Ben Thatcher elbow on Pedro Mendes from a recentish Blackburn Vs Portsmouth EPL game.
ouch. anything else ever come of this, a suspension, for example?
His own club suspended him for, i think, 10 games. The victim, to his credit, didn’t make a big fuss about it. It was big news in England with a lot of people suggesting that he should press charges for assault but he never did.
Thatcher was well out of order there. A massive fine would have been best as its one way you know the punishment would have been taken seriously.
From…
[quote]12 September 2006
FA BAN BEN THATCHER FOR 8 GAMES
By Mirror.co.uk
MANCHESTER City’s Ben Thatcher was today banned for eight games by the Football Association for the elbow assault on Portsmouth’s Pedro Mendes.
The self-styled hardman also faces a further 15-match ban if he re-offends in the next two years.
Thatcher was given only a yellow card for the challenge on Mendes by referee Dermot Gallagher during the game on August 23. But video evidence showed that the challenge was worse than first thought.
Mendes was knocked unconscious and was taken to hospital after the incident.
City responded to the furore created by the attack by banning Thatcher for four games - with a further two suspended - and fined the player six weeks wages. The FA today increased that ban but did not fine the player further.
Thatcher will now not be available to City until the end of next month.
After the disciplinary hearing at the FA’s Soho Square headquarters, a spokesman for Thatcher said the player accepted the FA ban “without question”. He added: “Ben Thatcher would once again like to express his apologies to all concerned.”[/quote]
Perhaps someone said something “offensive” to him in French?