Nigel De…Wrong. Do Players Need More Protection?

Hatem Ben Arfa has become the latest in what is becoming a long line of players to sustain a broken leg in football from a dangerous tackle. The fact that the referee didn’t even award a free kick has however made this incident different from the others. A strong challenge from Nigel De Jong of Manchester City left the Newcastle United player with a broken fibula and tibia. De Jong has now seriously injured two players in just six months after also breaking the leg of American Stuart Holden earlier in the year.

The Dutchman’s tough play was also evident when playing for his national team; he received a yellow card in the World Cup Final after virtually karate kicking Xabi Alonso in the chest. National coach Bert van Marwijk caused some controversy by dropping De Jong from the Dutch team for the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers this week, because he ‘needlessly pushes the limit’. But should it be up to managers to protect the players on the pitch? Should there be harsher punishments for leg-breaking tackles?

One man who knows the effect of having a player with a serious injury in the team well is Arsene Wenger. Abou Diaby, Eduardo and Aaron Ramsey have all suffered serious injuries recently for Arsenal and Wenger has asked for protection from referees so many times it has almost become boring. Arsenal and France midfielder Samir Nasri has spoken out about the lack of protection for players recently. While his comments should be taken with a pinch of salt, especially with Wenger possibly keen to influence the referee ahead of a match against Manchester City (and a possibly unpunished Nigel De Jong), he does make some interesting points.

One quote that got me thinking from a referee’s point of view was about the aftermath of De Jong’s challenge. “The referee saw Hatem exit on a stretcher with an oxygen mask yet he didn’t punish De Jong. It’s that that has to change in England.” Now I’m all for more serious punishments for dangerous tackles but should referees be punishing players for what they see after the tackle has taken place? Whilst the referee probably should have punished De Jong for his dangerous tackle, he shouldn’t punish him just because the other player has a broken leg. This kind of rule just wouldn’t work in football and would make the problem of players feigning injury a lot worse.

Back to the main point. Protection of players has always been a subject for discussion in football. As I mentioned earlier I think harsher punishments is the way forward, however I fear the FA won’t quite have the courage that their Dutch counterparts have in punishing De Jong. In fact under the current rules any punishment at all would come as a big surprise, but would be a common sense move.

It is not up to the referees to give more players protection. What more can they do other than send the player off? Karl Henry’s tackle for Wolves at the weekend is a good (for want of a better word) example of a reckless tackle and he got his marching orders for it. The referee could not have done anything else within his powers to punish Henry or protect Jordi Gomez, the Wigan player who was on the receiving end.

Any move to protect players must come from the FA or FIFA. The fact that this problem seems to be more common in England (a fact Samir Nasri puts down to higher commitment than other countries) means that the solution will have to come from the FA. And judging by the success of the Respect programme, I don’t hold much hope. But that’s another story.

(pic via Chelsea Football Club on Flickr)

English Premier League, Hatem Ben Arfa, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Nigel de Jong