Proper Football

I finally convinced Mick that he should watch The Big Match revisited, easy enough and on demand on the Internet at ITV Player. They are  matches from the seventies and early eighties, And what a difference from the Premier League of today. OK, there are the tight shorts and dodgy perms, but once you have had a few laughs at them, there is something else.   No Suarez like biting of opponents for certain. No grappling at every corner and less diving and rolling around in death throes at the slightest touch. It was a man’s game. Tackles came and went without need to plead for yellow or red cards, and not just because they didn't exist either. The foul tackle made, the players got up and the game carried on. Goal keepers didn't always wear gloves either.

So why did it all change ? Well, I guess that the pros started to copy our continental neighbours, or the clubs bought foreign players to swell their ranks maybe. The FA in it’s ultimate wisdom decreed that all coaches
attended approved  coaching schools and gained qualifications in how to kick a football. Now kicking a football in the right direction is a hard enough skill but the coaches wanted more and decided that tactics was the way to go and so we arrived at the Don Howe method of ’everybody behind the ball, ’work rate is all’ and along with that went the art of the winger, the dribble and body swerve and entertainment.

I have got nothing against defenders either. Bobby Moore, my all time favourite player, ’made’ three of England’s goals when we won the world cup but would be chastised now if he ventured too far from the halfway line. But he defended with his feet and head not his arms and teeth.

Could it be  that a German  team, having crushed the  mighty  Barcelona , albeit without a fit  Messi, the side feted for their intricate triangles and long periods of possession  are about  to change all that  ?

What is certain though, is that if the foreign players continue to  dominate the Premier League then the only  awards English teams will win will be Oscars  for diving rather than European Cups and the English National team will be aiming for the quarter finals at best rather than winning a final any time soon. 

Mind you they didn’t in the seventies or eighties [or nineties or noughties] either