Manchester City Goal Keeper Charged With Violent Conduct By FA

The game of football has long been a struggle of trying to maintain the balance between competitive action and some civility. Manchester City goalkeeper Karen Bardsley recently crossed the line when she retaliated against an aggressive outburst from Birmingham’s forward, Freda Ayisi, during the Women’s Super League One on Sunday, and the FA is not amused.

As reported by BBC Sport, the Football Association has charged Bardsley with violent conduct during Sunday’s match. Karen has until 18:00 BST on Tuesday, March 31, to respond to the charge.

Ayisi was ousted from the game at the 45th minute mark for her role in the incident.

Bardsley took to Twitter to address the conflict, and tweeted statements such as the following.

“Passions ran high against Birmingham yesterday. Viewing the footage again, I regret the incident with Freda Ayisi. Whilst I was provoked, it was out of character for me to to react in that way. I’ve contacted Birmingham to apologise for my involvement.”

The fracas happened during the Blues’ first game of the season, and is hopefully not a sign of things to come. The Manchester Evening News has reported that the team has already struggled enough with preseason injuries and player turnover. Finding yourself on the wrong side of the FA is a bad way to start such a promising season.

And promising it is. The team recently completed some warm weather training in Abu Dhabi to help get the new players integrated and everyone working together as a team. Man City’s sister club, Melbourne City, and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) women’s team was also present for the training sessions. The training went smoothly, reportedly with the squad feeling a lot of love from the country in general. Bardsley was quoted as saying the following.

“It was the first time I’ve ever been in that part of the world so it was a really eye-opening experience for me. I was really blown away by how friendly everyone was out there and how much everyone wanted to share their knowledge, enjoyment and fun with us, and show off Abu Dhabi.”

With the new season underway and Man City feeling a renewed sense of determination and unity, the team is posed to put forth some great matches over the coming months. Six of the newly signed members have already won the Continental Cup in their maiden season, which shows just how serious the team is about taking their game to the next level.

Even with the incident, Karen Bardsley and the Blues are still off to a promising start and a great season ahead.

[Image courtesy of Memim]