04/25/24
April 02, 2005
Two EPL players sent off for fighting this weekend.: They were on the same team. Newcastle, to be exact. Not exactly the brightest bulbs in the box. Of course, Lee Bowyer was one of them. The other, Kieron Dyer. Shortcut to the Punch-up picture gallery.
posted by worldcup2002 to soccer at 04:15 PM - 19 comments
hmmm. i never knew or noticed that the cards refs hold are circular. or is this one of Blatter's innovations?
posted by gspm at 06:07 PM on April 02, 2005
What the hell were they thinking?!
posted by StarFucker at 07:29 PM on April 02, 2005
For those interested/curious, here's a clip (.mpg) of the fight from the broadcast on Canal+.. I think it's especially funny that they'd already had a man sent off 10 minutes earlier. 11 on 8? Yikes. I was also surprised to see the circular red card. Not sure how long they've been doing that..
posted by blarp at 08:31 PM on April 02, 2005
Anybody have any idea what it was all about? Other than just, "I dcn't like you"?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 08:54 PM on April 02, 2005
What language is that clip, blarp?
posted by dusted at 10:26 PM on April 02, 2005
hmmm. i never knew or noticed that the cards refs hold are circular. or is this one of Blatter's innovations? The red has always been circular, in my memory. And as you might expect, the local radio commentary for the Middlesbrough match expressed some amusement at today's skunk-on-skunk aggro.
posted by etagloh at 10:31 PM on April 02, 2005
dusted: I'm guessing Swedish, but I really have no idea. I could've sworn I heard a "bork" in there.
posted by blarp at 10:38 PM on April 02, 2005
This ain't nothin' new to me! At my old high school, two teammates on the men's basketball team began fighting with each other midway through the fourth quarter! I wasn't there, but I saw the video of the incident and it was the damnedest thing I ever saw! And Newcastle was having such a run of good play lately! I may have to change my pick to Man United in the FA Cup if things don't go better next week!
posted by jasonbondshow at 11:28 PM on April 02, 2005
At least none of the Newcastle players had to wear an electronic ankle bracelet. Still, I had to look twice when I saw this headline, 11 on 8 indeed.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:58 PM on April 02, 2005
btw, Bowyer started it. And when they apologized yesterday, both players said sorry to everyone but each other. Brilliant.
posted by worldcup2002 at 12:07 PM on April 03, 2005
Now they're being called to the Principal's office and could even face the sack. WTF happened to Newcastle this season? The last few years they've been in the top five and now will be lucky to finish in the top half.
posted by billsaysthis at 01:57 PM on April 03, 2005
hmmm. i never knew or noticed that the cards refs hold are circular. or is this one of Blatter's innovations? The red has always been circular, in my memory. Cards in football always used to be rectangular, at least in England. The different shapes are now there to aid the colour blind. I think this idea was first used in (field) hockey where there is a green, yellow and red card. Triangle, rectangle and circle if memory serves.
posted by owlhouse at 05:30 PM on April 03, 2005
Speaking as a qualified ref... The red card is circular, so the referee knows which card he's about to pull out of his pocket. It's pretty embarrassing to book someone while brandishing a red card.
posted by salmacis at 06:49 PM on April 03, 2005
This just proves that some refs are colour blind as well, something i always suspected...:)
posted by owlhouse at 01:41 AM on April 04, 2005
After been allegedly involved in a race-related attack, various elbowing storms AND clearly stamping quite deliberately on an opponent's head, isn't it about high time Bowyer was sent packing from professional football? What exactly does he have to do to earn more substantial punishment, pack a weapon? God knows, the guy's hardly kicked a decent ball in 3 or 4 years. He was always so criminally overrated anyway, and is still dining out on one good season from back when referees wore blazers and a pint cost tuppence. According to a radio rreport on Saturday, the row erupted shortly after Dyer had made a run into open space and Bowyer opted out of passing to him. Dyer took umbrage and verbal became physical. I don't know if that's gospel, but that's what TalkSport UK said on Saturday. I can't help but think a small fine, a public apology and a 3 match ban is insufficient for bringing the game into disrepute, striking a team-mate and making your club a laughing stock. Again.
posted by Duncan Mathers at 11:20 AM on April 04, 2005
For what it's worth, I heard that Dyer hadn't been passing it to Bowyer, and Bowyer eventually flipped out. Additionally, a fine of 250000GBP is not small. Seems pretty substantial to me..
posted by blarp at 06:00 PM on April 04, 2005
"Anybody have any idea what it was all about? Other than just, "I dcn't like you"?" Newcastle had been on a good run and were expected to beat a very average Villa side, especially with all the glee surrounding the Alan Shearer not retiring story. When the game went against them, I imagine they got a bit frustrated. Then Stephen Taylor was sent off in hilarious fashion, when he handled a goal-bound shot, then dived to the floor holding his chest like a shot cowboy going over a high railing in any number of westerns. Then came a couple of penalty claims for Newcastle which were ignored by the ref, before the man in black gave Villa another penalty to make it 3-0. After that, Bowyer gave Dyer some verbal abuse for not passing the ball to him twice and then it all kicked off. Dyer's not exactly an angel and Bowyer is just a thug, so I'm not overly surprised that they went for eachother. I'd probably look to hit someone if I was turned over 3-0 by the Villa too.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 05:38 AM on April 05, 2005
I was reading Bowyer's disciplinary history in a newspaper the other day........this guy would be locked up if he did any other job. He's a complete and utter waste of space. I wish Dyer had flattened him (not that I'm a big admirer of Kieron Dyer mind you)
posted by Duncan Mathers at 06:57 AM on April 08, 2005
I'm surprised to see the opposition players get involved in trying to separate them. You'd think that might (accidentally) lead to a real fracas as one of the original combatants might turn on the opposing player, leading to more people from both teams getting into it.