Last updated 10:18, Saturday, 29 November 2008

If it had occurred in the Premier League, we would now be on our fifth day of screaming headlines, televised debates and Something-Must-Be-Done national newspaper columns.

Richard Keogh, at the end of the Millwall away game

Well, just because Gary Alexander’s dubious collision with Richard Keogh didn’t occur under the spotlight on Tuesday doesn’t mean something mustn’t be done. In other words, it’s time for an assault on the elbow-led challenge: the aerial equivalent of the two-footed tackle.

Perhaps it’s best that Alexander’s challenge (yes, there’s probably a stronger word for it) happened in the game’s foothills rather than the peak. If you doubt that the top-flight’s mass exposure doesn’t encourage witch-hunts, I simply refer you to the Croatian death threats aimed at Birmingham’s Martin Taylor after his leg-snapping tackle on Arsenal’s Eduardo in February was shown on the hour, every hour on satellite television.

That sort of thing scores a fat zero on the helpfulness scale when serious points are straining to be made about reckless leaps and lunges in the English game.

So it’s good that we can get to work on the Alexander issue without any distractions, and the fact Keogh merely received a nasty cut and three stitches above his eye, as opposed to a more enduring injury, shouldn’t discourage us.

An inch lower, and the Millwall striker’s extended arm could have caused Keogh far more grievous damage. Regardless of intent or outcome, it’s beyond argument that Alexander endangered the well-being of an opponent and even in the split-second heat of a League One match, the decision of referee Fred Graham to issue only a yellow card to the Lions striker seemed dangerously lenient.

Yesterday I asked Keogh himself for his own version of events and here is the defender’s account, which doesn’t need to be scanned for melodrama.

“I shouted for the header and went for it, with my eye on the ball. Then I felt this blow to my face and I don’t remember too much about what went on after that.

“When I saw the blood on my hand, I knew I was in trouble. Anything around the head area is a worry. I could have fractured an eye socket, a cheekbone, anything. It did go through my mind. I’m quite lucky that all it’s left me with is a scar and a few stitches.

“I know the lad who did it (Alexander) and he asked me if I was alright, but I didn’t say too much because I was on the ground and a bit groggy. All I could hear was the ref saying, ‘He didn’t mean it, he didn’t mean it’. But he has booked him for the challenge, so what does that tell you? I think he needs to look back and realise it should have been a sending-off.

“I don’t know what was going through the player’s mind. Maybe their manager got stuck into them at half-time and he came out fired up.

“If that’s the case, it’s still no excuse, especially when there is a lot of talk at the moment about respect between players and referees, and more importantly between players themselves.”

It’s on that point that we should dwell, and not the Millwall manager Kenny Jackett’s subsequent insistence that “it wasn’t deliberate”, “Gary isn’t the sort of player who would do something like that” and “the ball was in the air, he was entitled to go for it.”

Certainly, Alexander’s disciplinary record doesn’t show many stains. Jackett’s account is supported by others who know the striker and can vouch for his professional character. That much is accepted. But is it not possible to distinguish between a dirty player and a dirty challenge?

And is it beyond reason to expect managers like Jackett to accept that being “entitled to go for it” doesn’t wash away a player’s responsibility to keep his arm away from an opponent’s face, regardless of whether it was propelled by clumsiness or malice?

Alexander may not be habitually unsafe around opponents, but again, that’s not the point. From the press vantage point at The Den, respect seemed to turn on its heel the moment the 29-year-old forward led with his elbow in that 47th minute challenge. That’s respect as in the sort of thing which is supposed to exist between players, not the cheapened manager-to-referee catchword which disappears as soon as an honest officiating error upsets a Joe Kinnear or a Sir Alex Ferguson.

If the English game will continue to embrace machismo as an enviable trait, it shouldn’t dodge the need to censure avoidable collisions which put players at serious physical risk.

Keogh’s avoidance of lasting harm, Alexander’s previous good character and the relative anonymity of Millwall v Carlisle on a Tuesday night shouldn’t allow anyone to duck the subject - and that includes Mr Graham, who, for the game’s sake, should have matched punishment with crime and changed the colour of his card.