A turbulent week for Fulham fans has seen the ugly side of football dominate headlines and social forums. Flair appears under real threat from the cloggers. Are we powerless to prevent it?

In the search for balance I've resisted posting since the events of Tuesday night. Suffice to say my mail bag has been busy with postings on the approach of our last two opponents Blackburn and Stoke. We've drawn sympathy from various quarters, sober criticism from Rovers fans of their own club's style, while many Gooners have flagged up the catalogue of injuries inflicted on Arsenal players in recent seasons.

Ironic that I had drawn comparisons with their free-flowing style and our approach to the game earlier in the week. So where do we go from here? Is football really getting dirtier and are the hatchet men getting away with too much?

Returning to the game at Stoke and the 93rd minute lunge on Dembele with the game won. Both manager Pulis and his assistant Kemp have publicly criticised their player and apologised.

In the heat of Tuesday night the FFC official site was flooded with obscenities after the game and had to suspend operations. There is history between Pulis and Fulham that goes back to November 1995 and the 'Battle of Priestfield' when Martin Thomas broke the leg of Gills O'Connor. He never played again, there was trouble between fans and in 1998 a Whites fan got jumped outside the ground and died.

Last January in the league fixture at Stoke Zamora was the man targeted, dislocating a collarbone after a meaty challenge from Faye. This week Dembele was the victim, Etherington going in late as early as the 7th minute, which led to Murphy getting booked after he took umbrage at the challenge.

Wearing my reporter hat for the sake of objectivity, I appreciate that teams such as Bolton, Blackburn and Stoke have to stay in the Premier League by whatever means necessary. In recent times the last two have been pretty adept at brushing Fulham teams aside. Rovers scorer last Saturday Samba has admitted they targeted Schwarzer as the weak link when leaving his line to deal with high balls pumped into the box. On the evidence of Mark's two howlers mid-week that seems to me a perfectly vaild tactic. Detailing Diouf to deliberately take down our keeper is not. So where do we draw the line?

Football is a man's game. Schoolboys coming into the professional ranks learn quickly, or suffer. Two decades ago Ray Lewington told me of the family of a Fulham youth player he encountered at a petrol station after an away reserve night game. They were distraught and their son in tears at the treatment he'd received on the pitch. "You have to be ready to mix it yourself, or you don't make it," Ray told them.

Let's face it, footballers today get far more protection than they did years ago. Recall the uproar when Blatter seemed intent on eliminating tackling from the game altogether. Anyone remember Doug Rougvie? At the end of his career he turned up at the Cottage to add a bit of Scottish steel to our feeble back line. 20 seconds into his debut as our opponents played the ball forward from the kick-off he went right through the centre-forward from behind. Player left writhing, not so much as a finger wagging from the ref, and Doug trotted back with a huge grin on his face.

Back to the present. This debate is only going to burn brighter when the next notorious tackle puts another big player in plaster. It could well come this weekend. So are we going to let the cheats win? Can our football community create enough of a stink to make the FA see sense?

A constructive proposal to conclude. At present I believe league officials duck the issue of dirty play by putting an unfair burden on match officials. 'If the referee hasn't seen it as a foul we can't act.' The ethos of 'the game is over after 90 minutes' so we move on. In life front line policing of our streets is being withdrawn in favour of surveillance cameras. Video evidence of public crime is commonplace in prosecutions and keeping order.

Why then can the FA not deal retrospectively with actions that are clearly bringing the game into disrepute? Away from the playing field they would be viewed as assaults causing actual bodily harm. If the FA have any guts and a genuine desire to clean up the game they will start handing out long suspensions and fines. Serial offenders - and we all know who they are - should see points deducted for failing to control their players.

I have no problem with teams beating my club with a superior brand of football. Bullies - in life and in football - I've no time for.