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It's funny how the British game suffers this stereotype of being overtly 'fast and physical' whilst the Spanish and Italian leagues have been cast as 'slow and more technical' but I remember the likes of Claudio Gentile, Andoni Goikoetxea (whose tackle severley injured Diego Maradona) and 'the Butcher of Bilbao' - 'the Beast of Barcelona' Miguel Angel Nadal. It would be interesting to see some figures of the number of injuries/broken bones etc season by season throughout Europe's leagues. It should show a cleare indication if football is getting dirtier?

There is little doubt in the past some players have 'gone in' to cause harm and looking at the treatment the likes of 'ickle Messi recieves you have to be blind to think some footballers aren't told to do it Jack? I think by your blog's title it suggests you know that dark deeds persist.

I agree we see less of the career threating tackles in the Scottish game than we used to There was of course the famous Neil Simpson one on Ian Durrant which more or less ended the effectiveness of Drrant as a player, which some sections of the Aberdeen support still celebrate today I believe.

I'm not convinced that Scottish football should be singled out as possessing a greater proportion of malicious tacklers. Statistics don't adjust for the nature of play, character of players, state of facilities, weather conditions and countless other variables that would influence injury rates.

I'd say there is no more "premeditated cynicism" in Scotland than in most other footballing nations. If you consider simulation and theatrics, which would account for the lion's share of cynicism in our game, Scottish players in general can't realistically be condemned as unfair.

Once upon a time there was Roy Keane who was brave enough to admit that he 'took out' an opponent who had himself dare to take on the great player. I am sure that what prevents other players similarly owning up is the fear of punishment 'for bringing the game to disrepute' or some such excuse. So do not waste a whole blog on something that is well known in the game, 'the need to neutralize the opposing teams star player'!

I am a defender and have always been a hard tackler, not to injure or provoke but im a firm believer in the art of tackling. I only ever slide tackle if i think i can block a shot or a pass at last ditch an i always get complimented on that ability so i agree with you Jack. Its something the foreign players use as an excuse cause they cannot hack it in the end of the day. Could you imagine the likes of Roy Keane playing in the La Liga, they would hate him an drive him out with their fake injuries an diving, its pathetic really.

In all the games I have refereed over the years, at a variety of levels, I don't think I have ever seen a tackle which was deliberately intended to hurt. Careless ones, yes. Crazy ones, yes. Thoughtless ones, yes. Stupid ones, yes. Bad ones, yes. Cynical ones, yes. Dangerous ones, yes. Wildly flailing elbows, yes. Fights, yes.

Deliberate attempts, in the tackle, to hurt, no.

(Not saying it doesn't happen though, but is is very rare).

I personally would say the vast majority of challenges in the Scottish game are hard but fair and I think too often its forgotten that football is and has been a physical game. I would say the pace of the game is quicker now, the pitches are better, the balls are lighter and some players are able to move the ball much quicker which will cause challenges to look worse than they are.

However i would definitely say that some players will go out to hit a player, maybe not injure them seriously but give them a knock on the ankle to slow them down. Ian Black on Jelavic for example, not a chance in my opinion he was trying to play the ball, but this has always been part of the game. On most days Jelavic would probably got up and been fine but that sort of reckless tackle can cause injuries.

JoC also makes a very good point about Spanish football, i watch most Barca games and some of the challenges made on Messi would be more suited to American football or rugby, how he has not suffered a more serious injury yet is beyond me.

if players are deliberately setting out to injure other players then that is pre meditated GBH which in the real world can carry a substantial jail term.

i guess this is very difficult to prove but you have to be suspiscious with the steep increase in outrageously dangerous tackles we've seen in the last 2 or 3 years.

at a league cup tie between forest and bradford at the city ground last season i was sat around 10 yards away from then bradford manager stuart mccall when he leapt off his bench to applaud one of his players for a late, scything challenge from behind on one of our players. a bradford player was sent off later in the same game for another tackle like this.

Deterrent and the Prize. Promotion, relegation, Ferrari's and Mansions or Not ? When balanced with the pathetic yellow card, 5 yellows a one game ban, possibly 10 cheating tackles? 5 goals thwarted in the process, 10 points saved !!!! with good timing make sure the derisory one game ban coincides with "Wigan at ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ". Disrespect, disdain, mercanaries, fighting for the financial prize that is phoenominal or ordinary and the deterrent is laughable. Red card 5 game ban. 5 yellow cards 2 game ban. Introduce the 5 minute sin bin for a yellow. introduce the "White Card" the card before the yellow !!! Deterrent and the Prize.

handball on the line in the world cup, dead cert goal, dead cert penalty from EIGHT yards. Foul in the SIX yard box, penalty from EIGHT yards. Deliberate hand ball on the line, 8 game ban. Draconian? No. Practical deterrent and fair ?

Empower the referee, give him the right dish out or rescind a "yellow or red" AFTER THE GAME. You'll get big time respect from the players?

Morality, sporting values, fairness, peer pressure, decency, integrity, professionalism, weak pathetic administrative dinosaurs.

