Malicious intent or not, English football must change its tackling ethos

There is no doubt Shawcross was devastated at injuring Ramsey so badly, he had no deliberate malicious intent, but to stop further incidents we have to accept this excuse is inadequate. In England we have developed a passion for hard tackles. Every weekend if a defender crunches a winger, slamming him into the advertising boards the crowd will roar with appreciation. This love of the last ditch tackle comes at a price however, as the 50/50 ball which gathers most acclaim when won, provides the most drastic injuries when lost. Lunging tackles are no longer acceptable in modern football, and players must take this on board and stop performing them. The FA has made this abundantly clear and we should have no sympathy for Shawcross, he had the option to lunge in over the ball or not to – he chose the former.

The modern players have carried on the ethos that a crunching tackle represents courage, hard work and the character that fans adore and laud. When the original rules of football were consummated in 1862, “hacking” was banned because it was feared no one would play football as potential injury would jeopardise their careers – as a country we have failed to learn the lessons of history.

The FA must be applauded for their introduction of a straight red card for high challenges, but it is clear a three match ban is not enough. It is a deliberate choice by players to lunge at the ball, whether with malicious intent or not, and harsher penalties should be levied. The predicament is not helped by ex footballers and pundits claiming some red cards are harsh, perpetuating our ghoulish delight of clattering opponents with complete disregard for their welfare. We need harsher penalties for such challenges; let’s say if Shawcross was banned for 10 games, would this send a message to the players?

I don’t know but despite the FA’s best efforts we are still failing to cure our football of severe foul play. The likes of David Buust and Paul Elliot will keep occurring unless we do, with promising careers ended by oafish lunging. Ramsey can take hope from his Arsenal team mate Eduardo who suffered a similar fate two years ago from Martin Taylor – who of course was “not that type of player” – who is now back in first team action, albeit not at his former best. Unless we understand the damage such tackles create we cannot protect the careers of promising and skilful players from the outstretched high boot of lumbering defenders. If Saturday’s events aren’t a wake up call, then there is a ticking time bomb before another career is put in danger.

(Footage of the Ramsey tackle has not been provided as it maybe distressing to our readers)

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.