In Defense of Elizabeth Lambert

Regarding the BYU v. New Mexico game on Nov. 5, 2009:

(You can watch the famous smear video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Piuuqqs10 )

To begin with, let's state the obvious: Lambert should have been given a red card in this game and been sent off. No one is arguing that fact! Lambert went over the line and should have been removed from the game.

BUT

There is a big difference between a soccer player who should have been sent off the field (red card), which happens routinely in competetive soccer, and a soccer player who merits the drive-by media lynching that has been directed at Lambert in the aftermath of the BYU v. New Mexico game! This was a rough game in which there were many fouls on and off the ball. The first actual blow struck, judging from the video available, was a hard elbow thrown unexpectedly to Lambert's sternum by BYU #7. The officiating team (which includes the head referee and both linesmen, who are supposed to signal fouls off the ball or fouls that the referee has not seen) displayed a complete and total lack of competence in losing control of the game from the very beginning, refusing to punish or sanction players for fouling and just letting the rough play slide. In this kind of game it is the role of the defensive "hard man" of the team, which is usually a central defender or defensive midfielder, to take on the part of "enforcer" and really get rough with opponents who are dishing out fouls in order to keep the team from getting injured and run over. This "enforcer" is an important role in any competetive soccer team, where play is often rough and injuries are common, and this "enforcer" role was the role that Elizabeth Lambert played for New Mexico! The game was out of control, the play was very rough, there were fouls going back and forth -- it was Elizabeth Lambert's job to be the "hard man" in this situation, and that's what she did! She played fiercely and did her job, shutting down the BYU offense (which scored only one unimpressive goal from an awkward header) and keeping New Mexico in the game physically by preventing the BYU fouls and rough stuff from rolling her team over. And if she gave a little better than she got then she should not be hated for it; it is not her fault for being the fiercest player on the field, in fact that means she was mainly guilty of doing her job TOO WELL.

The role of the officiating team in this situation should not be underestimated. For anyone who watches a lot of professional soccer (not including MLS), you will know that when the refs refuse to call fouls and sanction rough play the game will quickly degenerate into a brawl. This is when fist fights often occur in the men's game, not only at the professional, but even at the recreational level! If the players are not protected then they have to protect themselves. The principle is a simple one, it is what my favorite professional player, Robin van Persie of Arsenal FC, said once when teams used to always try to foul Arsenal out of the game and shut them down with rough play.  When asked about it, Van Persie said, "Of course, other teams will be rough and try to keep us from playing, but the first thing I learned when I came here is that when they play you agressive you have to play them back double agressive."

BUT WASN'T ELIZABETH LAMBERT REALLY BRUTAL AND HORRIBLE, DIDN'T SHE TRY TO HURT THOSE BYU PLAYERS BAD AND ISN'T SHE SOME KIND OF EVIL PERSON? HARDLY!

Let me break this highlight reel down frame by frame showing all of the famous fouls that Lambert has been demonized for, and showing why they have been made out to be much worse than they really were. And let's also remember from the outset that this highlight reel focuses only on Elizabeth Lambert and the fouls that she committed during the game, only the fouls of Elizabeth Lambert have been highlighted, the fouls of all the other players during that game have been ignored! Sure when you take a really rough, hard fought soccer match where the refs abdicate control completely and just let the players fight, and then you take the defensive "enforcer" of one team and focus only on that player's fouls and ignore everything else that happened in the game, then that one player is going to look pretty bad. Of course if you take one soccer player, focus on the roughest game they have ever been involved in, focus only on the fouls that one player committed during that game and ignore everything that all the other players did, then that one player will look pretty mean! But to single one player out like that is totally unfair! Even in the highlights reel of Elizabeth Lambert's fouls we can see multiple nasty fouls committed against her without provocation, and it is hard to imagine that these fouls are the only ones committed by BYU players during the 90 minutes of play! Two quite bad fouls AGAINST Elizabeth Lambert (one a straight red card according to the rules, the other AT LEAST a mandatory yellow) "coincidentally" happened during the 45 seconds or so of highlight showing how "bad" Elizabeth was.  Obviously there were many more fouls in this game that were not shown because they did not reflect the story of "bad" Elizabeth Lambert.

Let's break the video down on a case by case, frame by frame basis:

INCIDENT 1:

The rough stuff begins when BYU #7 suddenly and without provocation elbows Lambert in the sternum:




This might not seem like a big deal to some, but you can actually do a lot of damage elbowing a person unexpectedly like this. I personally had my sternum broken during a soccer match from a similar elbow to this one. If you watch the video slowly you will see the muscles on #7's neck bulge out as she throws the elbow, she is obviously putting a lot of force into it!

And from watching Lambert's face when she gets hit with the elbow you can see that it hurt a lot:






Intentionally striking another player as BYU #7 does without provocation in this clip is an automatic straight red card according to the rules of FIFA, which is the official world governing body of the sport of soccer. This was the first blow, and not struck by Lambert.  It was Lambert who was attacked first!

