Brawling and violent behavior is Completely Unacceptable, Manchester City Should Adopt a Zero Tolerance Policy

Manchester City lost to Chelsea on Saturday. I am disappointed by the result of the match, as Manchester City played poorly and conceded 3 goals in a 3-1 loss against Chelsea, with Chelsea players scoring all the goals in the match. I am however, infinitely more disappointed by the poor conduct of Manchester City players. Losing is acceptable, every team in the world occasionally loses, but violent conduct is absolutely not acceptable. Manchester City should strongly punish any player for violent conduct, and make sure similar behavior never happens again. Defending this type of behavior is frankly disgusting, violent behavior should never be condoned.

Let’s consider what happened. Aguero slid into David Luiz for a reckless and dangerous challenge and immediately got red carded. A scuffle ensued, with many Manchester City players brawling with Chelsea players. Aguero got a 4 match ban due to his irresponsible challenge, while Fernandinho received a red card and a 3 match ban due to his involvement in the brawl afterwards.

Aguero’s challenge was wildly irresponsible. It is obviously a tackle aimed to break Luiz’s leg. Outrageous attacks obviously intended to injure like that tackle have absolutely no place in the game of association football. To see a player like Aguero lose control of his temper is embarrassing. He is a highly paid professional, lunging in with intent to injure is bush league, and it really reflects poorly on Manchester City. The fact that it eventually escalated into a brawl resulting in Fernandinho getting red carded is even more embarrassing, it shows that Manchester City’s players are incapable of keeping a cool head and to stay out of trouble.

Some pundits claim that it is a good thing to see emotions flair up, that a bit of a brawl can’t hurt. Gary Neville even says that he liked what he saw, that he appreciated the passion shown by the players. By all means, I fully agree with players showing passion, but tackles with intent to injure and brawling is not the way to do it.

First of all, violence possess risk and invites retribution. A bad tackle invites players from the opposing team to do the same to our players, a thrown punch invites a punch back. This needlessly increases the risk of injury to our players, the perpetually injured Aguero should importance of avoiding needless injury risk. Manchester City is a club with title ambitions, and with a tight title race every single player is needed at their best. Injuries could very well derail our title ambitions, and when the club desperately needs every single player to perform, inviting possible injuries through irresponsible tackles and brawls is probably some of the stupidest things a player a do.

On pitch violence also invites cards and suspensions. Ageruo is a world class striker and I would much rather see him on the pitch scoring goals than to see him suspended. Fernandinho is a fantastic player, and as a core starter, losing him to suspension is a major blow to the City midfield. Losing core players to suspension is going to lead to a trophy less season, something none of the fans or the players want to see.

Finally, you must consider that in this day and age, footballers like Aguero and Fernandinho are celebrities and role models. I would much rather see the players represent the club as professionals, not as a bunch of short tempered thugs. It sounds cheesy, but I want to see my favorite players be good role models to the kids around the world who look up to them as heroes.

Violent behavior is not a sign of loyalty or a sign of passion. It doesn’t matter if the game doesn’t go your way, or if the officiating is bad. Every single player should be expected to remain professional on the pitch. The club did not pay millions to sign these players and continue to pay them thousands every week to see them risk themselves in brawls, get suspended, or paint the club in a bad light. I hope the club strongly punishes all the players involved in the altercation, and make it explicitly clear that similar behavior will not be tolerated.