Bored out of my tree last night I began flicking channels on the telly and found the "Liverpool TV" channel. They were showing Watford v Liverpool from season 1985/86.
The result was Watford 2 - 3 Liverpool but the thing that struck me as I watched the whole of the 2nd half was the differences between football then and now.
For a start, they were playing on a pitch which had a huge area around the centre circle which resembled something between a beach and a swamp. The goalmouths were in a similar state. As the Duchess said - even Juniors in the park don't play on that sort of pitch these days.
It was really strange to see players passing back to the keeper from the halfway line just to waste a bit of time but it dawned on me as the game was drawing to a close that in the whole 45 minutes I saw, not one shirt was pulled, not one player dived and in fact, although there were plenty of tackles, there were only 4 or 5 free-kicks for foul challenges and 2 more for offside!
Even when challenges were penalised, the fouled player got up and got on with it - no physios on the pitch at all, no mass protests from players encircling the ref. And no-one wearing gloves or bloody tights either!
Different game altogether now innit? And with the exception of the introduction of the "back pass rule" it's not totally changed for the better.
The result was Watford 2 - 3 Liverpool but the thing that struck me as I watched the whole of the 2nd half was the differences between football then and now.
For a start, they were playing on a pitch which had a huge area around the centre circle which resembled something between a beach and a swamp. The goalmouths were in a similar state. As the Duchess said - even Juniors in the park don't play on that sort of pitch these days.
It was really strange to see players passing back to the keeper from the halfway line just to waste a bit of time but it dawned on me as the game was drawing to a close that in the whole 45 minutes I saw, not one shirt was pulled, not one player dived and in fact, although there were plenty of tackles, there were only 4 or 5 free-kicks for foul challenges and 2 more for offside!
Even when challenges were penalised, the fouled player got up and got on with it - no physios on the pitch at all, no mass protests from players encircling the ref. And no-one wearing gloves or bloody tights either!
Different game altogether now innit? And with the exception of the introduction of the "back pass rule" it's not totally changed for the better.
2 comments:
Totally agree Ken, I saw a re run of the England match (Gazza sending-off one) played back when Sir Bobby Robson died.
Everything you previously said holds true in that game.
I texted a few mates after watching it to say how enjoyable it'd been, and that it was far better than watching the egotistical and commercial trash that is thrown up as "Premiership" footy these days.
Premier only in ego and financial terms- entertainment..MEH! Fairies falling over when they've not even been kicked (Eduardo), hissy fits at being subbed (or is that some bonus or other gone when that happens?)
I dunno, grew up watching Rams play on that imitation of Skeggy beach....when men were men etc etc etc
Know what you mean Dave - Sheffield Wednesday in the 1960s and early 70swas my "learning ground"
As I said - totally diferent game now.
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