Much ado about nothing

Rafa Benitez took his Liverpool squad away to a training camp in Portugal last week and apparently there was an "altercation" between Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise, involving karaoke, a golf club and Riise's legs.

So what?

It happens in all walks of life. Just because a group of people work together doesn't automatically mean they're all best mates. Different people have differing personalities, views and preferences. Mutual dislike or even open conflict between colleagues is commonplace in offices, factories and other workplaces up and down the country, and football clubs are no different. In fact, it's surprising we don't see more of this sort of incident when you consider the scale of the earnings and egos involved in top flight football.

So was it in any way a surprise that, given the opportunity to let their hair down in a relaxing environment and allowing themselves to partake of a low alcohol beer or ten, that an otherwise trivial disagreement bubbled over into something more? Not really. (Just think how many fights break out at lads' nights out or on stag parties.)

And was anyone genuinely surprised that Craig Bellamy was central to the incident? A man who is to off-field trouble what a magnet is to iron filings? Again, no.

So he blew his top, biffed one of his team-mates, and has no doubt been severely reprimanded by his boss. It's nothing you don't see on any Friday night outside a pub. Bellamy is a young man who has, shall we say, anger management issues which he needs to work on. But he has hardly committed a capital offence, and it's only because he is a highly-paid and often controversial footballer that this incident has attracted such media attention.

It's done, and in the greater scheme of things it will soon be forgotten. Time to move on.