Remembering David Busst’s horrific injury

Eduardo da Silva’s horrendous leg break over the weekend when Arsenal faced Birmingham has rekindled interest in what was probably the worst injury in the history of the Premiership. David Busst suffered a severe leg break during a corner when Coventry played Manchester United back in 1996.

Busst lay in agony after a collision with Denis Irwin as he charged the back post after a flick on. The crowd was shocked into silence as Busst required his legs strapped together before being stretchered off.

Players from both teams were visibly shocked at the event. Most couldn’t bear to watch as the blood stained pitched required the grounds keepers to clean up scene.

He required a total of 20 operations, but the injury ended Busst’s career because of complications after the fact.

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He tried to break his leg

Benfica midfielder Augistin Binya deserves an 8 match ban for his horrific tackle on Celtic midfielder Scott Brown that could have ended his career.

I am amazed Brown got up from the challenge. When I saw it, I thought, whoa, that is a broken leg. I can't understand what Binya was thinking. He had a decent game, although Benfica were tiring quickly as the game wore on but that challenge, that was strait out of the book of horrors.

Judge for yourself, it was 110% intentional for my money:

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The clown

Dida is a clown. Against Celtic in a famous win, the AC Milan keeper faked injury when a fan came on the pitch to celebrate the goal.

Granted, the fan was an idiot, but Dida, after the fan brushed him as he ran past, initially started to chase the fan but then fell over in a heap and acted like he was dying. Shame on the AC Milan physios for their complicity. They should have told him to get up and stop the stupid antics. The goal was Dida's fault anyway.

Initially UEFA gave Dida a 2 game ban for his antics but unfortunately it was reduced to a single game. Should have upheld the decision. Watch the foolishness for yourself:

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The Butcher of Bilbao

In 1983, Diego Maradona joined Barcelona and was instantly a marked man. Atletico Bilbao defender Andoni Goikoetxea produced one of the worst tackles in history when he broke Maradona’s ankle.

Today, Goikoetxea is known as the Butcher of Bilbao and was given a 16-match ban for the incident. He had the boots which he was wearing put in a glass case which features in his living room. Great guy:

When Maradona recovered he sparked a fight between the teams in retrobution.

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Turkish football embarressment

How is this for class? The Turkcell Super League season started this weekend on an ugly note when Sivasspor's Israeli striker Pini Balili was harshly tackled by Trabzonspor defender Ayman Abdelaziz.

Players circled eachother and fans stormed the pitch and the referee abandoned the match. Turkish football has been mired in a cycle of violence for some seasons now. Here is the ugly mahem:

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Remember this cynical foul?

The 1980 FA Cup Final was contested by West Ham United and Arsenal and contained one of the most cynical moments of football I have ever seen.

The moment occurred minutes before the end when un-fancied second division West Ham had a breakaway on goal as Paul Allen, just 17 years old and ready to take a chance on goal that would have brought him glory was tackled from behind in a shocking display of un-sportsmanship by Arsenal’s Willie Young.

Unfortunately, at the time, this offence was not on the rule books as a strait red, but it should have been. It was a sad moment, a cynical central defender ruining a clear goal scoring chance with only goalkeeper Pat Jennings to beat. Allen made an appearance as the youngest player to ever appear in an FA Cup Final and had a chance stolen to make it a fairytale.

Here is the moment:

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Foot to the face with your clearance?

Velez Sarsfield goalkeeper Gaston Sessa is guilty of one of the most vicious actions by a goalkeeper you'll ever see. In this video, he collects a long ball but in the process lifts his leg to the face of Boca Juniors striker Rodrigo Palacio:

Fortunately, this criminal goalkeeper was red carded and deserves a season long suspension for such a dangerous and irresponsible act.

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Ferdinand blasted ball at fans

Surely one of the worst moments of last season has to be Rio Ferdinand blasting the ball into the stands and hitting elderly female fan while having a tantrum against Blackburn Rovers.

The moment occurred when he was not allowed to play on after a foul on Cristiano Ronaldo. He took out his frustrations on the poor folks behind the goal at Old Trafford. He’s lucky it didn’t happen at the away end or away from home.

Apparently Ferdinand apologized to the elderly lady and gave her his shirt after the match. Let’s look back on the sorry moment:

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Brawl in Rotterdam

A memorable 1956 match between Feyenoord and Real Madrid went all wrong in front of a packed Rotterdam stadium where the Dutch queen was present for the festivities.

