Observers of the ‘beautiful game’ know that football too often does not deserve the name as its participants regularly fail to follow the rules of fair play that Pierre Bourdieu poignantly outlined for the discipline of sociology. As all players and supporters of football know, the rules of fairness are often tested to their extreme, not just a few times beyond the limits of reason. Physical attacks that are meant to hurt and risk the consequences of harm or injury violate the very idea of game playing
