THE big story in football this week is not about 'little' Bradford City becoming the first club from the fourth tier of English football to reach a Wembley cup final.
It is not about Swansea becoming the first Welsh club to reach the final of the English League Cup. It's not even about Arsenal scoring five against West Ham or the serious injury sustained by Hammers' Dan Potts in the same match.
No. The Story of the week is about a ball-boy who refused to give the ball back and was kicked in the ribs for his trouble. Correct me if I am wrong but is it not the job of the ball-boy to retrieve the ball and return it to the players as quickly as possible? Is that not the first lesson they receive at ball-boy school?
Yet young Charlie Morgan - I say young but he is in fact 17 years old, a veteran in ball-boy circles - had boasted on his Twitter profile earlier in the day that he was going to 'waste time.'
Of course from a fans point of view that is totally understandable. With his club so close to a cup final he wanted to do everything he could to ensure they got there. We have all felt like that, right? However, this usually just involves singing as loudly as we can and perhaps booing the opposition players.
But on the night he was not a fan. He was representing the club, his club, and doing a very important job. A job that most young lads would give their right arm to do.
Five minutes before the much-talked about incident, with fifteen minutes of the tie remaining and Swansea still leading 2-0 on aggregate, the ball went out for a Swansea goal-kick and Morgan took his time retrieving it. So much so in fact that several Chelsea players gestured to him and pointed it out to referee Chris Foy.
Perhaps what should have happened then was for someone from the club to have had a quiet word with him. Tell him that was not really on. Maybe the assistant referee on that side of the pitch could have intervened.
But no. So when the ball went out of play again soon after, Morgan was not going to rush. In fact he wanted to take even more time. As Eden Hazard approached to get the ball himself, Morgan turned away to prevent him from reaching it.
Of course Hazard was frustrated. His team was losing and he wanted to get on with the game. With so many footballers these days criticised for cheating and time wasting, it was refreshing to see one in such a hurry to get on with it. Funny how losing does that to you.
Morgan then appeared to slip and land on the ball, but instead of moving away so Hazard could get it, he again shielded it from the Chelsea man.
Hazard had clearly had enough now and his frustration got the better of him. He knew, as we all knew, that Morgan was deliberately trying to stop him getting the ball. He reacted in exactly the same way as most of us would in that situation. He attempted to kick the ball from under him.
Unfortunately it appeared he had also caught Morgan in the ribs with his boot and the ball-boy made sure everyone knew about it. Milked it for all it was worth.
At this point Foy was looking in the opposite direction and was only alerted to the incident by the reaction of Swans skipper Ashley Williams, who ran over to confront Hazard. After consulting with his assistant, the official then produced a red card for the Belgian for serious foul play, but was it really a sending off offence?
I have to say I have never seen an incident like that in over 30 years of watching the game but I have seen players fall on the ball and then prevent an opponent from getting it. What usually happens is a sort of free-for-all where one or more of the surrounding players try to kick the ball out, inevitably catching the player who is protecting the ball. And the result? Usually a yellow card for the player on the ground for ungentlemanly conduct.
So what happens now? Well despite his apology immediately after the game, Hazard will no doubt get the book thrown at him. Fined, banned and warned about his future conduct.
Meanwhile young Morgan, just five years Hazard's junior, will probably get away scot-free. His days as a ball-boy are probably over anyway, as according to his Twitter profile he had only come out of 'retirement' for the Chelsea game due to others dropping out.
No doubt he will be looked on a celebrity in his village with countless interviews on the local news and slaps on the back from his mates. A claim for compensation could also be on the cards as I bet the injuries he sustained are far more serious than they first appeared. And Hazard is loaded, right?
I wouldn't be surprised if he was given free tickets to the final by the club and travels to Wembley on the team bus. He certainly played his part in getting them there.
But shouldn't he have to face some sort of punishment? The lad who ran onto the pitch to confront Rio Ferdinand in the recent Manchester derby, a lad around the same age as Morgan, was banned from all football grounds for life.
Of course that was far more serious, even though he was prevented from actually reaching Ferdinand by the intervention of Joe Hart, and I wouldn't suggest a similar punishment in this case. But he certainly should never be allowed to represent the club again and be denied pitch-side access in future.
As usual I expect the FA will probably take the PC approach and set up a Ball-boy Academy to teach youngsters the art of retrieving the ball both quickly and safely. It will probably be called the Charlie Morgan Academy and have his statue outside the front gate.
But we need to keep some perspective. This was a one-off incident. Both parties made mistakes and I'm sure both realise that now. Perhaps we should just accept that and move on. However, I get the feeling we haven't quite heard the last of this.
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