Colorado Rapids midfielder Brian Mullan has been suspended 10 games and fined $5,000 for his tackle that broke Steve Zakuani's leg in two places last Friday night.
The Major League Soccer Disciplinary Committee added nine games and $4,750 onto the automatic punishment for receiving a red card by determining that "Mullan’s challenge was reckless, egregious, and showed utter disregard for the safety of his opponent," according to a statement released by the league.
Mullan issued a public apology on Wednesday, and he will reportedly not appeal the punishment. The suspension matches the longest one ever handed out by the league, when Ricardo Clark was suspended 10 games for kicking Carlos Ruiz in 2007. It's the longest suspension for an on-ball incident in league history.
What do you think of the punishment? Too severe? Not severe enough? Sound about right?
Share your thoughts below.
They are called professionals for a reason and that includes not hurting other players just because you are angry.
Oh okay, so Mullan is a scumbag for accidentally breaking a leg, but Clark is a hero for actually kicking someone in the chest on purpose. Good reasoning there.
I agree, the Sounders GM was being idiotic and embarrassing. Will he be so quick to demand equal sitting time the next time one of his players injures someone? No. Will he offer to make a player sit the next time that god-forsaking turf injures someone up there, will he offer to drop some points because the unnatural way the ball bounces off that turf affects games? No, of course not.
Since his wife is a teacher, who may or may not be teaching since the move, and they had to do a sudden move from a different state last year, I’d say 5 grand will in fact hurt. I make less than a fifth what Mullan makes and $1,000 might not bankrupt me, but it would hurt.
I tend to agree with most of your post except when you get to the part of addressing “all the Sounder Fans out there”…
That’s a bit ridiculous. Yes there was a lot of nonsense remarks and comments during all of this from a FEW Seattle fans. But the majority were/are exactly spot on in their assessment of the situation and have quite a bit of experience with “soccer as a sport”.
How would you like it if we referred to ALL of you Colorado Fans as “uneducated thugs that don’t know a thing about how football should be played” just because of the remarks of a few Rapids fans?
Let’s keep it real.
Yea, that doesn’t make sense at all Ken
They better dang well enforce it across the board or they’re going to expose themselves to an outcry just like the one over the Mullan tackle. I wonder how they will handle horrible tackles that miss altogether and fair but harsh tackles that break legs. Either way they, and the media that called for such harsh punishments on Mullan, are going to be fair game for calls of hypocracy if they don’t react in the same manner.
Agreed.
It’s probably only $3500 after taxes.
You get the ball at all costs. That is what professional athletes do. It’s a fair punishment.
Agreed, but will it take another broken leg before they punish this sort of tackle. They happen all the time, but the broken legs are rare…..
Seriously?
A word for people here. These are professional athletes we are talking about. I don’t disagree that it was an absolutely horrible challenge – it was. But these guys don’t take losing or not getting their way on the pitch lightly; I sincerely believe if they didn’t have this attitude, they never would have made it to the pro ranks anyway. That’s why we’re here commenting on it. The punishment fits the crime.
Yeah 10 games is barely exceptable, only because it is the longest ever. I was really really looking forward to watching Zakuani this season.
MLS adds needs to add a ” . . . and next time it will be more” to the suspension statement.
I like this idea. 10 games is about right for me. $5,000 is very soft.
If Mullan did this, I would count it as an apology
I know it wasn’t your intention, but I lol’d at your last few sentences.
Time to take the Rapids goggles off buddy. Doesnt matter what he did in the past, no respectable footy player at any level makes that tackle from that angle with that amount of force in the follow-thru. A player who has been a professional for years and played the game his whole life has the athletic control to pull out of that slide. Mullen didnt get a call he wanted, lost his head (in the 3rd minute!) and went in with intent to foul. Did he intend to injure that bad? Probly not, but that in no way excuses the deed. And look, I dont give a sh** about Seattle, but to say their fans don’t understand soccer as well as you is ridiculous.
I wouldn’t be so sure. Its not gonna bankrupt him but its a stretch to say it won’t hurt him at all.
180 after taxes with a family doesn’t make you rich.
That’s right. If you are recklessly negligent you run the risk that the worst case scenario comes to fruition. In that case you pay the price. If you get lucky and the worst does not happen, then you face a less sever punishment. For instance, if you happen to recklessly fire a gun in the air and nobody gets hit you aren’t tried for what COULD have happened… but if you do then you are. That’s the way [legitimate] justice systems generally work. In other words: You don’t have the slightest idea what you are talking about 🙂
Mullan should match that fine with a donation to Zakuani’s charity.
The 10 game suspension is barely acceptable. A season-long ban would have sent a stronger message. The fine is a joke. 5K? And he gets paid while suspended?! Maybe I should scissor-kick my boss tonight before I leave work, breaking his leg, then get a paid month-long vacation, after which I will come back to work like nothing happened. If any question, I will explain that business is war and these things happen in offices all around the world.
The Sounders GM said that — are you implying that the GM is idiotic and embarrassing? And I had thought so highly of him….
The Sounders GM said that — are you saying that the GM is idiotic and embarrassing? An I had thought so highly of him….
Of course he didn’t MEAN to break Zakuani’s leg, but I think at lesat one meaning of recklessness is that he didn’t care whether or not he broke his leg, or caused any of a number of equally horrifying but foreseeable results.
Agreed. If a player wants to really hurt another player he won’t slide in, there are far better/less noticeable ways to injure someone on a soccer field.
If the leg wasn’t broken I would say 2 or 3 games
Mullan was talking about hard challenges. It’s pretty obvious based on the video of his quotes what he was implying. You can tell he was very regretful and remorseful. Still doesn’t take away what he did. MLS is doing the right thing. His suspension and fine is spot on.
