Real Football

The last two articles below have been about the effete posturings of senior football. From the BBC's web-site comes a report of football in the raw - real football played by real men - not the mincing ballet-dancers we watch on Sky Sports. Payout order to fighting player An amateur footballer who broke another player's jaw during a cup match has been ordered to pay him £5,000 in compensation. Troubled flared in the game between the Falkirk and Edinburgh sides when Raymond McNulty, 37, punched striker Christopher Fleming after he scored. McNulty, from Edinburgh, admitted the assault at the city's sheriff court. Leith pub team player McNulty was taunted because of a leg disfigurement left by a dog attack, the court heard. The attack happened during a Sunday amateur league cup match on 30 October, last year. After being hit, 23-year-old Mr Fleming fell to the ground unconscious before being helped off the pitch. The plasterer, who was treated in hospital for a double jaw fracture, had to have metal plates inserted. Defence agent Nigel Bruce told the court on Tuesday that McNulty, who works for an industrial firm, had been struck earlier by a Falkirk player. After Mr Fleming scored a goal 25 minutes into the game, a frustrated McNulty ran across the pitch at Craigentinny Playing Fields in Edinburgh and punched his victim in the face. As well as the compensation payment, Sheriff Derrick McIntyre ordered McNulty, of Tower Place, to carry out 250 hours of community service.