Chelsea manager Emma Hayes recited a line from a Robert Frost poem in response to questions about her Arsenal counterpart Jonas Eidevall after the two clashed following the Conti Cup final last month .
Hayes – who will leave Chelsea at the end of the season to begin her job as USWNT boss – and Eidevall were at odds on the touchline during the final at Molineux, before she appeared to push the Swede away her after the end of the match.
In his post-match press conference immediately after the game – during which Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius scored the only goal of the final in added time – Hayes, 47, criticized “male aggression” demonstrated by Eidevall, who called his comments “very irresponsible” and rejected his version of events.
Hayes was asked about the incident on Friday and recalled a conversation with her son that took place after the fallout from the Conti Cup final.
“My son told me after the game, ‘Mom, when you push someone at school, they ask you to go take some time off,'” Hayes said.
“I told her, ‘You know what honey, you can’t respond to aggression with aggression, all you can do is tell the teacher, all you can do is go explain why you think something is unfair. That’s all you can do.
“We cannot respond to aggression with aggression. I thought this was a really good conversation to have with my son after the finale.
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Hayes was then asked if she stood by her post-match comments after the final, to which the Chelsea manager responded by reading four lines from Robert Frost’s poem. Choose something like a star. Frost’s 1943 poem is the narrator speaking to a star in the night sky, in which they urge him to speak to them and provide them with clear answers.
“So when sometimes the crowd is swayed, to carry the praise and blame too far, we can choose a place like a star, to keep our minds occupied and remain composed,” Hayes quoted.
When asked what she meant by reciting the poem, Hayes replied: “I had a fantastic break, I’ve already explained an important analogy to my son and the lessons learned and I’m focusing on the ‘future. I had time to look at my star.
“I’m very happy with the way I performed. Emotions run high in football,” Eidevall said earlier Friday when asked about the incident.
“There are two really competitive teams and they want to win, so sometimes one team tries to stretch the rules and that’s great – that’s what we have the referees for and they made sure we respected the rules. agreed rules. From my point of view, I wouldn’t change anything.
The English Football Association confirmed last week that Hayes would not face any further action following the incident. “I thought the comments I heard after the match were very irresponsible,” Eidevall added. “They did not reflect the conduct I had in the technical field. It seemed irresponsible to me, but that’s all I really think.
Concluding her press conference, Hayes was asked why she recited poetry on this occasion.
“I will draw on many things, not just poetry,” she replied.
“I have different mentors. I have different spiritual leaders, I have a big family. I have all these things. Being in my shoes is not easy. So I have to keep my sanity. And I’m grateful that things like this help.
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(Harriet Lander – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)