Strictly X-rated Other bone-crunching moments that left us wincing
06 Mar 2009 - 01:11:02
You could have been forgiven if you tuned in for Wednesday night's Premier League highlights for thinking that you had been transported back, 'Life of Mars' style, to the 1970s.
The scenes at the JJB Stadium, where Wigan took on West Ham, were reminiscent of something belonging to a bygone age in the game.
Carlton Cole set the wrong tone with a crude challenge on Michael Brown, and after a late clumsy challenge he was sent off by controversial referee Stuart Atwell.
Scott Parker then went in high and late on Michael Brown as the young referee struggled to keep control.
Lucas Neill then weighed in with a crude challenge on Lee Cattermole that many would have judged deserved a red card.
And the worst of all - Catterole's appalling lunge at Scott Parker, which deservedly earned the Wigan man an early bath.
The tackles and challenges were so poor that the football became almost incidental.
And even the very best weren't immune to making late and clumsy challenges, with Nemanja Vidic kicking out at Obafemi Martins on the edge of the Manchester United penalty area.
Vidic received an elbow in the face from Martin for his troubles in the second half, while Steven Taylor added his name to the hall of shame when he bear hugged Cristiano Ronaldo.
Wednesday's ugly parade brings to mind some of those many other moments down the years that left us wincing ....
KEVIN NOLAN ON VICTOR ANICHEBE
Nolan put the boot in - quite literally - on Anichebe with a dreadful two-footed lunge during Newcastle's clash with Everton last month.
Nolan apologised to his Everton counterpart at half-time after what might go down as the season's worst challenge.
Anichebe summed it up, saying: 'I've never felt as much pain in my life. I thought I'd broken my leg. I couldn't even look down, to be fair. It was a terrible tackle but I don't think he really meant it, he came and said sorry. But what can you do?'
MARTIN TAYLOR ON EDUARDO
A year is a long time in football, and while Arsenal are struggling this term they were leaders by five points 12 months ago, before the wheels started to fall of their title challenge at Birmingham.
And many will point towards Taylor's challenge on Eduardo as the moment it all started to go wrong.
The Croatia striker was out of first team action for a year, before returning in style last week in Arsenal's FA Cup clash with Cardiff.
Martin Taylor's challenge on Eduardo at Birmingham in February last year
ROY KEANE ON ALF-INGE HAALAND
One of football's truly infamous tackles of recent times. Keane's challenge happened in 2001, but can be dated back to 1997 when Keane tackled Haaland, then playing for Leeds.
Keane injured his anterior cruciate liagment, with Haaland claiming the Irishman feigned injury to avoid punishment. Keane was booked as he left the field.
Keane was banned for three games and fined £5,000 after his challenge on Haaland in the Manchester derby, but was then given an additional five match ban and £150,000 fine in 2002 after admitting in his biography that he wanted to 'hurt' Haaland as revenge for that earlier taunting.
JAMES MORRISON ON CRISTIANO RONALDO
Is Ronaldo more sinned against than sinning? Sir Alex Ferguson would say so, and he wouldn't be alone.
Ronaldo had converted a controversial penalty earlier in the season against Boro, and when he repeated the trick in this FA Cup quarter-final in 2007 Morrison saw red.
GRAEME SOUNESS v STEAUA BUCHAREST
Souness was always known as a combative character, and his tackle here in his Rangers days has to be seen to be believed,
The incident occurs after nearly two minutes of this clip - watch for Souness' superb reaction afterwards.
BENJAMIN MASSING ON CLAUDIO CANNIGIA
A game that everyone of a certain age remembers. A match that set the tone for a tournament crammed full of indelible images. A tournament that saw a see-change in the game and attitudes in this country to it.
Cannigia had already emerged unscathed from two late challenges before Massing completed the job in unceremonious fashion. (As an aside Cameroon of course won the game, while a half-baked Argentina would somehow reach the final).
STEVEN GERRARD ON GARY NAYSMITH
A two-footed challenge from Liverpool's midfielder in a typically feisty Merseyside derby clash with Everton in 2002.
Amazingly Graham Poll took no action over the incident, which nearly sparked an on-pitch brawl, and Gerrard made an immediate apology after the game.
