THERE are only two occasions after which the word 'vile', with its quaint overtones of moral disgust, is used in a match report. One is when supporters are heard chanting racist abuse; the other when a footballer spits on an opponent.
Rudi Skacel stands accused of the second of these apparently comparable activities after appeaaring to spit towards Neil Lennon on Sunday. Afterwards, the columnists' frenzied condemnation of Skacel's apparent misdemeanour almost matched Lennon's own fury.
What a skewed sense of morality the football fraternity has. Dispensing phlegm onto an opponent is pretty reprehensible, but is it really worse than dangerously scything down an opponent? Spit can be wiped away, but a cynical tackle can end careers.
One of Lennon's team-mates is an expert in the latter. Is Skacel's alleged crime really worse than the brutal and calculated challenge that Roy Keane perpetuated on Alfe-Inge Haaland?
It's not about the severity of the consequences but about the cowardly and disgusting nature of the attack.
darwinsmoustache