Two Sides to the Story

When an incident happens opinions are quickly formed. In football if a rash tackle is made, often the most important opinion is held by the referee. Saturday was no difference, I was not in attendance at this match so my opinions have been formed thanks to video footage and the beauty of Twitter including the views of those involved. 


The incident in question occured in the 90th minute of Plymouth v Hereford on Saturday December 17. The game was petering out towards a 1-1 draw and Hereford substitute won a drop-ball and charged towards the home goal. Experienced (being an optimum word) defender Darren Purse decided it was his duty to clatter into Elder and halt his path to goal. Old-fashioned some may say however it appeared on the camera as more of an assault on Elder. 


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16124100.stm 


The 'tackle' takes place at 1:53 on the above video. 


With that tackle in mind, Purse then released this statement 


" I think their lad has gone down quite easy, and he screamed and shouted for something I didn't catch him with. But, at the end of the day, when you make tackles like that, it gives the referee the opportunity to do what he has done.

"If you're going to make tackles, you've got to win the ball. Nowadays, there are players who will go down and scream as though they have been shot to get people sent off, but that's football." 

COME ON FOR GOODNESS SAKE ! 

With Plymouth realising their experienced central defender is set to be suspended for 3 games, they had the cheek to question the referee and appeal his decision. 

The statement from Purse is just a complete lack of respect between professionals. It didn't fall into the 'good-honest challenge' category. It was a tackle that he set out to injure the striker. 

When I delve into watching UFC, I can see more respect between competitors who are paid to 'break' their opponent.

Elder has been a player to experience several career-threatening injuries, hence the reaction that he was in a lot of pain. 

Then again, I'm a Hereford supporter, so my rose-tinters may be on and my views completely subjective.