To think the BBC commentary team were far too mild in their condemnation of English player stepping on opponent

[Clafoutie]

I know from other threads that most people on MN have zero in football so hoping those people will simply not read!
To anyone who is interested, I thought that the very feeble way in which the BBC commentators responded to England player Lauren James deliberately standing on Nigerian player Michelle Alozie was incredibly disappointing and biased. The incident was totally unacceptable and Lauren James was rightly shown a red card, but the commentary team seemed to really hold back on condemning it, and later speculated about how Lauren James must have been ‘tired’ ‘frustrated’ and maybe ‘stayed on the pitch too long’, and other excuses. I get that it is only football, and hardly a big deal, but I thought it was really wrong and quite uncomfortable to watch.

But football players are doing stuff like this all the time

That sounds like something a child would say when caught doing something wrong "I didn't do it but he did it as well" . Hardly the way we should be encouraging anyone to think about their actions when someone does something wrong.

It's not great but she hasn't badly hurt someone

Again, not only is that not how the law works - you are, and should be punished for the intent, not whether the person ducked out of the way quick enough.

Someone can be badly hurt in a complete accident (in a match that could be a clash of heads, for example), or lucky enough not to be hurt when someone intended to hurt them. Any charges are based upon the person's intent. If a player slides in with studs showing, for example, they (quite rightly) get sent off, as they intended to commit what could be a career ending foul, whether the intended victim managed to leap out of the way or not.

I thought it was a shame that she was banned from the quarterfinal, but I'm actually devastated that she's banned from the semis as well. We NEED her, and this could cost us.

Well, clearly we don't need her, as the other 10 players fought on brilliantly without her for the next 40 mins. She could have cost us the game, and the tournament, and it is credit to Serina's tactics, and the other players' discipline and energy and stamina that they managed to hold on.

and she is very contrite and apologetic,

No she isn't - or at least as far as anyone is aware. She put out half an apology (which every team would have made sure the player did, to limit damage). I mean, she might be - none of us have any idea as (quite rightly) she is being protected from the press and has turned off her social media. I presume she does regret what she decided to do, as it means she hasn't played, in the 1/4s and won't play in the semi's, and who knows, if we get to the final.

I totally agree with @girlfriend44 and @Jo1405 .

Nobody is 'berating her' or 'going for her blood' but let's not pretend this was acceptable, or - as I have seen in so many places was "stupid because of all the cameras ". It should be condoned as being a dangerous assault, whether the cameras were there or not and whether you have seen other players do it or not.

Personally I don't think she stamped down hard enough for it to have been really dangerous.

I'm not defending her, I was shouting "what the F did you do that for" at the telly. But I think she would be finished if it was a really aggressive stamp with force. A red card, 2 game ban and an apology seems like enough for me to give her another chance. I wouldn't feel that way if it looked like she could have seriously hurt the other player.

Awful thing to do. Agree that it has been totally played down by the press.