Er, but not the English one

We all know that Newcastle’s hopelessness reached new levels at the weekend, but they should seek encouragement from their Antipodean namesakes, who won the A-League final yesterday. The New South Wales club took home Australia’s most prestigious football trophy by beating Central Coast 1-0 at the Sydney Football Stadium.

The game, however, was marred by an incident involving Central Coast keeper Danny Vukovic. After a penalty appeal was turned down in the dying minutes, Vukovic ‘struck’ the referee and was looking at a lifetime ban. Those magic words made Arsene Wenger’s ears prick up, but alas it looks like the angry shot stopper has negotiated a reduced sentence of fifteen months out of the game.

I think the ban is harsh. In the video above, it basically looks like he is high fiving the referee, while in England we let Joey Barton duff up teammates and McDonalds customers like it’s going out of fashion. The fact that the state doesn’t insist on Barton being kept in a locked cage under armed guard at all times makes me feel uneasy.