Late Tackle Football Magazine January/February 2016 Back Issue

HARDMEN GET THE BOOT
When you went to a football match twenty or thirty years ago, a crunching 50-50 tackle between two players would probably come only secondary to a goal in the entertainment stakes. But think about it, how often these days do you see a full-blooded, hard but fair challenge between two rivals? Not often is probably the answer. Football has, in many ways, improved for the better over the last few decades. The outlawing of the tackle from behind, which pretty much allowed defenders a free hit at an attacker with the all-encompassing ‘I got the ball’ get-out clause, has allowed the flair players to shine. Messi and Ronaldo have it much easier than the strikers of yesteryear who took fearsome blows and simply had to get on with it. But is the game going too far in the attacking players’ favour? Will tackling soon be outlawed completely?