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Ballard


Watching it again confirmed my gut reaction. Natural defenders movement with the hair accidentally grabbed with the shirt. Ballard knew was bullshit and the club need to seek clarification on "violent conduct." Still annoyed about the two points gone. Ref was a bit of a tit like.
 
Have seen a few more angles this morning, I think its a clear red and I'm not convinced by the accidental argument either.
Oh he's definitely grabbed his hair mind, but this was all at very close quarters with his arm and hand between him and the striker. Everything is fair game. He's not reached out to specifically grab his hair. He'd have grabbed his spine and ripped that out if he could have
 
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
You would have to be an idiot to think he could easily stop himself from doing what he has trained himself to do for years just because the interpretation of a rule has suddenly changed. You called him a beast and part of that is down to him grappling with attackers and coming out on top.

Let's hope they change the interpretation back again.
 
Has he though? He's just grappling with him and his hair happens to be in the area that Ballard has grabbed. It's bollocks seeing red for that and even worse the amount of our fans that are giving him stick for it...
Not so sure it was entirely accidental marra. Sad way for his season to end. He’s been my player of the season.
 
Having finally seen it on video, I don't think its a deliberate hair pull. Hes doing the usual grabbing handfuls of shirt and tussling, but the lads hair is just a part of the melee.

If they are going to insist on this red card rule, they should at least require hair gets properly tied up to minimise situations like today.

Shame for the lads and Dan.

The law is flawled and should be changed immediately if that is considered "violent act" by any means, wouldn't even be considered "violent" in a kindergarten.
These are grown athletic men in a very physical sport ffs.
 
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I read a comment somewhere saying that in NFL anything below the neck line is considered equipment/kit. Ie, its your choice to have long hair, but it being there shouldn't prevent an opponent from them doing their job.
 
Anything beneath the collar needs to be considered part of the uniform or players need to be made to tie their hair up, one of the two. Those dreadlocks could do some damage to someone's eye if it hits their eyeball dead on.
 
Where's this "He's got hold of his shirt" come from? I didn't say owt yesterday as I coudn't be arsed and emotions are high but seeing this on MOTD this morning, it's clear Ballard only has hold of his hair. He's initially pulling it down and then pulls him to the side as if he's riding a horse and pulling up 🤣

To put the "He's got hold of the shirt" to bed, see 2nd gif below. If Ballard also had hold of his shirt then the name on the back would be distorted but you can clearly see when Ballard's hand is pulling about, the shirt stays in the same position.

In the slow mo part of the 1st gif, you can already see the tension on the braids just over his left shoulder.

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This shows the pulling down and then to the side action, all while the shirt isn't grabbed in any way. Aye the rule is a shit but this wasn't a slight tug like DCL was on Cucurella recently. It's sustained holding all while pulling. If this was the other way around, we'd have a thread asking why their player wasn't sent off etc and less focus on the rule. No doubt the rule will change as more of a fuss is made about it and rightly so as it's not a red.

Shit happens but players have had long hair a while now so it's not as if it's as much an issue of common 'accidental' hair pulls as some like to think.

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Where's this "He's got hold of his shirt" come from? I didn't say owt yesterday as I coudn't be arsed and emotions are high but seeing this on MOTD this morning, it's clear Ballard only has hold of his hair. He's initially pulling it down and then pulls him to the side as if he's riding a horse and pulling up 🤣

To put the "He's got hold of the shirt" to bed, see 2nd gif below. If Ballard also had hold of his shirt then the name on the back would be distorted but you can clearly see when Ballard's hand is pulling about, the shirt stays in the same position.

In the slow mo part of the 1st gif, you can already see the tension on the braids just over his left shoulder.

Logon or register to see this image


This shows the pulling down and then to the side action, all while the shirt isn't grabbed in any way. Aye the rule is a shit but this wasn't a slight tug like DCL was on Cucurella recently. It's sustained holding all while pulling. If this was the other way around, we'd have a thread asking why their player wasn't sent off etc and less focus on the rule. No doubt the rule will change as more of a fuss is made about it and rightly so as it's not a red.

Shit happens but players have had long hair a while now so it's not as if it's as much an issue of common 'accidental' hair pulls as some like to think.

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It must have been happening lots before now but its suddenly trendy to punish it
 
Anything beneath the collar needs to be considered part of the uniform or players need to be made to tie their hair up, one of the two. Those dreadlocks could do some damage to someone's eye if it hits their eyeball dead on.
Exactly! What if he turned his head and injured Ballard's eyes, obstructioning his vision for the rest of the half? Shouldn't that also be a straight red?!
 
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