Madrid were asking for it. They were kicking the Feyenoord players all match long, with the worst of it being defender Hans Kraaij getting kicked in the head by Pachin which caused Kraaij to need stitches and a rather large bandage.

As one kick led to another, Feyenoord said enough was enough.

Defender Miera leveled Coen Moulijn right in front of the royal box, literally flinging him over his hip which caused the Feyenoord player to get up and start chasing the Spaniard.

After a zig-zag chase, a host of Feyenoord players joined in once Mieira hit the ground and began getting roundly kicked. Policemen raced in to stop it. Mahem ensued.

This event is as much a worst moment for the fight as the terrible attitude of the Real Madrid players. They lost the game and cemented their reputation as sore losers.

Here is a video of the event:

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A tackle so hard, the defenders boot came off

One of the worst tackles in football history must be the all out manhunt performed on former Argentine international and former Dundee United and Rangers winger Claudio Caniggia. The mauling was performed by Cameroonian central defender Benjamin Massing during their encounter at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

Cameroon had a lead to protect in the 89th minute, up 1-0 in their opener, the Cameroonian’s were poised to make history until a late run by Caniggia sent a scare thru the Cameroonian defense. Massing had already been booked in the game which took place at the San Siro, but when Caniggia broke through 2 attempts at amputation already, the first an attempted knock down, the second a chop, Massing panicked and charged in with full body-check that sent Caniggia hurtling through the air.

The red card was instant, and Massing could do no more than scoop up the boot that he lost during the horrible tackle:

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The best and Worst of Paolo di Canio

Paolo di Canio has always been a live wire. In 2000, he scored his greatest goal when he was playing for West Ham United against Wimbledon. But di Canio has a dark side, notably the incident in 1998 when he pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground after a red card when playing for Sheffield Wednesday.

Let’s start with the good stuff. He scored BBC’s Match of the Day Goal of the Season in 2000 with this volley against Wimbledon, certainly one of the best goals in Premiership history. In this season he was also voted Hammer of the Year by the club's fans. The goal came from a cross from the right, floating well wide of the box, but di Canio took it in stride and leapt while he struck the ball with the outside of his right boot sending the ball across goal into the right side of the net. Incredible goal:

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The push came after an altercation with Arsenal players when di Canio kicked out at a Gunner while in an argument. Alcock saw the incident and di Canio was sent off. When the red card emerged, di Canio himself went red and sent the referee sprawling to the ground. I always wondered how much of a meal Alcock made of the push, but regardless, after the incident, di Canio left England for Italy and refused to return, claiming Wednesday refused to support him. The incident forced his sale to West Ham, where he scored that beauty above.

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Cantona’s kung-fu kick

Former Manchester United icon Eric Cantona lashed out at a Crystal Palace fan in 1995 and paid dearly for it. His punishments for his kung fu attack were well deserved.

He was fined 20,000 pounds and banned from playing for nine months; additionally he was stripped of the French national captaincy.

Cantona, famous for his fiery temper claims the fan shouted racial insults and threw a missile at him as he walked off the pitch after being given a red card for kicking another player during a tackle.

In the incident, Cantona jumped at the fan with both feet and kicked him in the chest, he then punched him as a security person tried to intervene and stop the situation from getting worse:

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The Ben Thatcher hatchet job

Charlton Athletic defender Ben Thatcher is lucky (for the FOURTH time) that he didn’t end a career, even a life. When he was with Manchester City he floored Pedro Mendes so violently that afterwards the Portsmouth midfielder laid completely knocked out and had a seizure and needed oxygen on the way to the hospital.

The Mendes incident took place in August 2006, and you’d think he had learned a lesson before then because this was not the first time. Thatcher is a dirty player. Not only did he knock Mendes into the advertising boards Thatcher also elbow had hospitalized an opponent during a pre-season tour of China.

Before the incident in China, he made similar challenges against Nicky Summerbee when he was with Wimbledon against Sunderland and Allan Nielsen from Tottenham Hotspur.
See the horror challenge here, what makes me gag most is his ‘what, me?’ reaction in anger afterwards:

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Holland vs Portugal 2006: History for the wrong reasons

During the World Cup in 2006 a dirty, ill-tempered quarterfinal was played between Holland and Portugal with a madman referee that ended with a record 16 yellow and 4 red cards.

