English Premier League Marred by Horrific Injury - 03-01-10

March 1 - Even though this writer loves to take the Mickey out of English Premier League football, its players and managers, there was nothing remotely amusing about the horrific tackle in Saturday's game between Arsenal and Stoke City that saw Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey taken off with a visibly broken leg.

The grotesque incident occurred when Ramsey was tackled at full speed by Stoke City defender Ryan Shawcross. After the collision, Shawcross walked away unscathed while Ramsey remained on the ground as it soon became clear that his lower right leg was left literally dangling after both leg bones were snapped.

The body language of Ramsey's teammates said it all as they immediately recognized the seriousness of the injury. Many covered their faces and walked away in shock. Shawcross, meanwhile, barely registered when he was given a red card for the errant tackle, and left the field in tears, also visibly upset and in shock.

Later that day Ramsey, who at the tender age of 19 is a Wales international, underwent surgery to repair fractures to both his right tibia and fibula. He has obviously been ruled out for the remainder of the season, but will hopefully make a full recovery. Meanwhile, everyone in England has an opinion about the incident.

Even Arsenal legend, Bob Wilson, added his tuppence by calling upon English Premier League authorities to act in the wake of Ramsey's potentially career-ending injury. 'In my opinion this is born out of most managers and coaches facing Arsenal...who instruct their players to get in the faces of Arsenal players.

'Arsenal are a relatively small team. Opposing players are told to shake them up, get in their faces, tackle hard, bully them. I would defy coaches and managers [in the English Premier League] to deny that is the case,' he said. 'The tackle by Ryan Shawcross was at best mistimed, at worst reckless and desperate.'

No doubt many football fans in England echo Wilson's sentiment. Still, professional football at this level is extremely physical and while not common place, injuries of this nature do happen. As for the rest of the game between Arsenal and Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, a small consolation is that Arsenal won 3-1.

Here are the complete English Premier League Football results from Saturday, February 27 and Sunday, February 28, 2010:

Tottenham 2-1 Everton
Liverpool 2-1 Blackburn
Sunderland 0-0 Fulham
Chelsea 2-4 Manchester City
Birmingham 1-0 Wigan Athletic
Bolton 1-0 Wolves
Burnley 1-2 Portsmouth
Stoke City 1-3 Arsenal