Originally published at: https://www.rangersnews.uk/news/these-bears-ridicule-hammer-thrower-gary-holt-for-rangers-column/
Livingston boss Gary Holt has been out slamming Steven Gerrard [Daily Record] for comments he made on the Lions’ physicality, and the Rangers support have been left stunned. Holt threw his toys out of the pram after Gerrard had forewarned referees to clamp down on the sort of brutality which saw Joe Aribo needing 20…
Can you imagine a rangers player not getting a yellow upgraded to a red for an elbow like that. The “compliance officer” proved her celtic leanings conclusively for that one. Someone needs to elbow her in the head like that to show her what a red card looks like because she is clearly clueless. Just bam now you know what a red card feels like.
Gerrard stated that we had the physio on 3 times in the first 20 mins in the last game to treat head injuries and that is a fact .There is no doubt that the ball bounces higher on plastic pitches and increases the number of aerial challenges and that Livvy , Killie and Accies all play in a way that suits the pitch .Big guys throwing themselves into legal and illegal challenges .They are set up by their managers to take advantage of it and is part of the reason the standard of football is so poor .Its acceptable up here to assault people.
Given all the debate recently about the dangers of heading the ball and concussion , its interesting that the SFA don`t look at this and ban these pitches and clamp down on aerial fouls.
Having been employed as a Health Professional going on 30 years it is becoming much clearer that persistent knocks to the head are not safe. Some people are more resistant than others, obviously there are a number of other factors that come in to play regarding the level of risk to someone, including past medical history, their genetics, severity of injuries in the past, other health problems, weight, height, age, even diet, etc etc. Gerrard has a right to raise the concerns given the last game, Holt is only doing what most managers do, they go on the defensive. As wigers4ever says maybe SFA should look at professional game given there stance recently on junior football, my opinion is that if it gets looked at it should be worldwide. My opinion you leave it as it is and players, parents, teachers etc are told about dangers and it comes down to personal choice based on knowing the risks. If we live in a society of minimising all risk there would be no boxing, horse racing, motorsport, rugby or even getting out your bed etc.