There is certainly a heated debate going on about Messi’s handled goal against Espanyol. My article “The Hand Of Messi” was also posted on Soccerlens http://soccerlens.com/the-hand-of-messi/1991/ and has provoked a storm of outrage. Calls for a ban of up to 12 months to teach the little cheat a lesson, claims that what he did was as bad as match-fixing, and even one reply that hoped Messi would end up as “a worthless junkie”. Anyone would think he’d knocked England out of the World Cup.

It should be said that football fans are very blinkered in their opinions, you only have to go to a bar where two opposing groups of fans are watching the same game to realise this. I am the first to admit I would not have reacted to Messi’s goal in the same way if it had been scored at the other end. However, please note that I did not feel the need to vent any rage on this blog when a deliberate handball from Ruud van Nistlerooy led to a Real Madrid goal a couple of weeks ago. This is because I know it is part of the game; not a good part in any way, but if I was going to get so upset by it, I might as well give up watching football and go and watch an honest sport such as…erm…cycling.

Given the double standards that many of us fans have, let me state here what I see as worse for the game than handling, all of which happen every year in our beautiful game. Violent conduct, this includes swinging punches or elbows, headbutting, two-footed over-the-ball lunges, stamping, etc. Basically anything that could put an opponent out of the game for lengthy periods.
Next up I’d put the ugliness of spitting or racist comments. While they don’t physically injure anyone they both go into the catagory of disgusting behaviour. After that would be trying to get an opponent sent off by clutching the face as if Mike Tyson has just hit you (yes, like Messi against Chelsea last season, before you all remind me), this along with appealing to the ref to get the red card out is in my opinion worse than what Messi did. On the same level as handball are a number of things which all deliberately break the rules in order to gain your team an advantage. Time-wasting, not retreating ten yards, deliberate shirt-holding, deliberate obstruction or trips all serve to slow down the game and prevent the fast-flowing game we all like to see. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion and many would have a different set of standards, but come on, Messi didn’t kill anyone or even injure anyone, he broke the rules like so many players do and he was lucky enough to get away with it. For those who can’t wait to boo him next time he’s playing near you - please do, he always plays better when the crowd are against him.