The modern game.

Over the years we have seen the game progress so much, and one of the main points nowadays is safety, however, there is always much controversy surrounding borderline dangerous tackles and we've seen another case today with Jonjo Shelvey of Liverpool being contentiously sent off.

 

Are referees becoming too harsh, are tackles being unnecessarily punished?

In my opinion this is most certainly the case, I know we have to take the players health into consideration but football has never been a non contact sport and I am dreading the fact that we are slowly floating towards it. I hold the view that if a player goes in for a tackle and gets the ball then that is fair play. Obviously if you go in two footed and you catch a player then you should be sent off, but there is no need for a referee to ruin a game by handing out bookings or cards for a fair challenge. Anything above ankle height that does not get the ball also should be punished and this issue is so subjective that we can't just send a player off for "intent". How does the ref know what the players aim was, I think that most players go for the ball 99% of the time, of course you do get nasty cases of rage or the "red mist" but we have to keep tackling in the game at an acceptable level, a good tackle can rile your oppositions and boost your teammates, it can bring a crowd to its feet and it should definitely not be punished.