Former Bolton Wanderers and England striker Kevin Davies has suggested top-level footballers should pay attention to the Six Nations after a spate of play-acting from Joey Barton and others.
Davies, who was one of the most-fouled players in Premier League history and one of the players who committed the most fouls, was speaking after Barton was criticised for ‘play-acting’ during Burnley’s shock FA Cup loss to Lincoln City.
Barton had himself called for retrospective action for those caught trying to trick referees, only to have his comments thrown back in his face after the Lincoln game.
And while Davies admitted the former Newcastle and QPR midfielder is far from the only player to try this sort of thing, he suggested footballers could learn something from rugby union.
Lincoln beat Burnley, and everyone is laughing at Joey… https://t.co/v9kpAuax9d
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) February 18, 2017
“Some of Joey’s past tweets have come back to haunt him but I think he’s right, there needs to be retrospective action for players that intentionally try to con the referees,” Davies told bwin.
“I certainly played on the edge at times and caught people but I’ve never gone down to try and con the referee, it’s not how I was brought up to play.
“Some of these footballers should go and watch the Six Nations, where players are hitting each other properly and then they get up and shake hands with complete respect.”
The 39-year-old, who retired in 2015, was part of the third-tier Chesterfield team that reached the semi-finals of the 1996-97 FA Cup and took Premier League Middlesbrough to a replay, and has spoken highly of Lincoln and Sutton’s exploits this season.
“We’ve seen it happen with Sutton and Lincoln that you can go on such runs and the FA Cup provides such special moments and we created one at the club at that time,” he said.
“It was one of my best moments in football. That run leading to that semi-final, just coming up to 20 years ago, was a special experience.”
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