Modern football is rubbish compared to past times. I hate the tendency to penalise even the most innocuous of challenges where there is physical contact, and the near decimation of the art of the hard but fair tackle. Whilst I wouldn't want to see thugs like Ron Harris or Vinnie Jones thriving again, or tolerance of clearly dangerous challenges, it has gone way too far the other way. I think some of the cause of that lies with foreign players coming in from less physical leagues and making a meal of challenges, and the willingness of the authorities to back them by amending the rules accordingly to "protect skilful players". As a lad, football represented a joyous combination of grace, skill, power, strength, pace, and occasional brutality. In attempting to remove the more brutal aspects, they've ended up over sanitising it, and it's too often like watching bloody chess these days.
I'm inclined to agree with you, KT (worryingly, I'm doing that quite a lot at the moment!). I enojyed the rugged side of the game of 20-25 years' ago. And, as a junior ref, I tend to let more stuff go than some do at this level; which spooks some of the watching coaches. My view is: if the challenge is fair and well-intentioned, why not allow a little robustness?!
