Breaking back
There aren’t that many uplifting, personal stories in the professional game but Eduardo’s return to action is certainly one. The Croatian international turned out for Arsenal this week for the first time since suffering a broken leg in February 2008. He scored twice, helped the Gunners progress to the next round of the FA Cup then dedicated his performance to his wife, daughter and family who have all supported him in his efforts to regain full fitness.' With a number of experts unsure as to whether Eduardo would ever make it back, it’s a triumph of belief for the 25 year old. It’s also a story of dedication and unswerving loyalty from the Arsenal fitness coach Tony Colbert. A great tale although one that’s doubtless soon to be replaced by the latest nightclub incident, drunk driving charge or tawdry WAG exclusive.
Matt not Vinyl
Footy Boots contributor Matt Dawson has certainly hit a nerve with his assertion that many modern day boots include technology which is largely worthless and there just for the hell of it. It seems many Footy Boots readers agree with him. Unless a new boot is a major improvement on the existing model, then I would suggest that we literally ‘vote with our feet’ and avoid them at all costs. Yes, embrace serious technical innovation but let’s reject ridiculous additions which have been incorporated simply so a manufacturer can extend a boot line purely in the name of profit.
Bin men
After watching the first couple of weeks of the 6 Nations, I’m more convinced than ever that rugby union’s system of sin bins should be trialled at a senior level of football. Rather than a player totting up points for a series of cautions and then being suspended against a side who’ve done nothing to earn such an advantage, some discretions should be worthy of a 10 minute spell on the side lines. That way if a team is sinned against, they receive instant retribution.
Dr Who?
One must surely question the medical team at Hull City who countenanced the club’s £5 million signing of Jimmy Bullard from Fulham. The midfielder, who has already undergone knee surgery, played just one game for his new club before being shipped off to the USA to once again go under the knife. I’d imagine that a club like Hull can’t afford to have their record signing sitting on the sidelines for too long after just 37 minutes of action.
I think sin binning could be a good idea BUT the whole yellow card system would have to change. In rugby, the yellow card is used as little as possible and only few major offences like a bad high tackle or a complete disrespect for the rules on more than one occasion however the yellow card in football is used if the ref feels that a player needs to be warned more seriously than with a talking to, like a one off bad challenge. The yellow card in rugby is more like footballs red card. This would mean that maybe a three card system would have to be used like a yellow, two yellows(sin bin) and a red. The refs and players viewed cards have to change as sin binning could be in danger of eliminating to physical aspect of football once and for all.
Actually when I was in High school we had an in-house rule that was similar in that if you got a yellow you were sent off the field and couldn’t sub back on for a few minutes. In the local indoor league which has a number of strange rules, a yellow card gets you a 2 minute penalty similar to hockey where you have to sit off the side for 2 minutes while your team plays short handed, and if you get a red card another player has to sit off for 5 minutes. But this is what happens when the people who started this league grew up playing hockey.