We all saw in class the following video on Elizabeth Lambert, the New Mexico Women’s soccer player whose highlight reel was far from glamorous. No she didn’t score a dozen goals, but she might have accumulated a dozen fouls. So does this make Lambert a bad player? Surprisingly enough I say no.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC-pF3OHY1c
All teams have these types of players on their teams; enforcers. These are players who go in and make the big hits, they aren’t afraid to get physical. We see this from the footage of Ty Cobb, and even to this day with players like Hines Ward, Ray Lewis, Ron Artest, and Gennaro Gattuso. Most of you probably aren’t familiar with Gattuso, but I’ll explain more about him later.
Soccer doesn’t get a good reputation when it comes to being a physical sport. Players are often considered “Grass fairies” by other sports fans, but soccer can be just as physical as football or hockey. Yes some of the things Lambert did were over the line, but jabbing players in the back, a little push and shove here and there is how the game is played. Lambert was probably doing her role, but just in an extreme case. The New Mexico team was playing BYU in the playoffs, so the two teams were playing with some emotions. Maybe Lambert was getting frustrated that her team was losing, but that does not constitute her actions.
Gennaro Gattuso is a world renowned soccer player from Italy. He plays for the club team, A.C. Milan. He plays in the defensive midfielder position, and has gained a reputation as being one of the most aggressive players in the entire world. Gattuso has gained a reputation for committing some pretty harsh fouls, and I remember hearing during the 2006 World Cup an announcer saying something along the lines as, “Gattuso is almost guaranteed a yellow card every time he goes for a tackle.” This isn’t to make it seem that Gattuso is always a dirty player; he plays with a passion, a passion that every game is just as important as any other, and losing is not an option. Here is a video that shows some of Gattuso’s highlights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8-G1RVz-cc&feature=fvw
I know it was brought up in class that Lambert is being treated differently because she is a female. I agree she is getting unfair media coverage. I’m not condoning her actions, but I do believe that because she is a girl, she isn’t being treated right. Yes, she should be suspended for her actions, but to be quite honest, she should have gotten a red card, or even two, for her fouls. In my eyes, that is poor refereeing. I know in most soccer games, there are only three referees on a field for a game. And I know that referees can’t see everything on the field, but from watching the highlights, how could the referees not notice her challenges and give her a red card.
To be honest I felt that Lambert was playing her position properly, yes she had some aggressive fouls, and some sloppy play, but aside from the hair pulling incident, I don’t think she should have anything more than a one game suspension. I would also like to see if this is a recurring theme of playing, or if this was a one game situation, regardless, she shouldn’t be suspended for too long.
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I understand the opinion of believing she was playing aggressive and with passion, but I feel she went a little overboard. I agree that a little pushing and a little shoving is all part of the game, and I have no problem with that. One incident, Lambert and another girl went up for a header and appeared Lambert hit the girl in the face. Another time, one BYU player was tripped and as she was lying on the ground, the ball was kicked into her face. I feel that's a little unnecessary. Then the ultimate incident, when she ripped the girl to the ground by her hair. Like I said, I'm all for the aggressive play and being competitive, but I feel these incidents were a little extreme. And not to receive any yellow cards or any sort of penalty from it? That's not acceptable. NCAA should look into the officials from that game and also look into some sort of penalty for them as well.
ReplyDeleteI think you looked at the Elizabeth Lambert situation from an interesting perspective; however it was different than mine. From my experiences playing soccer at the high school level, I know that soccer is physical, and violent acts do happen. No harm is really done by some shoving and maybe some hip-checks, although if the referee sees them, they may call something. The level that Lambert took her ‘job’ on the field to was too far though. It was sloppy and unfair and completely uncalled for in my opinion. I found myself laughing in disbelief when I saw the highlight reel last Thursday.
ReplyDeleteDo I think Lambert is a bad player, no. I think she made some dumb choices; but dumb choices seem to be a reoccurring theme in sports today (at least of the things we have talked about in class). She deserves the terms of the suspension, and yes, I am curious to see if her bad actions were a one time, high-emotional occurrence or if that is her style of play. I also wanted to say you made a good supporting connection between her styles of play to references from history. It’s a tie that I didn’t see before. You have a great style of writing that is informative of the subject, but also interesting!
Brendan,
ReplyDeleteWhen seeing this on the news I was shocked. First off I view soccer as a non contact sport because hitting is not really allowed. I know there is some pushing and shoving but not full out hitting. I think Elizabeth Lambert took it way to far during that game. I could understand doing some of the things once of twice but she did it thought the whole game. Yes I agree that the refs should have seen her do some of this during the game and kicked her out earlier but they didn’t. I think the refs should be under review on how well they are able to ref the game. I could tell that she is a good player but a good player also has to do what’s best for the team. In hitting these other girls she has not helped her team out at all because she is now suspended.
Soccer does not get that much coverage and of course it would get a lot of coverage with a negative showing. I feel though your comment on soccer not getting a good representation on being a physical sport is the truth. After playing the sport for years and being around it I feel like it is one of the most physical sports. We as soccer players even have sayings life real football players don’t wear pads. Many more injuries happen in soccer than other sports. Lamberts actions were not too surprising because when in a high competitive situation a player will do anything to win. She did get carried away but knew it and apologized after the game.
ReplyDeleteI do know that Lambert was in the wrong of her actions and she should be suspended because of her actions. I would have to disagree with what you said about a one game suspension. I feel that the suspension should not be for a lifetime but more than one game. At the high school level if a girl would red carded out, or accumulated numerous yellow cards they would be suspended for two games. Her actions with the hair pulling are worse than accumulating many yellow cards, so that should be kept in mind when dealing her suspension.
Overall, I agree with how you put things in your blog. Another situation of aggression like Lamberts that has recently happened in the soccer would be Zinedane Zidane head butt in the world cup. I also am like that you have great knowledge on the game of soccer because often times Americans don’t and maybe that is why Lamberts case got blown up to as big as it did.
What interests me is why the camera people seemed to capture every "cheap shot" by Lambert, yet the referees did not.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a interesting argument Dr. Spencer. For how many cheap shots she threw she should have been red carded a long time ago. Where the officials out of position or were they not paying attention because some of the cheap shots were away from the ball. The hair pull is what caught my attention the most. The way the girls head snapped back looked pretty gruesome. I actually was worried the girl might have had a neck injury of some kind. I am wondering what the league will do with this particular situation. This kind of behavior cannot be tolerated at any level or sports competition.
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