Do Soccer Players Get Away with too Much

The World Cup Final saw the end of the career of one of the greatest players in Zinedine Zidane. It was the Italian team that run out winners. The superb victory for the Italian team was overshadowed in part by the extreme actions of Zidane. Zidane responded to gentle bantering but placing a headbutt into the Italian players chest. This raises the question what is acceptable conduct for footballers. If Zidane was anywhere else he would have been charged with assault and possibly jail time. As it happens all he got was an early rest.

There is certain actions that occur in sport thats only real aim is to injure the player. If someone did something to injure someone else on the street they are likely to be charged with assault. It seems that the law takes a step back because something occurs in sport. Sport has a level of conduct, but there should be a limit. It doesn’t seem fair that a mistimed tackle can potentially carry the same punishment as a deliberate headbutt. In my opinion placing a headbutt is simply not part of the game, and the punishments should be as severe as they would be outside sport.

In my opinion there ought to be some kind of revamp to how these types of incidences occur. Why should a soccer player not be able to file assault charges if they have been assaulted during the game. There are certain red cards that are a footballing matter such as a mistimed tackle. Deliberate violent conduct should become a police matter. I would like to see the rules modified separating certain incidences between sport and crime. I am also of the belief that if harsh penalties were handed out then these incidences would be rare and possibly a thing of the past. I think jail time should be considered a punishment because fines rarely affect sports players. Also there should be penalties for verbal abuse.

In conclusion anything that occurs on the football field that would normally be considered a crime still should be. Certain incidences should warrant a police investigation and players should be able to file assault charges against other players. Small fines are unlikely to affect soccer players, so I think jail time should be a consideration. There should also be harsh penalties for verbal abuse especially of a racial nature.