(Some people have claimed that Lambert instigated this incident by bumping into BYU #7's legs.  I don't think the video supports this idea at all, and the idea itself doesn't really mesh with the reality that soccer is an inherently physical sport.  When you are marking another player closely some contact is normal and not even illegal; if the players' legs lightly bump into each other, for example, this is common and not even a foul, just as bumping into the back of a player happens sometimes when players are moving around and jockeying for position.  Lambert is obviously quite shocked at being elbowed, so the argument that she was intentionally instigating against #7 does not make sense and, as I said, is not supported by the video evidence.  That's why I haven't included it here, it is nonsense.  The first blow was struck by BYU, as we have seen, and elbowing another player like this is an automatic red card offense, the fact that #7 does it sneakily as if to prevent the ref from understanding what is happening makes it even worse.)



INCIDENT 2:

This incident begins when #21 reaches back and puts both her hands on Lambert's crotch area. This happens before #21 grabs Lambert's shorts, which happens next. Obviously it is unacceptable in any situation to put your hands all over another person's crotch without their consent, even in UFC fights what #21 did to Lambert is not allowed!




Then #21 backs up into Lambert with her hands on Lambert's crotch, and Lambert stands her ground.




THEN #21 grabs the front of Lambert's shorts and pulls them up as hard as she can, frontal wedgie style, and it is at this point that Lambert grabs #21's ponytail. There appears to be some threat or intention to "expose" Lambert on camera, and in fact this occured, although we have chosen a less objectionable image to show. Congratulations #21, I guess you accomplished your "purpose" with this foul.




It is only at this point that Lambert famously threw #21 to the ground by her ponytail! These girls from BYU seem to have been trained at sneaky fouls to injure, insult, and humiliate their opponents, but Lambert was a much more fierce player than they were and took command of the game. If you compare the fouls of the BYU players with the fouls that Lambert committed, you will see Lambert's reactions are just an honest emotional reaction, while the BYU fouls are underhanded and carefully planned to make sure the ref can't see. To me this indicates that Lambert is actually the less dirty player here, because a player who is accustomed to using illegal tactics would have fouled the BYU players in more subtle ways, and this subtle fouling style of true dirty play is exactly what the BYU players were doing!



INCIDENT 3:

This incident really takes the cake, BYU #21 uses multiple illegal tactics against Elizabeth Lambert, and (seemingly intentionally) stomps on Lambert's foot, but for some reason Lambert is meant to be the "bad guy" because she wins the ball.

This incident begins with #21 having fallen to the ground and not having control of the ball, it would be practically automatic for Lambert to clear the ball if #21 didn't try to block and push Lambert away with her arm, an illegal tactic.




Of course, just pushing her away with an arm bar will certainly not stop a fierce and awesome defender like Elizabeth Lambert, so #21 stomps onto Lambert's foot for good measure, if you watch this slowly you will see that she carefully makes sure to target Lambert's foot/ankle.




Then #21, still without being in control of the ball, tries to throw her body across the ground in front of Lambert to prevent her from clearing the ball, another illegal move.




Finally, when all of her illegal tactics are unable to prevent Lambert from winning the ball, #21 flops to the ground and feigns injury again, apparently a pattern for this player.




In this play #21 commits multiple illegal actions, while Lambert does nothing wrong and wins the ball in spite of #21s illegal tactics, yet somehow this is supposed to be another example of "bad" Elizabeth Lambert.....



INCIDENT 4:

Incident #4 was the one that I thought was Lambert's most dangerous play when I first saw the highlight reel, but upon closer examination Lambert comes off in a positive light and perhaps her only fault on this play is that she missed the ball by a fraction of an inch (thus making it a foul, but not a spiteful one).  Some people would say Lambert's challenge is too hard even if she got the ball, but that is always a judgment call when it comes to slide tackles and that is what the yellow card is for.

BYU #7 is taking the ball up the flank with Lambert in pursuit, and Lambert shoots in for the tackle (this is the instant of Lambert's lunge). Notice this is NOT a tackle from behind, although #7 seems to spin her back to Lambert after Lambert's lunge in order to try to make it appear that way (Such techniques of trying to make a challenge look worse than it is are common in professional European football; for example, you will notice the player on the ball often spins his back to the tackling player before falling to the ground as if the tackle came from behind.  Incidentally, if the refs start to feel like the players are exaggerating, they usually become less sympathetic).




The problem with Lambert's tackle is that she unluckily misses the ball by a small fraction of an inch, as seen in this next image.




