The FA have charged Eden Hazard with improper violent conduct for kicking the Swansea ball boy in the Swansea – Chelsea Carling Cup Semifinal although in truths, by “real world” rules, nothing Hazard did was so inappropriate.
In football world, what Hazard did was a terrible offense: Just trying to get the game going on because a “homer” of a ball boy decided he’s going to try and waste a few more seconds for his club, fall flat on the ball and stop the game from progressing, not giving Chelsea the throw in.
In the real world, Hazard did exactly what’s expected of him: trying to get to the ball. Once the lad simply laid on it, Hazard had no choice but to try and kick it from under him. As clever men have already mentioned, if the kick was a clean one and the ball would have popped out from under the Swansea fan, it probably would have been one of the more funnier things we’ve seen in recent years.
But no. Hazard caught a bit of rib or stomach or whatever, and he became public enemy number one for the Welsh fans at that moment. The young ball boy lad added some exaggerations, like every good footballer should, and the red card was out after a couple of minutes.
Despite Hazard going to be punished rather severely, the FA did have a message for Swansea and other clubs: The FA will remind all clubs of their responsibilities in ensuring ball boys and other personnel around the pitch act in an appropriate manner at all times and will liaise with competitions accordingly.
It’s clear who is at fault here: the boy, not Hazard. The Belgian star should have acted a bit more responsibly and with a shred of thought into his actions, but as you distance yourself from the incident, it’s almost as if Hazard is the victim of some cheap provocation. Next time, he and others will learn not to mess with ball boys out to change the course of football matches.