Horror Tackles, Broken Dreams, and The Law: A case Study from Soccer

On Sunday, in a match between FC Zurich and FC Aarau in the Swiss Super League, a loose ball fell to Gilles Yapi Yapo. Yapi Yapo, a 32-year-old defensive midfielder, is one of Zurich's veterans. He's played for clubs across Europe and suited up with the Ivory Coast national team 46 times. With the ball coming toward him and no opportunity to settle it, he did something he's done countless times in his career: he stretched out his right leg and, with one touch, knocked the ball to a teammate.

Sandro Wieser, Aarau's 21-year-old midfielder, tried to do the same, but Yapi Yapo was faster. The ball was gone by the time Wieser got there. In its place, Wieser found Yapi Yapo's knee.

The video of the incident, which has shades of Roy Keene's horror tackle on Alf-Inge Håland in a 2001 Premier League match, is hard to watch. Yapi Yapo crumples to the ground, appears to try to get up, and then begins screaming in agony. As the replays roll, the referee shows Wieser a red card.

That could be the end of it. Accidents happen. Hard fouls and injuries and red cards are part of the game. But was this different?

Here's a list of the injuries sustained by Yapi Yapo, according to FC Zurich's website:

• Torn anterior cruciate ligament
• Torn medial collateral ligament
• Torn medial and lateral meniscus
• Fragment pieces of the meniscus in the joint
• Cartilage defect on the bone
• Bone contusion with liquid formation in the bone
• Breach of the stabilization of the patella bands
• Strong hematoma in the thigh muscles

Zurich's club president Ancillo Canepa summed up the injuries pretty well, telling Swiss tabloid Blick, "In his knee, just about everything is broken that can be broken." Certainly, the injuries go beyond the scope of what normally happens on the soccer field. Yapi Yapo's career is likely over, which makes Wieser's red card, and whatever accompanying suspension he faces, feel inadequate. "I cannot accept something so simple," Canepa continued. "This will have consequences."

Canepa plans to sue.

It's always a little strange when things that happen during the course of play leave the field or court and enter the courtroom in search of a greater form of justice. It's weird partly because of how infrequent such occurrences are. Soccer, like all contact sports, comes with the risk of injury. By playing the game, you're agreeing to a kind of social contract: you not only accept the associated risk, you agree to whatever punishment the referee doles out. To go beyond that, to go to court, is to break the contract.

Contact sports allow for all kinds of actions that would be deemed violent and even illegal if they happened in another context. Kicking in someone's knee in the food court of the local mall is a sure way to get arrested. Off the field, even a minor injury inflicted by another person would be grounds for compensation, but it rarely happens in sports because of the social contract.

Although rare, players have indeed been successfully prosecuted in civil or criminal court after on-field incidents. Duncan Ferguson's headbutt on John McStay in a 1994 match in Scotland is a prime example; it sent Ferguson to jail for three months. But a mistimed tackle is different than a violent attack. If Canepa and Yapi Yapo move forward with their case against Wieser, the outcome will obviously depend on Swiss law, and, that aside, it looks like it'll be difficult to prove intent.

Wieser seems sincerely sorry. He's no Roy Keane, who remains pretty open about his intent to destroy Håland. Wieser apologized to Yapi Yapo in the dressing room after the game and FC Aarau published a statement from the player on its website. "In retrospect, it is difficult to explain what happened on the field within a fraction of a second," it reads in part. "As a young player, I was missing the experience to correctly assess the situation, and I lack the words to explain everything in detail. Was it a reflex? An incorrect assessment? I do not want my explanations sound like an excuse. I can only repeat that it was not my intention to injure my opponent when challenging for the ball."

Assuming it was an accident, it's hard not to feel bad for Wieser too. Second guessing yourself isn't what coaches teach professional athletes to do once they take the field. They're trained to react in the moment, to never hesitate. If Wieser can't get back to doing just that, his split-second "incorrect assessment" on the field in Switzerland could be the end of two careers.