Commando At It Again

Last updated : 06 February 2004 By Kevin Smith
To start with, I apologise for placing an article regarding the huns, but this is a matter which has to be addressed.

Three weeks ago, John Hartson was involved in an incident at Tynecastle, against Hearts in the SPL. Hartson was alleged to have elbowed Andy Webster, but the foul was off the ball and was not seen by BBC's amazing camera work. Hartson was yellow carded for the incident, but what followed was a witch-hunt by the Scottish press.

A Hearts supporter released a home video of the elbow, and it was shown on all television stations, and stills featured in every tabloid. For a week solid after the event, newspapers such as the Daily Record, The Sun and the Evening Times, as well as Scottish news programmes, hounded Hartson over the elbow, which in truth was not as bad as was made out to be.

John Hartson refused to apologise to Hearts or Webster and was probably right not to do so. Who knows what Webster was saying to Hartson prior to the alleged elbow?

During extra time of the CIS Cup Semi-Final between Rangers and Hibs, 'Commando' Fernando Ricksen was seen by the whole of the nation, forcefully elbowing Hibs' 19 year old Derek Riordan. The assault was not spotted by the referee, nor his two assistants, and Ricksen got away without even a booking to his name.

This is not the first time the Crazy Dutchman has been caught performing assaults in Scottish football. He has before, been tried by television evidence for an attack on an Aberdeen player, and has basically got away with murder regarding other incidents. To this day I still find it unbelievable that Ricksen was not punished for the actual foul that day, but for post-match comments made on his website!

During the next few days we are sure to see what the Scottish Press are made of. A similar uproar to what we seen with Hartson is highly unlikely, but what do we really expect?

John Hartson was not severely punished for his shoulder-barge at Tynecastle, as the SFA do not allow trial by home video cameras. This time, Channel 5 broadcasted Fernando Ricksen's elbow on youngster Derek Riordan, and we must be looking at a long, long overdue ban for this psychopath.