[Archived] Ben Thatcher

[pleasure]

thatcher's pre meditated attack is absolutely reprehensable. he should be banned for at least 6 games.

i've met him a few times and he's a nice guy off the pitch, but he's a history of maiming opponents.

adopted scouser, that ladies bottom is hypnotic!

Edited August 24, 2006 by pleasure

[Jim J]

adopted scouser, that ladies bottom is hypnotic!

Not as much as the last one's bristols.

AS, bring back the boobs!

[Neil Weaver]

In rugby (not sure if it's both league and union) there is something called putting a player 'on report' where the powers that be look at video evidence after the game and decide if action, like a ban, should be taken. Don't know if there's any dependence on the ref producing a card at the time but he does tell the player he's putting an incident on report. Something for football to learn from?

[Ianrally]

Give the thug 6 months porridge. That will sort out the number of games the FA will consider giving him.

It can be argued that footballers are imune from the law when they are on a football pitch, but given the previous namby pamby efforts of the FA when dealing with incidents where "the referee has already taken action, so we are unable to impose any further penalty," I can only view that as utter hogwash.

It is time that the law was enforced as a power above the FA, in such cases, as was the situation in Scotland with Duncan Ferguson.

Thatcher and his ilk have no part in the game and should be banished forthwith.

[Jim J]

Why can refs and the FA overturn or reduce red cards, but not the other way round.

The laws need to be changed.

[FourLaneBlue]

The thing is...The referee didn't actually see the incident! Sure, he watched what he thought was a bad challenge but that wasn't the incident was Thatcher's flying fist in the face of Mendes. Just because somebody is watching a scene doesn't mean they can see from every angle.

A club statement from Man City read...""The club does not condone such action and the matter has been dealt with internally by Stuart Pearce." Really? Is this the same Stuart Pearce who dealt with Joey Barton shoving a cigar in a young lad's eye by giving him a new contract?

[Fife Rover]

What a thug this bloke is. Intentionally taking a player out with his elbow.

should get a 6 month ban IMO.

absolutley disgraceful

Aye, and 6 months in jail as well! :ph34r:

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I'm a season ticket holder at my local Rugby League club ( Rochdale Hornets) , a season ago we were playing our local rivals Oldham in a needle match. One of the Oldham players broke through to score under the posts, as he was putting the ball down one of our forwards did a " Thatcher " on him and the guy had to be helped off with a broken jaw. The referee missed the incident ( so did I ), but put it on report, the R.L. judiciary panel viewed the video on the following Tuesday and our guy got a deserved 6 matches which effectively ended his season, in fact the guy with the broken jaw was back playing before our player. Time the F.A. took similar action ?

[-foreverrovers-]

if someone did that in the pub, they would get arrested as it is assault.

mabe the CPS should look into this assault as mendes was out cold before he hit the floor.

the reckless "tackle" is probably the 2nd worst act of assault i have seen. only becasue of the roy keane- alf inge haaland incident

all goes back to consistency and refs bottling it.

the refs in the prem are meant to be full time and "elite"

i have never seen so many cowards in my life

i think when u get the law involved with what happen on a football field it could open the flood gates.

admitedly,it was bad.very bad.but the F.A or Fifa should review there rules and allow the incedent to be looked at again after the initial punishement was given.or allow the refs to take advantge of the specsavers sponsership and get a whoops I missed off the "g" eye test!!.

unlike if this happened on the street it happened in a game.thatcher could argue he was going for the ball and took his eye off of the ball and that caused him to lamp mendes.im not saying thats what happened,but in a point of law that could be a legitimate reason,where as if it happened on the street or in a pub,it wasnt as part of a game,and would be a lot easier for the CPS to proove in a legal case.

[modes98]

Having seen the last one he did like this on a sunderland player i think he could be given a lifetime ban!

Obviously he doesn't learn and it's something we could well do without in the game!

[Perth_Rover]

Rugby league and union as well as australian rules football all use the tribunal system

[FourLaneBlue]

i think when u get the law involved with what happen on a football field it could open the flood gates.

How exactly?

We are taking about GBH. When do we ever see incidents like that on the field? Rarely that's for sure.

