Is football too tolerant of violence?
The issue has hit the headlines after an Everton player was given a red card for his behaviour towards one of his own teammates.
The team was playing Manchester United and Michael Keane was defending in front of the Everton goal, when United spied an opportunity to score.
“He defends it at an angle from the Manchester United fans from behind the goal,” Off The Ball journalist Dan Pitcher explained on Lunchtime Live.
“You could see that he could see Michael Keen in his periphery to pass the ball to.
“But as he let the ball roll and release to Keen, Keen just stood off it and did nothing.
“Basically, Bruno Fernandez saw a huge opportunity, a massive gap, took a shot.
“It probably should have gone in but it just went wide.”
Everton's Idrissa Gueye gets a red card. Picture by: AP Photo/Dave Thompson.Dan added that this could have been “costly” for Everton and Idrissa Gana Gueye came over to remonstrate with his teammate.
“He did sort of strike him,” Dan added.
“There wasn’t a huge amount in it. The referee was looking right at them.
“He came over and made a decision straight away that that had to be a red card.”
The Everton players. Picture by: SPP Sport Press Photo. /Alamy Live News.When asked whether he personally would have sent him off, Dan said he was unsure.
“Yes and no,” he said.
“I’m involved in my local football club and kids do look up to footballers at that level.
“In the heat of a moment though, you can easily lose sight of that sort of bigger picture.
“What you don’t want is to show up to your kids’ match on a Saturday or Sunday morning and see that kind of behaviour.”
Dan noted that children are nowadays “very easily” influenced by what they see players do because they can re-watch behaviour that previously they might have seen just once on television.
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Main image: Everton's Idrissa Gueye is held back by Jordan Pickford. Picture by: Alamy.com.
