21st, August 2002 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
