What’s the Right Punishment for Martin Taylor?

By: Daryl | February 25th, 2008

I think we’ve all heard by now about Eduardo’s horrific injury and the man who caused it. It was Birmingham defender Martin Taylor’s studs-up, shin-high “tackle” that fractured the Arsenal and Croatia striker’s left fibula. There was nothing good about it. But Arsene Wenger’s initial reaction – “The tackle was horrendous and this guy should never play football again” – was way over the top, and the reported death threats against Taylor even more so.

The Arsenal manager has very wisely retracted that statement, and the death threats are probably (hopefully) nothing more than a few idiots. But the question still remains, how should Martin Taylor be punished?

By all accounts, Taylor is a nice enough lad who didn’t intend to cause any damage. His disciplinary record is good – one red card while playing for Blackburn against Grimsby back in 1999, and a handful of yellow cards – and he seemed genuinely distraught when he saw what had happened. Taylor even went to visit Eduardo at Selly Oak hospital, which is a lot more sincere than conveying his apologies via a PR press statement. I for one am willing to believe that it wasn’t Taylor’s intention to do damage to Eduardo, and that the tackle was just clumsy, a result of Eduardo the international striker being too clever and too quick for Martin Taylor the English journeyman centre back.

Still, it was a horrible, horrible tackle and the usual three match ban seems insufficient. Obviously Wenger’s call for a life ban was silly, which Wenger recognizes. But I’ve also seen it suggested that Taylor should be banned for as long as it takes Eduardo to recover, which is very Old Testament eye for an eye.

So lets not go overboard. Especially because no punishment dealt out to Martin Taylor is going to make Eduardo heal any faster. The punishment should just send a clear message that Taylor’s tackle, even if there was no intent to harm Edurardo, was unacceptable.

I’d be in favour of something moderate. Maybe a six match ban or a month long ban. Something that punishes Martin Taylor but doesn’t demonise him. A month or so off the pitch might even be good for Taylor. Can you imagine the abuse he’d face from crowds if he played again anytime soon?

What’s really important is Eduardo and his health. The good news is that the surgery at Selly Oak hospital went well and Eduardo is expected back in action somewhere between six and nine months from now. Here’s hoping he makes a full recovery. Meanwhile Arsenal are inviting messages of support from fans which the club will gather together and send to Eduardo. Go here for more information.

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Category: English Premier League

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Steven

Brian O. don`t talk rubbish. Eduardo will still be earning ridiculous amounts of money. So Eduardo is more important then starving kids in Africa?. Ffs man wake up. A life time ban? Come off it, Viera did tackles like this and never broke any body's legs. It was a accident and nothing else. So if you care go to a game and actually learn the rules. It is not illegal to put one foot in for a tackle. Eduardo moved the ball from Taylors grasp and his leg was implanted. Bardsley did a horrendous tackle on Pienaar the other week (Sunderland Vs Everton) and Pienaar didn`t break his leg did he?

Well done Kirby, your comment is correct
Ruben

I think the same period as Eduardo to recover from his injury plus 3 games would be OK.
john

I actually agree with Juan on this. I think when you injure someone with a studs up tackle, you should be suspended through the duration of the other player's injury. Jon is right (although his lack of an 'h' clearly indicates inferiority): as a professional athlete you run the risk of serious injuries - but I'm not opposed to a league in which when you go in for a reckless studs up tackle, you risk taking a seat for a very long time.
dan the man

I dont think Taylors tackle was malicious, but plain stupid. Surely he has enough experience to know that you cant tackle a world class striker who is running at you with a lunging studs up tackle. Only 2 consequences could occur in this instance: a) the striker goes past you, or b) the striker gets hurt.
ban Taylor for 3 months.
Jon

So if Juan and Albo have their way, there won't be enough eligible players to even field teams next season. The injury is clearly horrible and studs-up tackles should clearly be deterred with red cards and suspensions, but bans of a year or more for a tackle would be a little much. Two of Arsenal's own players would be in forced retirement right now after the Man Utd match. You step on a field and play a sport, you take a risk. Sometimes that risk is that you get hurt. The only person talking sense in all of this is Eduardo himself:

"It was an accident and I don’t believe he wanted to hurt me. These things can happen in football. I see this as a risk of professional football. That is sport. Sometimes you go up, sometimes you go down. There are very nice moments and there are very ugly moments."
Albo

I agree with Juan.
Taylor should come back only when, and if, Eduardo is ready to play again.

Studs up slides have no place in football, regardless of the consecuences.
Physical intimidation should be dealt with and quality players should be protected.
But then again, what would they do in England? ...
juan

I think Mr. Taylor should be suspended the time of the recovery of Mr. Eduardo lasts.
Abby

Sheps-

The reason the "commentator" on Match of the Day was surprised is because he's an idiot.
Chris

Alex McLeish said with a straight face on tv yesterday that he hoped the referee would look at it again anad change the red card into a yellow.
eric-dynamo

six matches? If ricardo clark in mls gets fined $10,000 and suspended for 9-10 games with a kick. then this guy is going to get suspended i say 3 months.
mctalian

...Public caning...
chalovesmonkeys

This is all bonkers,

I don't think the challenge itself was all that bad in the grand scheme of things. We see at least one challenge of that nature every game in England, but they rarely connect in such a horrific way. It was bad luck for both Taylor and Eduardo that it caught his standing leg and the results were so terrible.

If you watch more games and look out for such challenges, you'll see how many physical challenges there are like that, but you'll see how few connect with a grounded leg in such a nasty way.