TWO VIDEO APPEALS PER TEAM and the LINESMAN'S FLAG.
The Manager can only make a "VIDEO APPEAL" in his OWN half if the ball is DEAD.
He can make a "Video Appeal" in the opposition half at any time he chooses even if the ball is in play.

The "managers" of each team could use their "VIDEO APPEAL" at their own descretion, usually for the big decisions, a goal or penalty appeal. Two appeals would take no more than one minute maybe two.
Rory Delap takes over 25 throw ins in some games so a few minutes for video is not much time wasted.
In fact Linesmen would be forced through the introduction of technology, to up their game, they would become more pro-active and make more decisions, then we could get rid of their flag's, give them flourescent green sleeves instead so they can run properly and keep up with the line of play, they could also encroach onto the pitch when the Ref is 50 yards behind the play or for Penalties and free kicks.
The linesman will feel more empowered, more important and will contribute more, ultimately he will make better decisions, he will become an assistant Referee in the true sense of the word.
The Yellow card is now worthless, big squads, stop the flair player.
The mentality of players will change, the cheat culture will change !
We'll have great football, no injustice.

There is malice, and there is negligence. Just because no one set out to hurt another player doesn't mean they don't bear fault. How is it that so many people miss that?

4. At 06:39am on 12 Oct 2010, red lion wrote:
Once upon a time there was Roy Keane who was brave enough to admit that he 'took out' an opponent who had himself dare to take on the great player
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It was a personal grudge against Haaland, the challenge Keane made on him in 2001 dated back to an earlier incident in 1997 in a Leeds-Man Utd game when Haaland accused Keane of pretending to be injured when he'd done his cruciate knee ligaments.

I wouldn't really know anything about the presence of malicious tacklers in the Scottish game, probably because I'd sooner watch a game from the Mongolian fourth tier than an SPL match. A Mongolian team would also be less likely to go to Old trafford and play with 10 men behind the ball for 90 minutes.

The why bother commenting Tim? Still sore that a team from a so-called "lesser league" had the audacity to win a point on England's hallowed soil?

I don't really care about England's soil or their overmarketed and overrated league (and yes the SPL is definitely a "lesser league"). I care about beautiful, entertaining football involving skill and flare. Watch the Brazilian league and you might be enlightened:12 genuine championship contenders every year, almost 100% brazilian players (no foreign players), imaginative and intense it has so much more than any home nation club or national team is aspiring to at the moment. Maybe what I'm trying to say is that we should have more world football coverage as both are national teams are a joke - England can't beat Algeria and Scotland nicking a victory in the last minute against a country whose population amounts to less than Hampden Park's capacity. Expand our cultural horizons and we could be great again.

#17
He's very sore! His mongolian team wouldn't have got a point.

You are right, my Mongolian team would have been thrashed but the game might have been worth watching.

Bah, as long as FIFA persists in propping football up on the fallacy of referee perfection nothing is going to improve in the game.

You can add cards, add a sin bin, add whatever you like, if the underlying false assumptions are not unearthed, laid bare, and addressed then there will be no improvement.

It starts at the top, with Blatter and his position on technology, one which flies in the face of real world experience in a whole host of sports, from tennis, to rugby, to ice-hockey, to gridiron football.

Until those who are supposed to be custodians of the game start to take a depoliticized, dispassionate view of the game, which is supposed to be their mandate BTW... Until that happens no significant inroads can be made to any of the other blights on the game, including the reckless challenges, diving, and so on and so forth.

It's 2010, that's 33 years since Star Wars. Thirty-three years in which the FA hasn't figured out that George Lukas pretty much put paid to the willing suspension of disbelief. Thirty-three years in which the FA hasn't figured out that their old smoke and mirrors show is cheap, tawdry, and incapable of fooling even the most benighted toddler.

Danny Murphy had it wrong, it's not the managers who need to get it right, it's the FA, and FIFA who need to get it right.

I think all of tonight's home nations games have proved my point. None of our teams our good and we need to learn some skill

These days every team always has 4 or 5 top players out onjured.
Most fans of football in the 70's can still name the 1st 11 of their and their opponents teams. This is because there were far fewer long term injuries. Teams used 14 players all season.
These teams contained names like "Chopper" Harris, "Bite Yer Legs" Hunter etc. I think there were less of these in Scotland were the game was more based on skill, but these players were really just pantomime villians with big sideburns compared to today's fresh faced "not that kind of a player", hospital visiting, hand wringing and crocodile tear crying criminals. For criminals they are. If you run a kid over it's your fault even if you didn't mean it.
Didn't a policeman once arrest a player for assault during a match in Scotland? He was right.

People are ultimately judged on the result of what they did. Intention is impossible to determine as is largely subconscious.

#20
It was worth watching.

#23
These days every team always has 4 or 5 top players out onjured.
Most fans of football in the 70's can still name the 1st 11 of their and their opponents teams. This is because there were far fewer long term injuries. Teams used 14 players all season.
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Different training ground methods? Different approach to the physical and muscular development of players making injuries easier? More emphasis on squad rotation at the top-level?