Following Kelly Smith comments about her triple ligaments ankle injury, Sunderland Ladies have made an interesting  statement in which they mentioned that Kelly Smith has been reminded of her responsibilities by the FA.

“We reported Kelly Smith to the FA as we believe that her public statement is a breach of FA Regulations and the Players’ Code of Conduct.”

I think it is obvious that Kelly was in breach of those regulations. In saying that, the FA did not charge her which is a good news. Otherwise it would have ended in a farce with the injured players i.e. the victim probably getting a longer suspension that the main culprit.

“Abby strongly refutes claims that there was any malicious intent in the challenge or that it was pre-meditated. Furthermore, she is taking legal advice regarding the nature of the remarks and as such it would be inappropriate to comment further at the present time.”

I think it will be very interesting to see if Abby Holmes ends up in court sueing Kelly Smith.

I believe it will difficult for Kelly to prove to any premeditation or malicious intent, unless there is a Roy Keane kind of moment.

But you do wonder if Abby Holmes is as innocent as she seems to claim.

I clearly remember another bad tackle in the Reading v Sunderland FA WSL 2 game.

In her first game back from suspension, she was booked and a Birmingham player ended up substituted because of an injury in the same minute.

There could well have been other bad tackles or fouls in her past as well and those would certainly come to light should this go to court.