Ken Jones: British football still defined by bruising tradition of the hard man

The on-going spat between Gérard Houllier and Graeme Souness over the tackle by Blackburn's Lucas Neill that left Jamie Carragher of Liverpool with a broken leg last weekend moves each according to his or her nature. An act of violence or, as Souness argues, an incident that may have appeared to be the result of intent but was definitely unintentional.

Either way, it has raised again an aspect of British football that has been with us since a titled English formulator of the laws of the game blithely declared: "By all means let us have hacking.'' With those words he laid the foundation for a uniquely robust style that is respected and decried in equal measure.

A steady influx of foreign players has unquestionably raised the skill factor of football in these islands but done nothing to alter a tradition of unstinting commitment to the cause and unyielding physicality. The British football ethos is primarily one of effort and character. Thus, coaches try every device imaginable, and some unimaginable, to stoke hotter and hotter fires in their players. Football is such a hard game, they believe, that the only way to get professionals to play at a proper level of intensity is to bang a drum loudly and constantly.

Last week, before Carragher suffered the injury that will probably keep him out for six months, I fell into conversation with a number of notable former players, including Jack Charlton, Cliff Jones, Martin Chivers and members of Celtic's 1967 European Cup winning team at a golf event at Carnoustie. All were in agreement that the speed of football today contributes to the many errors of timing made when challenging for the ball. "Often when I see players lunging in off-balance, I wince,'' Charlton said. "I wonder what would have happened to them had they come up against some of the old hard cases, and not just defenders because there were plenty of forwards who could do serious damage if you left yourself open.''

One of the tales told concerned the old Liverpool defender, Tommy Smith, who doubtless believes that any number of players now at work in the Premiership would struggle to defend their front door against a salesman.

Back when Smith was spreading alarm through the old First Division he inflicted a nasty leg wound on the Arsenal centre-half, Terry Neill, in a match at Highbury. Hearing Arsenal's complaints, Bill Shankly visited their treatment room for a close look at the damage. Typically unmoved, he merely said: "Aye, Tommy's a hard boy.''

Charlton recalled a match between Everton and Leeds at Goodison Park that was ferocious by any standards. "The impression I had was that we'd been playing five minutes and the ball was still on the centre spot,'' he said. "You knew what sort of game it was going to be when Alex Young [a slight, elegant player] immediately put the boot in.''

Let's go further back in time, if not for wholly admirable reasons. In a recently published book, Jules Rimet Still Gleaming: A History Of England In The World Cup, I refer to a match between England and the reigning world champions, Italy, in 1934 which was described by newspapers of the day as the "Battle of Highbury''. The hero of England's 3-2 victory was the Arsenal wing-half, Wilf Copping, whose toughness was legendary. Reacting nastily to sly attacks on his Arsenal team-mates, Eddie Hapgood and Ted Drake, the grim-featured Copping retaliated to such effect that four of the Italians had to leave the field for treatment. Never sent off or cautioned in a 20-cap career, Copping had a reputation for being tough but fair, the archetypal English football hard man when, in truth, he could be violent. Today, subject to closer scrutiny, he would probably spend most of his time under suspension.

Earlier this week, when remarking on the fact that Carragher's injury was the result of a two-footed tackle, my colleague Glenn Moore mentioned that British players have learnt in European competitions to accommodate the refusal of referees to accept tackles made with an uplifted foot. It does seem, however, that the present crop of players, fans and writers get much more hotly exercised about fouls than their elders did.

Tackling became a particularly controversial issue in world football because the word had no definition in the laws of the game, and indeed did not even appear in them. The British version continues to hang on to the belief that it is legal to gain possession with a powerful thrust of the foot as long as initial contact is made with the ball. Interpretation remains muddy. If Carragher's fate proved anything, it is that there is a line so fine as to be almost indistinguishable between the viciously callous and the coldly competent.