Freebie Friday: Does the punishment fit the crime?

Have your say in the comments at the end

It’s Friday once again and time for another free piece for all subscribers to read. If you’re new to the site then every week ‘Freebie Friday’ drops into your inbox for everyone to read, a taster of what can be found behind the paywalls and meaning everyone gets something out of this site.

I had already a piece in mind to write before I listened to Tim Fuell’s excellent podcast The Non-League Show this morning when in conversation with the Non-League Paper’s editor Jon Couch they mentioned about County Cup competitions and their relevance these days.

I almost changed tack with what I was going to write but thought actually I can use both and put one behind the paywall next week, job done and one less thought to have next week!

So, my original thought to post was around something you might have seen last week and was also mentioned as well on the same podcast, it caused a change to the headline in the and front page story for Jon and his team, the very unsavoury incident that happened at Warrington Town last weekend involving their keeper Tony Thompson.

In case you haven’t seen or heard about it, it happened in the Northern Premier League on Saturday afternoon where Thompson had his water bottle swopped by a Guiseley ‘fan’ for one containing human urine.

Yes, you read that right, another human within our race decided that this was a clever, rational thing to do to another person. Thompson had actually been unaware of the swop and drank from the bottle, upon having it pointed out to him then squirted it back into the fans behind his goal and was subsequently sent off for his actions.

As it common these days the bottle swop was filmed and put on social media that evening and became something most in non-league were aware of and talking about.

I can’t begin to comprehend what goes through the mind of someone to decide that’s the way to act inside a football ground and towards someone else, regardless of their club status. It’s disgusting and despicable to even think of and for someone else to think it’s worth filming as well is just unreal. Thompson’s response was understandable and no doubt expected, his punishment very harsh and a referee without understanding of the situation I feel should have taken different action.

I appreciate it’s not something that you deal with on a weekly basis, this is a very isolated incident before the alarm bells are ringing for some, it’s not normal for this to happen within a non-league environment.

Since the weekend both clubs have handled the situation very well, Guiseley have found and banned the individual from home games and Thompson has had his ban reduced from three games down to one. Do I feel things should stop there? No, most certainly not. The person who videoed the incident should be facing a punishment too, criminal charges for both are deserved and would send a very strong message across to people it’s not tolerated full stop.

I appreciate Thompson’s reaction is not what should be encouraged, but it’s also understandable given what he found out. The FA had a chance to stand by someone wronged, quash the ban and issue a fine and future conduct warning, surely that would suffice in the circumstances, am I right or do you think the punishment for Thompson is correct?

The same goes for those involved, am I asking too much to be levelled at them? Go ahead and give your opinion in the comments, I would really love to know what the football community thinks about the whole unsavoury incident.