Looks like he's going to be investigated more after previous challenges in reserves games.
Is it just me or is slightly unwelcome in football? I'm in no way backing up what he did, the challenge on the Pompey bloke was absolutely disgraceful but police investigations is a tad over the top if you ask me. Ban him, fine him do whatever but if the police start to get involved with things like this then it wont be long until they start getting involved with lesser challenges. Its taking away the physical aspect of the game & this along with the ref blowing up for lame challenges its starting to ruin the game.
How long is it before players refuse to go out and play (through fear) because bodies outside the game are getting involved in challenges that have been part of the game for decades?
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Where does it end? Could a sliding tackle that injures a player be taken as assault?
What about boxing? Surely that's GBH?!
What happened when Flanagan & Hales had that fight, was there a police investigation & all the hassle like there was with Bowyer & Dyer? Or was it accepted as being part of the game?
however, thatcher has proved that it wasn't a one off moment of madness by him as the reserve game earlier in the year has come to light. and also does anyone remember when he played for wimbledon at selhurst against sunderland (i think) he decked someone with an elbow and the ball wasn't even in the same half of the pitch.
i think if no action is taken against him this sort of incident may become more frequent and will be only a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured if not worse.
Players know what is possible when they enter the pitch, I am certainly not condoning what Thatcher did- if anything, the sporting authorities should have stronger powers- maybe Thatcher should just be banned for life.
The question is did he foul Mendes with the deliberate intent to cause him some injury, presumably with to either put him out of the game or reduce his will to play, and if he did then was acting with malice aforethought and the police are right to get involved. It'll be difficult to get a prosecution, the police will have to prove intent, and the only thing they have in their favour is that Thatcher made no attempt to play the ball while making sure he pile-drived straight into Mendes and as he did so bringing his arm up to strike Mendes while protecting himself.
My view is "buyer beware" - you enter the field aware of what could happen- but if the thugs appear- then punnish them to the maximum extent!
That's the issue though - how do you prove someone's acted like a 'thug' and gone in to deliberately elbow another player? Yes, a punch or a headbutt is clear - there's intent and it's deliberate. But Thatcher's incident - was it deliberate? Did he just raise his arm in defence as he had no where else to go?
(ok, Thatcher is probably a bad example, as it looks pretty likely that he went in to injure, but you catch my drift...)
Take Hermans elbow v Bolton. Was it intentional? Wasnt it?
Canadian ice hockey had a similar issue with Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore which resulted in a conviction against Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi is back playing, and Moore is still struggling with rehabilitation.