My faith is restored with The FA’s decision to overturn Paul Robinson’s red card against Manchester United.
If you are not familiar with the incident, referee Rob Styles brandished a straight red card the way of the Baggies left back for a challenge on Park Ji-sung.
The decision left West Brom players aghast and even Sir Alex Ferguson did not totally condemn Robinson, saying he had been told that from the opposite angle to him that the challenge did not look too bad.
It is an incident that has polarised opinion, we have had some pundits urging The FA to throw the book at Robinson to make it clear that such challenges will not be tolerated.
Now what tackles are they exactly? All Robinson was guilty of was being thoroughly committed to winning the ball. He demonstrated tremendous desire to win the ball and did exactly that. His punishment was a red card and West Brom went on to lose 5-0.
Whether the dismissal had any bearing on the outcome is debateable, but I think not. But it certainly did not help The Baggies.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of seeing skilful players ply their trade in this country and do not want to see them kicked out of the game.
English football is all the better for having the Ronaldos and Robinhos of this world playing over here, but there is a huge difference between players being deliberately targeted and a genuine tackle.
Robinson is a defender’s defender, a player who will not shirk the issue, and these players have a place in the game.
If The FA had deemed Robinson guilty of a red card offence, then they may as well have issued a remit outlawing tackling and deeming football a non-contact sport.
It’s nice to see that common sense prevails now and again.