You must play…FOREVER!

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We don’t like to admit something has passed us by in the world of football, despite it happening pretty much every day. But we suffered a genuinley “WTF?” moment after hearing that apparently Chelsea’s Claude Makelele could be hit with a two match club ban for rejecting an international call up, despite announcing his France retirement after the World Cup.

France coach Raymond Domenech said,

“For me it would be unthinkable to see a great player playing for a great club not playing for his national team.

“A player who refuses to accept a selection is liable to a two-match suspension.

“I had a discussion with Mourinho as I often do with the coaches of our international players but it was not a matter of reaching an agreement over Makelele.

“I told him where I stood, he told me where he stood. We still have the law for us.”

We’ll readily admit to not following in the ins and outs of FIFA’s Sepp Blatter induced madness, but when the hell did this happen? According to Sky Sports, the same thing happened with Nicolas Anelka when he was at Manchester City so apparently it’s not even that new a rule. Maybe there just haven’t been any national coaches who are enough of a cockbag to enforce it.

It would be one thing if it applied to clubs who refused, but if a player doesn’t want to play for his country anymore then why should he be penalised?

Seems very strange, and very stupid.