Special report, by Peter White

WHEN Jeff Kenna became the seventh Blackburn Rovers player to be dismissed this season, it begged a question - villains or victims?

Are Rovers an ill-disciplined bunch collecting their rightful come-uppance?

Or is there a case to suggest they are to some extent victims of the red-card mania which, many ordinary fans believe, is threatening to turn our national game into a non-contact pastime?

Brian Kidd makes his stance clear - if he finds evidence of thuggery he will sort it out. But he hasn't.

Yet, along with the likes of Arsenal and Everton, Rovers could well find themselves in the Football Association dock come the end of the season.

For their disciplinary record - in both domestic and Euroean games this season - is, on the surface, appalling.

Seven red cards and 59 yellows from all Rovers' first team matches hints at a crisis fast running out of control.

Yet, even after only a few weeks in charge, Kidd does not believe he has inherited a squad whose attitude is correctly reflected by that awful record. And, while there clearly are problems, Kenna's dismissal perhaps said just as much about the state of the game at the moment.

The Republic of Ireland defender is one of the good guys, as his own disciplinary record proves since moving to Ewood from Southampton.

In his first full season, 1995-96, he was booked just three times. The following season was a similar story and, in 1997-98, he picked up just the one yellow card.

Before Saturday's double indiscretion, Kenna had only two bookings - one of them in Europe - on this season's record.

For a Premiership defender, with today's referees under such pressure, and orders, to stick strictly to the strict letter of the law, that is a shining example of consistent fair play - impressive enough to earn him the dressing room tag of "Goody Two Shoes".

Kidd, to his credit, refuses to criticise referees. A rare breed, he did not have a go at referee Stephen Lodge for showing Kenna the red card. He respects officials but, while he bites his tongue, there is a clear hint that he wonders about the way the game is going.

"It wasn't nasty, was it? These things happen because he had already been booked," said the manager.

"I can understand it, but it wasn't vicious or anything like that. Mr Lodge was right, but Jeff's upset. "It was nothing really but we are not bellyaching about it. It was a second bookable offence.

"But when you look at that, it's not as though people are going round topping one another.

"If we had a team full of thugs and they were kicking everybody, I wouldn't stand for that. "Anybody going out to do a player, I would have them off, it's as simple as that.

"But, since I've been here you look at it and, really, the bookings have happened in all innocence. There's never been anything vicious."

Some of the earlier red cards, such as Martin Dahlin's against Everton and Chris Sutton's at home to Arsenal were clear cut.

More than half of the reds have stemmed from two yellows and, as many players are discovering to their cost, they are all too easy to collect.

Referees, for all their faults, have the unenviable task of being damned if they don't flourish the cards - by their bosses - and damned if they do, by fans, players and managers. There will always be exceptional incidents but, on the whole, you could hardly talk about this Rovers squad in the same breath as some of the hatchet men of the past.

Arsenal have also had their problems with a similar tally of seven reds this season and a remarkable 19 in 27 months since Arsene Wenger took charge.

Though Everton's tally of yellow cards - a staggering 83 - is the worst and adds to the Merseysiders' five reds.

The double-holders claim there is a campaign against them and Dennis Bergkamp feels they are suffering dubious decisions because of their tarnished image.

He declared: "Decisions are going against us because of it. "If the men who make those decisions know about the reputation before the game then it can count against us."

No-one can argue with the good intentions of football's rulers, to protect attacking players, but the campaign to do things by the book is getting out of hand - while the hands of referees to use common sense are tied.

Record levels of red and yellow cards are likely to be reached and Rovers could be one of those clubs forced to pay the financial consequences at the end of the season.

Yet is the game really dirtier than it was before the clampdown?

I think not.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.