Oh, BTW you don’t pay attention to news much do you? It was on MLS website that Mullan has not practice all week and the Rapids have provided some counseling to help he cope with the situation.
Rapids fan here. I think the punishment is a little tough, but not all that surprising. I was looking for a few less games, but more money. I wont complain, however, due to understanding that the MLS is attempting to not create a league where this is not a problem.
What I will say, is that this has highlighted how ignorant and under-educated the MLS fan-base still is. Mullan is a class act, that has won everywhere he has played. He has never been in a situation like this before. Yes, the tackle was VERY BAD(I was there), but we all know that he didnt mean for this to happen. Yes, he needs to be fined and suspended, which has now been handed down. Lets move on.
Soccer is an incredibly physical sport, played with out pads, and at an incredible pace. Bad tackles and injuries happen all the time. But mindless name calling and asking for over the top suspensions is silly. And to all the Sounder Fans out there, stop taking quotes out of context to try and cast Mullan as a career thug. Leave that sort of stuff to our politicians. The Sounders may have a ton of supporters, but they clearly have little experience with soccer as a sport.
Good point AJ.
I think the suspension is good and the fine is fair, especially since he is getting paid, considering that the MLS wants the league to clean up. However, I seriously doubt he meant to hurt Zackuani. He made a terrible decision by going in WAY to hard but I seriously doubt he wanted to hurt him. For christ sake he is going to counseling and is torn up over it to a large degree! If Zackuani HADN’T gotten hurt no one would say “Mullan was trying to hurt him!” He isn’t Ben Thatcher! Mullan isn’t a thug, he isn’t a disgrace he made a serious mistake and is getting a fair punishment for it.
This is what thugs do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_8b1pd3Mas
I agree with ETJ. All the complaining and implications of intent to injure are based on no facts at all. The result of the tackle was horrible and the tackle was reckless. Saying Mullan went in with intention to break a player’s leg is baseless. Mullan went in extremely hard with intent to get the ball back. Zakuani didn’t see him because he was being screened and his leg got caught up under the tackle. End of story. I find that type of tackle inexcusable though. No player needs to leap with both feet into a tackle. It’s a sliding tackle, not a flying tackle.
Did you actually read the quote or did you see the video from where the quote derived? I ask because when I first read the quote, I had the same reaction, that he had no remorse. However, once I saw the video, I understood more. Mullan was visibly shaken. He was clearly remorseful. You could tell what he was trying to say that he has made hard challenges before and will continue do so but he had no intention of breaking Zak’s leg. It was pretty obvious Mullan was regretful and remorseful. It still doesn’t erase his actions on the field. He’s paying the price (literally and figuratively) and what MLS handed down is fair.
wow hes not worth that, i thought he was a drag on Colorado they have better players then him
What were you watching Mullen came from the side and zakuani was focused down field, there is no way to jump when a guy jumps into your legs.
P.s. this is coming from a Rapids season ticket holder. I think their play is a bit chippy and they need to focus on skill a bit more. Connor, Pablo, Mullan, et al, seem to place more emphasis on the physical side of the game. You could say this was bound to happen based on past behavior.
Isn’t it the “offside” rule? just sayin’
and, he did win the ball and Zakuani was oblivious to his looming challenge even though he had a look at Mullan approaching. Sometimes, you just have to jump and let the buffoon upend you instead of planting into the ground. I’m not blaming the victim here, Mullan was reckless (willful?) and it’s his fault. I’m just saying there are contributing and mitigating factors to a foul besides – how grotesque was the outcome.
Preston Burpo’s injury was a freak accident.
This was a brutal tackle with an attempt to injure a player
Lets say Mullan did the same tackle and somehow, Zakuani was in a slightly different position and it just flipped him over and he landed on his back, then took a few minutes on the sideline to get himself together before playing the rest of the match.
Does this get the same additional suspension?
I don’t think so. Mullan is being suspended for the result of the tackle and not the tackle.
If MLS wants to make a point, they need to do something like this for a tackle that doesn’t result in injury. I’d bet that for every broken leg, there are four or five similar tackles that go unpunished (or get a yellow) because the victim gets up.
It doesn’t matter that he’s not a dirty player, in that moment he was and he made a disgraceful challenge.
All this “not a dirty player” talk is total BS. I agree that he’s not dirty but it does not matter.
That’s exactly the point I was making.
Sorry, but that was not a freak play. Mullan went in to make a hard tackle on the player, not to win the ball. He did it with intent.
Things like this may happen in run-of-play tackles, but the type of tackle that Mullan made has no place in soccer.
Wells Thompson? What are you talking about?
Sorry but I’m calling BS on the “clearly no malice” comment.
Why would Jonathan Leathers get a suspension? His tackle was not even close to as bad as Mullan’s.
as would I… and I don’t even drink!
Clearly no malice? I wouldn’t so far as saying that. I don’t he wanted to break Zakuani’s leg but clearly he got pissed and lashed out. He thought he got fouled, missed on his first tackle of Zak, put his arms up and looks at the ref, then turns around and runs with a full head of speed right at Zakuani and breaks his leg.
Another difference is that Ruiz deserved it.
lolz. I’m not a Clark fan in the least but I’d buy the dude a beer or just shake his hand for that one if I ever met him.
Don’t know about stupid seattle fans, but i’m a Union fan and I think he should be out for as long as Zakuani.
10 games would have been fine, but the idiotic comment at the end of the game shows no remorse.
I was looking forward to a pretty healthy verbal attack on Mullan when they come to NE in 2 weeks, thats the only bad part about this suspension.
“On-ball incident”? There’s no way Mullan was playing the ball. He was looking to hit someone.
Senor Creditor — do you know whether this suspension also affects his ability to participate in reserve league matches?