This is a special case, I can't remember anything as blatant an assault/sucker punch as this on a pitch for years. Bad tackles are one thing...flying forearms from thirty yards are another.

Edited August 25, 2006 by FourLaneBlue

[Foxxx]

Given that Lee Bowyer was charged and fined for causing the punch up with Kieron Dyer (Link), surely Thatcher, given its serious nature, could face charges over it?

[Billy Castell]

Didn't Ben Thatcher get a long ban for redesigning an opponents leg whilst at Wimbledon ?.

[Radagast]

Didn't Ben Thatcher get a long ban for redesigning an opponents leg whilst at Wimbledon ?.

I believe you're thinking about the reconstructive surgery he dished out to Nicky Summerbee that basically killed any talk of an England call up.

[FourLaneBlue]

That was a similar challenge - cowardly, catching the player when they weren't concentrating on what the other person was doing but had their eye on the ball. Now I know it's a man's game but having a punch up like Bowyer and Dyer is one thing...but assaulting someone and taking them out and making sure there is no danger whatsoever to themself is another. Thatcher 'got' Mendes, like he did Summerbee before, yet if he'd had anything about him he'd have stood up to them.

City are telling everyone Thatcher feels really bad about it...bit late now isn't it? Didn't look too cut up about it when he walked calmly away, seemingly irritated that he got so much as a yellow card for it.

EDIT - According to the Manchester Evening News...On Man City's pre-season tour of China Thatcher elbowed an opponent who ended up in hospital with a punctured lung. That was only a few weeks ago.

This thug seems to be either a psychopath or has mental problems. Get the police and the men in white uniforms in to check him out as I don't like the thought of him wrecking the career of one of our players! Certainly messed up anyway!

Edited August 25, 2006 by FourLaneBlue

[james19830822]

EDIT - According to the Manchester Evening News...On Man City's pre-season tour of China Thatcher elbowed an opponent who ended up in hospital with a punctured lung. That was only a few weeks ago.

That's true. Just 3 weeks ago, when City played their pre-season game in Shanghai with my local club Shanghai Shenhua, he injured a player of Shanghai with a very similiar challenge, and that guy almost end his football life!

[tcj_jones]

Seeing as this is not the first time that Thatcher has done this, he should be facing a seriously long ban. I think somethingin the region of 10 - 15 games would be appropriate.

[pleasure]

Seeing as this is not the first time that Thatcher has done this, he should be facing a seriously long ban. I think somethingin the region of 10 - 15 games would be appropriate.

dead right, tcj. david prutton (southampton) got a 10 game ban for having a go at a linesman, after he'd been sent off, the other season. i'd say 10 game ban minimum.

[blue phil]

This thug seems to be either a psychopath or has mental problems.

Maybe even both....

[thenodrog]

This thug seems to be either a psychopath or has mental problems. Get the police and the men in white uniforms in to check him out as I don't like the thought of him wrecking the career of one of our players! Certainly messed up anyway!

Wimbledon born, Wimbledon bred........ strong in th'arm and thick in th'ead.

............. With apologies to all those from Oswaldtwistle on here.

[Fife Rover]

Seeing as this is not the first time that Thatcher has done this, he should be facing a seriously long ban. I think somethingin the region of 10 - 15 games would be appropriate.

On the growing evidence there is no doubt at all that this Thatcher should be investigated by the police and dealt with as a suspected criminal. This is nothing to do with football it is a case of suspected GBH.

10 - 15 years in jail would be more appropriate!

Edited August 25, 2006 by Fife Rover

[92er]

The paper I read today suggested the police are investigating because some people have made complaints which they have to follow up.

[herbergeehh]

Henrik Larsson are being investigated for a fairly harmless punch to an opponents stomach in Sweden these days - after an attendant made complaints to the police. From what I've seen, what Henke did is nothing compared to the awful challenge made by Thatcher.

Punish him like the dog he is.

[Nate]

Wimbledon born, Wimbledon bred........ strong in th'arm and thick in th'ead.

............. With apologies to all those from Oswaldtwistle on here.

Was actually born in Swindon. We can probably blame this for his time spent at Millwall