Fighting is wrong and inexcusable, especially in situations of sport. I'm all for defending oneself when absolutely required to, but what happened on the sidelines of the Artemio Franchi in Florence last night was preposterous. In case you have not already seen this video, here is Fiorentina Coach Delio Rossi attacking a petulant Adem Ljajic following the players substitution after only 32 minutes of play against Novara:
Rossi's attack was clearly wrong in this situation, but is there a worse evil at play in the mentalities of footballers evident in this interaction? Follow my logic:
Wrong Rossi for fighting
The pressure got to the usually cool-headed tactician when the young Serb turned the screws by sarcastically applauding and jeering the Coach like an immature baby. La Viola are amidst a dismal season to boot, and Rossi snapped. His violence was clearly an inexcusable solution to combat a player undermining his decisions.
Wrong Ljajic for showing dissent
Ljajic was clearly the catalyst of this interaction. I was not watching the match, but after watching Fiorentina many times this year, I can only assume Ljajic was playing selfishly and was deemed ineffective on the field by Rossi - hence his substitution. The young players reaction was dreadful to see. When I was a young lad, I was taught to respect the coaches decisions even when they were not in my favor. Complain later and work harder in practice. Do not make an a** out of yourself by acting immature. This is exactly what the Serb did. This is also probably a main reason why he has been left out of the lineup so many times this year.
Right Fiorentina Directors for firing Rossi & suspending Ljajic
Paola De Canio has allegedly attacked his players before. Sir Alex even chucked a boot at Beckham's face (main asset, people). Both were not sacked for one main reason - these things were done behind closed doors. In Rossi's case, he snapped in front of the whole world. Club directors had no choice but to sack the sorry sap. I also commend the team for suspending the petulant catalyst of this situation, Ljajic. At a time when the club is going through hard times, to act in such a way hurts fellow players, staff and fans even more.
Thoughts Violence is wrong in sport; period. There is no room in our wonderful game for the actions Rossi took, and other violent actions that occur in world football from time to time. But, I think another issue at play here is a distinct disrespect in football. It seems that certain players have become detached from the structure of the team. When players become bigger than their teams, they clearly lack respect for the game - it's a team game, after all. I'd imagine it's easy to get caught up in the hype of being the best at a sport you love and neglect certain hierarchies you learned when initially flirting with the game. But still, when I see instances like Ljajic's disrespectful actions against his coach, the person in charge of the whole team, it makes me sick. No one person should be bigger than their team for the simple fact that no one person can win it for their team alone.
Anyone else notice this to be a recurring problem? What happened to humility?
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