OPINION
The weekend’s second city derby between Birmingham and Aston Villa will live long in the memory and go down in history for all the wrong reasons.
The shocking assault on Jack Grealish had fans and pundits aghast in a scene most football fans in England, and perhaps the world, will have never witnessed before.
It was the unfortunate talking point on a day which should have been about celebrating rivalry – not to mention the victory for Villa fans – and it seems as though common sense has gone out of the window when it comes to the aftermath of the situation.
As revealed in an official statement relayed by the Birmingham Mail on Thursday (14/03), both Birmingham and the Villans have been charged by the Football Association with failing to control their players in the fifth minute of the clash after a tackle on Grealish – but there was hardly any sort of confrontation between the players, let alone one which requires officials to look into it.
After all that happened on Sunday afternoon, you would think that the FA would have bigger fish to fry than picking up on an incident which amounted to nothing at all – which is exactly why the Villa top brass must be gobsmacked to see the charge appear on their desk on Thursday morning.
If this is what is going to happen every time some players have stern words with each other on derby day, then football is going to become a boring sport very quickly.
The fire and fury of two local sides going head to head is part of the English game – but there was hardly anything to say about the incident anyway.
A bizarre decision from the FA, and one which the Villa decision makers must appeal to keep any sort of integrity in the game.