Aggression appears to be a hot topic in football these days. On the one side, Zambia national team coach Sven Vandenbroek has called for more aggression in his players.
On the other, Liverpool manager Jurgen Kopp is hoping for a more restrained attacking mindset. That’s after defender, Joe Gomez suffered a fractured leg after some rather robust tackling by Burnley’s Ben Mee.
Whatever your thoughts are on the physicality of football, now seems a good time to remember three of the ‘hard men’ of the sport; men who became brutes on the pitch… and sometimes off it too.
Vinnie Jones
Image Source: goal.com
Hot tempered, aggressive and a bit of a psycho on and off the pitch, defensive midfielder Vinnie Jones was at his sporting peak in the late eighties and early nineties. The talented footballer was known for his fiery personality and physical presence on the pitch.
His main claim to fame is the fastest ever booking for a foul against an opposition player. It took him exactly three seconds to blot his already untidy copy book in an FA Cup fixture between Chelsea and Sheffield United.
Over a curtailed career, Jones was red carded 12 times. He was also banned for six months for bringing the game into disrepute and became the stuff of legends – albeit it dubiously – when he was caught ‘red-handed’ squeezing Paul Gascoigne’s ‘soft bits’ during a league game.
Jones has converted his natural aggression into a money-making bonanza by acting as the bad guy in a string of movies including ‘Absolution’, ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ and ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’.
Along with a rather unpleasant air rage incident, Jones was recently charged and convicted for assaulting a neighbour. Nice guy? Not so much!
Neil Ruddock
Image Source: football365.com
Hard, uncompromising and belligerent, Neil Ruddock was a notorious defender for clubs likes Spurs, Liverpool, West Ham and Crystal Palace. His aggressive tackling left a slew of seriously injured victims in its wake.
The self proclaimed ‘Hell Razor’ was responsible for fracturing former Liverpool and England forward, Peter Beardsley’s cheekbone in three places, an incident that was almost escalated to the courts.
He also managed to break both of Andy Cole’s legs in an inauspicious challenge for the ball, a challenge Cole believed was way off the mark. Considering Cole’s ankle was snapped in two places and the bone in his other leg was cracked, Ruddock pulled off one ‘hell’ of a tackle.
Ruddock, who earned a cap for England, will be remembered for his nasty spats with Eric Cantona, his deranged tackling and endless off-field incidents, one more ugly than the next.
Richard Dunne
Image Source: joe.ie
Towering Irish defender, Richard Dunne may appear placid when compared to Jones and Ruddock but he was a hard-tackling player who relied on intense physicality to defend the line. Together with Patrick Viera and Duncan Ferguson, Dunne holds the record for the most red cards of all-time. All three were sent off eight times over their career!
The Dubliner, who played for clubs like Everton, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Queens Parks Rangers may be a cult hero because of his battle-hardened stance to the game but he often lost the plot on and off the pitch and is known for his drunken skirmishes with his fellow players.
Dunne’s promising career was prematurely cut short largely due to disciplinary issues, issues that earned him at least one club suspension. A record tally of 10 own goals didn’t improve his chances of progressing in the Premier League, although he did make 80 appearances for his national team.
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