Both teams finished the game with nine men: Deco and Costinha were dismissed for Portugal, while Khalid Boulahrouz and Gio van Bronkhorst were ejected for Holland.

Russian referee Valentin Ivanov, in what I think was one of the worst refereeing performances ever, set the tone by booking players early on for late tackles that he could have given free-kicks for.

It was unwatchable, here are the fouls:

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Butt of a joke

Bayer Leverkusen keeper Hans-Jorg Butt created a truly hilarious situation after scoring on a penalty against Schalke 04.

Known for his free kicks and penalty taking, Butt made the score 3-1 against Schalke with a penalty. Full of hubris and delight he proceeded to hi-five every player on the pitch for Levelkusen, taking his sweet time and paying for it.

As he went back into his goal he found Schalke has scored. The play was restarted quickly and Schalke's Mike Hanke took advantage of the egregious celebrations to score a goal from near the half way line. He’ll never do that again.

Here is the video of it:

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The dirtiest player in Europe

If there were ever a contest for the dirtiest player in Europe, it’s Marco Materazzi. When he played for one season at Everton he was red carded 3 times. From a provocation of Zinedine Zidane at the World Cup to the savage elbow he delivered to Juan Pablo Sorin during the Champions League against Villareal to moment after ugly moment in the Serie A, he’s a brute of a defender with no consideration for anyone’s body. Inter Milan should be ashamed to have him on their books.

Does this guy belong on a pitch?

And how about these gems from Seria A:

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The Graham Souness flag incident

During the 1996 season Turkish club Fenerbahce were competing for the title with Trabzonspor while Galatasaray were struggling.

Galatasaray managed to reach the cup final against Fenerbahce and everyone predicted an easy win for Fenerbahce. Leading up to the game there were insults at Galatasaray and the Fenerbahce chairman even made remarks about Souness’s fitness to coach.

Galatasaray won the first leg thru a Dean Saunders penalty. The 2nd leg was played in the heated atmosphere of the Fenerbahce home ground. Fenerbahce lost the match in an extra time equalizing goal. Galatasaray has won the cup.

Souness decided to take a huge Galatasaray flag and plant it in the centre of the Fenerbahce pitch. What resulted was a furor in the ground and the press, it was an act that was deeply offensive in Turkish culture. Years on this has always been looked back on as a very provocative gesture that has sparked violence in Turkish football and especially when English clubs travel to Turkey. It was a dumb move by Souness.

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Are all Man United fans idiots like these?

First, Manchester United fans continue supporting the club under Malcom Glazer, now comes this piece of high class FA Cup final showmanship from a decidely low brow part of the Old Trafford stable:



Pooring beer on the man's head?

Roy Keane ends a career

In 2000 former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane dealt an unforgivable career ending injury to Manchester City’s Alf Inge Haaland. Keane, who now manages Sunderland, recounts the incident from his own autobiography:

"
Throughout the game I’d been having a private feud with Alfie Haaland. He was winding me up from the beginning of the game . The late tackles I could live with, they were the normal part of football. But the other stuff – pulling my shirt, getting digs in off the ball – really bugged me… Five minutes from time, as we pushed forward in their box, I lunged in desperation at Haaland. I was trying to trip him up rather than kick him. I knew it would probably mean a booking, but fuck it, he’d done his job. He’d done my head in. As I slid in to make the challenge my studs caught the turf . I actually heard my cruciate ligament snap. The pain was instant and agonizing. Haaland stood over me shouting ‘Get up, stop faking it’. His colleague was gesturing to the same effect.
"

Further on:

"
Another crap performance. They’re up for it. We’re not….I’d waited almost 180 minutes for Alfie, three years if you looked at it another way. Now he had the ball on the far touchline, Alfie was taking the piss. I’d waited long enough. Fucking hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you c***. And don’t ever stand over me again sneering about fake injuries.
"

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Rivaldo’s disgrace

During the 2002 World Cup when Brazil played Turkey, Rivaldo was responsible for the worst moment of the Cup.

The Hakan Unsal kicked the ball at Rivaldo as he prepared to take a corner. The ball hit him on the knee, Rivaldo collapsed to the ground holding his face as if he had been shot. The Turkish player was red carded. Rivaldo was fined a pitiful 5,000 pounds, he was quoted as having no regrets.

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