Source: Team_Talk
FIFA chief slams 'criminal' tackles
Michel d'Hooghe, FIFA's top medical official, has spoken out against "criminal" tackles in the game.[LNB] Belgian doctor d'Hooghe, who chairs the world governing body's medical committee, is worried that some top players are setting out to deliberately hurt opponents and believes it is a problem which must be addressed.[LNB]"Some players come on the field simply to provoke injuries in other persons - to break a career," he told BBC Sport.[LNB]"I have two eyes, I can see what happens - how some acts are really criminal."[LNB]FIFPro, the global union of players, responded to d'Hooghe's comments, defending their members.[LNB]"I don't believe there is a player in the world - and we have 50,000 members - who would deliberately try to injure someone else," said Then van Seggelen, FIFPro's general secretary. "That would not be acceptable."[LNB]Although d'Hooghe was not referring to any specific player or incident, dangerous tackles are back in the news in England after a spate of poor challenges by the likes of Manchester City's Nigel de Jong and Wolves' Karl Henry in recent weeks.[LNB]De Jong, who broke the leg of Newcastle Hatem Ben Arfa recently in a challenge deemed legal by referee Martin Atkinson, was dropped by Holland manager Bert van Marwijk over concerns about his tackling.
