When it comes to actual on-pitch violence, let’s be honest, our players in this country are a bunch of pussies. You have guys who stand at 6’4” and weigh the best part of 15 stone, but when it comes down to it, they mouth off like sailors while actually squaring up to one another like two pre-pubescent tarts outside Yates’ on a Friday night. At the end of the day they all know that before punches can actually be thrown, a fight will certainly be broken up, so they can act as hard as they like.
Not so in the Wild West that is South American league football. They love any excuse to fight, or even riot (thanks to our friends at The Spoiler for these examples - here and here), but the sneaky folks down in Chile seem to have found the perfect solution to instill some respect among players. Watch here to see what happens when things kick off properly:
(Alternative link - 101 Great Goals)
They stick the offending player in a steel cage right next to the pitch! It’s an excellent use of a rugby-style sin bin, while also shaming the player with an undoubted torrent of abuse from the crowd as he rattles round his pen.
There isn’t really a better way to combat aggressive and provocative behaviour, so STT hopes that similar technology shall be incorporated into Premier League grounds during the summer for the start of the ’08-’09 season. We would like to see things going a little further however, with both offenders held in the same cage should they kick off at each other. That way if the football’s dull, the crowd can always enjoy a swift WWF-style cage match on the sidelines.
