Rooney 3 Game Ban is Absolutely Outrageous

Wayne Rooney learned his fate today from the UEFA overlords, a quite unbelievable 3 game ban for his petulant kick out in the Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro. Quite how UEFA have come to this decision is anybody's guess, but it smacks of retribution towards England and the FA for what was nothing more than a kick out we have seen hundreds of times before from other players, none of which I can ever remember receiving a staggering 3 match ban. The ban means that Rooney will miss ALL of England's Euro 2012 group games. Cynics have claimed that will mean he misses the tournament altogether such is the low expectation of success for the England team.

Montenegro defender Miodrag Dzudovic certainly made a 7 course banquet out of the incident. Quite what players like Ron Harris, Jack Charlton and Franny Lee make of this debacle is anyone's guess, but has the game really gone so soft that action of this kind merits a 3 match ban? Times certainly have changed, particularly in the last 10 years. If proof were needed witness this challenge by Roy Keane on Neil Pointon back in 1994 and watch Pointon's reaction to a challenge which if Rooney's is worth 3 games then Keane's could have been 10!!