Now what happens next shows that not only did Lambert do little wrong besides barely missing the ball, but she also had no malicious intent. Observe the aftermath of the challenge, to begin with Lambert falls awkwardly to the ground, which is what happens when you slide tackle someone:




THEN, it would have been the most natural thing for Lambert to fall forward and come down hard on BYU #7's legs or ankles, and this could have caused serious injury. Lambert doesn't do that at all, instead of allowing her forward momentum to carry through, she leans back and falls onto her butt, minimizing the damage of the collision to BYU #7:




If Lambert had malicious intent she could have been landing on top of BYU #7 here, but she made sure to fall in a way that neither player would get hurt:




So in conclusion, even though this challenge looks dangerous, it is actually only a fraction of an inch away from being a perfectly legal challenge, and Lambert in the aftermath of the challenge did not allow her momentum to carry through and hurt the BYU player even though she could have done so if she had bad intentions. This is the challenge of a fierce and excellent soccer defender, but also one who plays clean! For those who watch a lot of professional soccer you will know the difference between a hard challenge that is just a fierce player playing all out and a hard challenge that is meant to hurt the other player, and in this case with Elizabeth Lambert it is simply a hard challenge from a fierce player that is playing all out soccer! And I love fierce players playing all out soccer, btw, and so do all soccer fans.



INCIDENT 5:

This is actually the foul that Lambert got a yellow card for, even though it is a pretty innocuous foul and it appears no contact was made. #21 is dribbling into the box and Lambert shoots a leg out, but misses the ball. #21 jumps over Lambert's leg and flops to the ground apparently pretending to be injured once again.




It is a foul, not a bad one by any means. Afterward Lambert's teammate kicks the ball into #21's head, a possibly accidental offense that many have wrongly attributed to Lambert.




This was certainly a foul, but a pretty innocuous foul and #21 really made a meal of it. The yellow card was harsh, but in the course of the game Lambert should have already received a straight red card on two different occasions (according to FIFA rules), so we can't complain if she got a yellow card when she didn't deserve one.


INCIDENT 6:

When you look at the course of the game and all the rough play and foul tactics that we have seen here and which were reportedly going on throughout the game, then I just chalk this up to what happens at the end of a game that is out of control. Fists fly in soccer sometimes, unfortunately. People get hit in the face sometimes, people get elbowed unexpectedly in the sternum sometimes and have others try to grab their crotch, these are the things that the red card is for, after all. Lambert should have seen the red card three times during that game, but the game was totally out of control and when this context is understood then I think it is easy to see that Lambert went into "warrior" mode and played her role of "enforcer" a little too well. She was probably still smarting from the blow to the sternum she took earlier in the game, and anyway after clearing the ball she just went and hit #7 in the face.




When you watch the video there is a second blow too, but if you slow it down and watch carefully I think you will see the second blow isn't much of anything at all.

Anyway, this blow to the face must look much worse than it really was, as #7's face was unmarked at the end of the game and she and Lambert were apparently still able to talk civilly to each other (which is nice to see):





SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. Was it a rough game? Yes. Should Lambert and some of the other players been red carded? Yes. Did Lambert get out of hand? Yes. But the demonization of Lambert in the media has just been ridiculous. The game was totally out of control and Lambert fought to make sure that her team stayed in the mix and didn't get rolled over in the face of BYU's fouling and underhanded tactics. It is never ok to hit another player in soccer, but in rough games where the refs abdicate control this is often the end result, and the reasons why should be obvious:  Because nobody likes to be injured and hit and hurt by other people without fighting back to defend themself! If Lambert gave a little bit better than she got in this game, well that is really to her credit as far as I'm concerned. She is a fierce defender, and a hell of an athlete, as this video proves for certain.

I have a lot of admiration for Elizabeth Lambert as a soccer player now that I have seen her in action, and she can be on my team any time! The only thing she is lacking is a little bit of discipline, I would say, in keeping her anger under control. But when you are playing a rough game against opponents who foul and use every dirty trick, and when the refs are offering no protection, then you really need players who will stand tall and fight for the team and keep you in the game.  This fighting spirit is the great tradition of soccer players, and Elizabeth Lambert is one of those fierce players, the ones who refuse to be rolled over no matter what!

Of course the rules must be enforced, but no athelete should be punished for competing fiercely, and that is exactly what the media has tried to do to Elizabeth Lambert. Apparently it is not ok for women to compete with their whole heart?  It is not ok for women to get fouled and get hurt in a game and get mad and fight back against the opposing players?   What a disgusting double standard.

Watching this game with Elizabeth Lambert has actually raised my level of respect for women's soccer and women athletes in general. Lambert is a fierce defender, a hell of an athlete, and not to mention a beautiful girl (which is a big part of the reason why this video has been so incredibly popular all around the world, let's not kid ourselves). She plays soccer with heart and real commitment, and when she does commit a foul it's honest and out in the open, not the disgusting, underhanded gamesmanship designed to con the referee and secretly injure other players. Actually, even though she went over the line in this one game, Elizabeth Lambert is exactly the kind of player that I admire.

And actually, she is the player I admire. So there. Love not h#te!