The current ban is long enough and I personally think Taylor was unlucky to see red. Only violent conduct is punishable by a ban of more than 3 matches and we saw that this weekend with the hilariously nancy-boy slap on Xabi Alonso by Jeremie Aliadiere of Middlesbrough.

In football, referees must punish intent ahead of outcome, in order to stop challenges like this and to dissuade players diving and rolling about on the floor as if they've been shot. What happened on the pitch is punishment enough for both players and teams.
Yevy

Lucas brought up the Keane/Haaland incident which prompted me to look up what Roy's punishment was: 5 games, 150k fine for what he later admitted was an intentional attempt to sever another player's leg below the knee. Given that Keane's tackle was far uglier than Taylor's, not to mention premeditated, it's hard to justify suspending Taylor for more than 4 games based on precedent alone. The bigger problem, as Sheps mentioned, is that these sort of studs-up, foot-off-the-ground challenges happen 2-3 times a game, just not always with such disastrous results. My solution would be to fine the offenders per attempted "bad" challenge, whether it resulted in a foul or not. Make the fines sting, like 1/10 of a weekly check per challenge. And while we are at it, have the club fork over 10k per offense. The EPL would end up raising some serious cash for charity, and the players and clubs would get a strong incentive to practice proper tackling technique.
Sheps

I agree with Kirby.

"Lifetime ban, plus compensation for Eduardo’s loss of wages, presumably millions of pounds. If Taylor was Croatian and Eduardo was an up-and-coming English star this is what the punishment would be."

That is just such a large pile of *******. The FA and Premier League do anything but protect English players for starters, look at Ferdinand's drug ban over Euro 2004.

The tackle was not two footed. It was from standing. He intended to get the ball. The injury happened because normally Taylor's tackle would just push Eduardo's leg back, his belly would go forwards and he'd land on his front - you know, like you see Ronaldo going down all the time. The problem was, if you look at the replay, that Eduardo's studs were stuck in the ground. His leg had nowhere to go and it had to break.

We really do see on average 2-3 challenges like that per game. Normally by English defenders on quicker foreign opposition! It's a yellow card challenge, end of story. Else why was the Match of the Day commentator so surprised when a red card came out? At that point he wasn't aware of the injury, just the tackle, and sounded very, very surprised. Given the injury that occurred, unfortunately for Taylor you have to send him off, but that really is a harsh enough punishment for just being a slow Englishman going for the ball from a standing start.
kirby

he shouldn't be punished. i cant believe that they would even think about reprimanding the guy for what happened. I've seen much worse tackles in my life and most of them don't even result in injuries or cards even. what happened was unfortunate. but, we cannot punish him for something he did not intend to do. There was no malice in it at all. if he is punished for a one footed studs-up tackle I'll be very disappointed. if he is then, the next time i see a lunging two footed tackle am gonna write to the English fa and demand double of martin's punishment for the perpetrator.
dumitru

premierleague has this reputation of a phisically strong league,so british players have this kind of uncounscious
desire, to show foreign players that are playing in premierleague, this kind of superiority in phisical strengh.i think martin taylor wanted to intimidate eduardo trough his tackle,not to harm him.this is ,probably,the most efficient method to play top teams,to put pressure on them,not to let them time to think,to organise their attacks,otherwise,chances that you will lose are very high.i think he shouldnt get a very harsh suspension,a couple of matches will do.football is for men,these kind of injuries can happen and players know that.as long as they are unintentional,they shouldnt be punished too hard.i wish a quick recovery to eduardo.and to ronaldo too.i hope i see them both playing again as soon as possible.
Brian O.

Lifetime ban, plus compensation for Eduardo's loss of wages, presumably millions of pounds. If Taylor was Croatian and Eduardo was an up-and-coming English star this is what the punishment would be.
Hedi

For me, Taylor's horror tackle was not worse than Reading's Stephen Hunt did to Chelsea's Petr Cech. I agree Taylor deserved straight red card. But, I don't understand why referee didn't do the same to Hunt when he attacked Cech's head.
CSD

No bans, no suspensions, but we get to break his leg.
Ian

Lucas: Yeah, I don't know. I think a dangerous tackle like a studs-up slide that makes any sort of contact, should result in more than a red card, regardless of the result. Otherwise, it will continue to happen more than it should in the league. I think that in order to be kicked out of football, you need to do something that undermines the game as a whole, not just one dumb or angry play.
Paul

I agree with Ian that the ban should serve as a deterrent rather than just a punishment. It surely shouldn't be anymore than the eight games that Ben Thatcher received for his "tackle" on Pedro Mendes since that was clearly intentional. Six games sounds about right.
Lucas

@Ian: What happens the next time a guy comes flying in studs-up but it doesn't result in an injury (which happens all the damn time)? As in, say, the way two Arsenal players did against Man Utd in their FA Cup game a couple weeks ago; I can't remember who did the first one, but almost right afterward Eboue did a Daniel-san flying kick and was rightly red-carded. But neither tackle ended in injury. Should Eboue get a two-month ban? Should Roy Keane have been kicked out of football after the Haaland horror?

It is indeed a tough question.
Ian

I've gone back and forth about this, and we'll be talking about it this week on the podcast for sure. I think a slightly longer ban (2 months) would be a good idea, along with the statement that this sort of dangerous tackle will result in similar bans regardless of whether it results in a long injury. I'd like the league to come at it from the angle of deterrence rather than punishment, and the ban should be long enough that it makes a somewhat serious impact on the offending player's season.
Tavis

Six matches seems fair and reasonable.