It’s been a rough seven days for Birmingham City defender, Martin Taylor, and Arsenal forward, Eduardo. The two men have taken a battering, one psychologically, the other physically. I sincerely hope that both men recover…they may not but they both know injuries are a part of football.

By now I’m sure you’ve all seen the horrific pictures of Eduardo’s left leg after Taylor mistimed his challenge at St. Andrews. Sights like that sicken the soul and stay imprinted on your mind for years to come.

Not surprisingly the response by players, fans and the media has run the full range. From sympathy to outright disgust both players have had their lives changed forever.

In the immediate aftermath, an emotional Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger, called for Taylor to be banned for life saying, “people will say he is not the type of guy (Taylor) who does that. But it is like a guy who kills only once in his life. There is still a dead person.” Sensibly he later retracted that comment but a seed was planted amongst those less sophisticated. Death threats have since been made to the Birmingham defender while irate Croatian journalists tried to visit him at the clubs training facility .

In an interview with the English paper, The Independent, later in the week, Taylor gave his view of the events saying, “all I remember was him going deep into midfield, turning and taking a touch. I felt he showed me enough of the ball to win it. In my head I definitely thought I could get that ball. There was never any intention to hurt him. It is not in my mentality to be premeditated or hurt someone. I'm not even the type to be physical with an opponent to 'show him that I am there'. It was just a fact that I thought the ball was there to win and – as other people have said – Eduardo was too quick for me.”

This last statement ‘Eduardo was too quick from me’ seems to have fired up many people I’ve spoken to. Their argument being that if Taylor know that Eduardo was too quick, hacking him to pieces was the one sure fire way to slow him down.

Eduardo though has taken a more thoughtful view on his injury stating “I see this as a risk in professional football. Sometimes you go up, sometimes you go down.”

I can appreciate their comments having been on both sides of the coin they currently inhabit and this is my take.

Playing in the LA Municipal League eighteen years ago for boot money, my coach, told me to mark a very talented forward. The instructions were simple…‘don’t let him score’. In the opening minutes of the game what I thought was a 50/50 ball was up for grabs. My opponent, like Eduardo, was too quick for me though. Instead of playing the ball, I played his knee. The ‘pop’ was unmistakable. His ACL was torn. I’d gone in hard and aggressively - it looked from the sidelines like a terrible foul. It was a terrible ‘mistimed’ foul however there was absolutely no intent to injure this guy. I don’t know what happened to this kid – it was part of the game.

Ten years prior to this match I was a talented teenage midfield prodigy in England. I was playing youth football for a local club however I showed so much promise that the club I was affiliated with wanted to see me play with men. I was picked to play with the second eleven. I remember the day like it was yesterday.

It was cold, overcast and drizzling at Hackney Marshes otherwise known as the ‘Mecca’ of football as there are over 80 full size pitches. I was played through by a  teammate and attempted to chip the goalkeeper with the outside of my left foot while running diagonally right. The keeper game through me hard and aggressively – he wasn’t going to let a kid beat him. I didn’t hear the snap but my captain later told me, matches three fields away stopped playing. He said it sounded like a pistol shot.

I looked down at my left leg and didn’t recognize it. Then the shock kicked in and I became a frightened, young boy in more pain than I’d ever known in my life. My fibula and tibia were broken. I never saw the goalkeeper who broke my leg again – it was part of the game.

I have no doubt in my mind that Birmingham manager, Alex McLeish, told his team to mix it up with Arsenal. ‘Don’t give them time on the ball’ he would’ve said. Wenger on the other hand would’ve have told his players to test the Birmingham defenders early ‘run at them and make them scared of you’.

Ultimately as bad as Taylor’s challenge was and as horrific as Eduardo’s injury is, it’s part of the game. The day you take the physical side of the game out of football is the day that football dies. You have to have the cloggers because they’re the guys that make the skill players look so great.

Boxer, Ricky Hatton eloquently stated recently that his sport “ain’t a tickling contest” after getting a beating from Floyd Mayweather – football ain’t a tickling contest either and hopefully it will never become one.

Until then, get the beers in.