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Ballard

Diallo said:
Glad we won’t see him again this season. Probably cost us top half football. Sick to death of players grappling each other etc anyway, needs clamping down on.
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Wow! You're entitled to your opinion, but I don't agree one bit.

The striker has ridiculous long hair for a footballer and has form for screaming at refs for this. As it is braided, his head is like a weapon with those braids whipping about.

Dan Ballard is critical to us. Play off semi hero, home grown, humble, brave and our most improved player.
 

What was a little comical though was Ballard's face when he suddenly realised that he had indeed got hold of his hair. That wasn't an act imho. The aerial challenge happened and was over in a split second. Ballard is doing everything he can to prevent getting nutted, while at the same time trying to clear the ball. When he came out of the challenge it was an accidental smoking gun moment. The other examples this season have been different as they appeared to all be outstretched arms reaching towards said ludicrous barnets.

Anything that leads to Cuccerella wearing a Nora Batty hair net, is fine by me.
 
BucketBiff said:
Week in week out in every premier league game there’s grappling and shirts being pulled trying to gain an advantage. Ballard got unlucky yesterday. Grabbed a hand full of shirt where the lads hair was. Not an intentional hair pull imo. Either the rule makers clamp down on the constant grappling or players with long hair have to have it tied up above collar height.
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That's what it looks like to me. He's looking at where the ball is going and grabbed a handful of the lad's shirt as he would probably do with any other player (the same as the majority of defenders do when in that situation) and has unfortunately got a handful of hair at the same time. It's a natural reaction to grab the shirt and he mightn't have given the lad having long hair a second thought. Too busy concentrating on where the ball is going.
 
YorkMackem said:
Wow! You're entitled to your opinion, but I don't agree one bit.

The striker has ridiculous long hair for a footballer and has form for screaming at refs for this. As it is braided, his head is like a weapon with those braids whipping about.

Dan Ballard is critical to us. Play off semi hero, home grown, humble, brave and our most improved player.
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the poster you're replying to is a mag iirc.
 
There's a distinction between the rules and how they are applied.

I think it was a justified red card yesterday as per the rules and how PGMOL have indicated the rule should be enforced.

The referee did nothing wrong and we all want them to be consistent, not deciding which rules to enforce.

That being said, it's a f***ing stupid rule and the Premier League clubs need to get together and dictate to PGMOL how we want the game in our country officiated.
 
Perryqhill said:
I've watched it 20 times now, he's pulling his hair, he's managed to get it, it's not a strand of his hair and most his shirt or a bit of his shirt- it's his hair.

You can pick issues with the rule, you can debate long hair and you can question the amount of pulling that's allowed at the moment. But if you've clearly got hold that much of a blokes hair and you're pulling him around by it, then there's a good chance you're going to get sent off.
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You are but according to Joe Hart, Rooney, Mike Dean, Gabby Yorath it was ‘utterly ridiculous’. So it’s hardly ‘red and white specs’. I agree it’s the rule rather than the decision but Ballard shouldn’t be getting hammered here. Players rather than fans know the physicality of the game and that when a centre half and centre forward are grappling in an aerial challenge for supremacy they are grabbing shoulder, shirt and if someone has an absolute main of hair at times that will get pulled without it even being part of the thought process. Ballard can avoid putting himself in those situations by not challenging physically I suppose.
I guarantee that will be scrapped next year and the ref will have to make a judgement on whether it was violent conduct.
 
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SAFC1983 said:
Hasn't he just signed a new deal and committed ?

His mam and dad have just relocated to the north east to be closer to him and their grandson so I doubt he would go now.
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Fingers crossed !
I hope they all settle up here. Tbh, I cannot believe how much he has improved - a couple of years ago I thought he was an average championship defender ... it was Rigg, Watson, Mundle, Neil etc who many, including myself, had high hopes for. I was wrong about Ballard.
 
If they just made any shirt pulling offence a red card, all of the shenanigans which go on today would stop pretty sharpish.
 
you have to be some sort of nugget to be going near a players hair after all the coverage the last couple of weeks. Just brain dead and yeah I’d have made him wark home anarl as others said

BUT the lad is our best defender. An absolute beast who has also discovered he can carry the ball out to great effect. So let’s all hope he learns and comes back even better
 
The Pallid Knight said:
he's looking at the play and trying to grab the player around the collar, which is completely allowed in the game...the hair is covering parts of the uniform that's allowed to be grabbed...it's bullshit that it's a red. Hair covering uniform parts allowed to be grabbed should be treated as part of the uniform....otherwise every team should trot out players with hair down to their knees
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Uniform ?
 
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