There are numerous reasons why players can get a red card overturned but it seems lately the main vehicle being used is the press. Over the big English papers this morning was George Boateng on his soap box trying to convince anybody that would listen that he didn’t deserve his red card at White Hart Lane on Tuesday. The Middlesborough captain is amazed that he was sent off and has argued “I didn’t hit anybody, I didn’t take a swing for anyone, I was just protecting myself”.

Now I’m interested in everyone’s take on this incident because as a Spurs fan my impartiality is questionable. However, in my view Boateng reacted badly to Aaron Lennon who is younger, shorter, less well built and probably easier to intimidate than the likes of Zokora or King. The Spurs players reacted as a team and although Zokora was sent off I am happy that the incident happened. Not happy that the brawl started but happy that the Spurs players backed one another and came to each others aid, this team ethic was what we were sorely missing last Saturday at Arsenal.

Boateng the intial aggressor now wants to appeal against his red card claiming it was not deserved and accusing Spurs players of steaming in. Its funny that the player whose reaction sparked the ensuing incident is now claiming innocence. George please dry your eyes, you reacted to a smaller player because you could and when the bigger boys came to his defence you bottled it. The FA has now charged both clubs for failure to control their players and I’m wondering whether Middlesborough will contest this decision.

Boateng’s case is to be heard today and I just hope that the fact media have highlighted the incident and George’s incessive moaning does not take away from the fact that a player deserves to be punished for inciting behaviour.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 7th, 2006 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Middlesbrough, Tottenham Hotspur. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.