Thugs

< rant >

I’ve been playing organised soccer since I was about 8 (yes, a bloody long time ago) and have seen some crazy shit in that time. I’ve been involved in two games that were abandoned, one due to its descent into an all out fight (that I didn’t bother getting involved in) and another because it was only a trial and the opposition were so far from playing within the spirit and rules of the game that our coach called it off early before someone got hurt.

They are the only two times in my career that I can recall not shaking hands with the opposition. This weekend makes it three.

The last couple of games we’ve played, we’ve played some thugs. Guys that don’t particularly go out of the way to stay within the laws of the game and that will take every advantage accorded them when the referee is lax on a rough tackle. I’m kind of getting used to be kicked and pushed and held every time I go near the ball. After all, it’s not tiddly winks and I’ve played some hard games of soccer in my time. Hell, I’ve even hurt some people with some tough tackles, but it’s always been accidental as I’ve always gone for the ball.

This weekend the ball was down the far end of the field, our opposition having cleared it out and I was making my way back to the half way line as the defence pushed us out when someone decided that it would be a useful tactic to come from behind and plant a full-blooded fist into the middle of my back. It fucking hurt. I didn’t see who it was as I dropped to the ground in pain and because it was so far behind the play, no one else saw what happened either. It pissed me off even more than it hurt and it still pisses me off a couple of days later.

This is amateur sport. I don’t get paid to be there but I show up because I enjoy the game. It’s actually the first time I’ve ever really even remotely considered the ‘R’ word (that would be retirement of course) and even then simply because of how much it destroyed my enjoyment of the game. I mean, had I been scoring a heap of goals, or even threatening to, or perhaps been the most outstanding player on the pitch, I could consider it a compliment that someone thought they needed to go that far to take me out of the game. Had I been an utter bastard and previously crash tackled one of their players or something, I could explain it as revenge. The reality is though, I can’t think of a single thing that I did during the preceding 20 or 30 minutes that warranted such an attack.

It was quite simply utterly piss weak and gutless of the fucking wanker that did it; behind play and without provocation and perhaps that is what shits me most of all.

< /rant >