Unnecessary Roughness: Difference between revisions

*** It's also mentioned that about 90% of the fouls can be prevented from ever happening by just not letting anyone use their wands while on the field.

* The [[P. G. Wodehouse]] [[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves and Wooster]] story "The Ordeal of Young Tuppy" has the titular [[Upper Class Twit]] getting involved in the yearly [[Rugby Is Slaughter|rugby grudge-match]] between two rival villages; the event quickly proves to be an excuse for the participants to beat on each other.

*** The UU team are amateurs so the professional players of A-M United have every advantage. The smarter pros realize that and are also aware that the opposing team are actually ultra powerful wizards who will likely enact their own Unnecessary Roughness after the game. The Librarian alone is known for beating people to a bloody pulp for calling him a monkey (he is an orangutan).

 

 

== Real Life ==

* In the NBA, Bruce Bowen was notorious for being the league's dirtiest player after the rules were cleaned up and more anti-defense following the Jordan Era

* [[wikipedia:Kermit Washington#Infamous punch|The Other Wiki]] details the Rudy Tomjanovich-Kermit Washington incident from December 1977:

** During the 2009 Bulls-Celtics playoffs during game five, Rajon Rondo fishhooked Brad Miller's face as Miller went for a layup. Rondo's hand was three feet away from the ball, and all Rondo got was a personal foul. He should have drawn a flagrant one at least. Official review upheld the decision. (Because to do otherwise would be like going on national television and saying, "Bulls, we may have cost you guys the game.") Can be seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6JpEx_CqOc here].

** Or, how about game 6 of the same Bulls-Celtics series—namely, Rondo grabbing Kirk Hinrich and ''throwing him into the scorer's table'' with the ball nowhere near. He gets off with a flagrant-1. And, of course, he had that aforementioned fishhook the previous game.

* Claude Lemieux was one of the most loathed players in NHL History (no relation to Mario, one of the most loved), and with good reason. Most agree that he single-handedly started the Avalanche/Red Wings rivalry in 1997 for a pretty vicious cheap shot on Kris Draper.

** The invincible juggernaut Soviet team almost backed out of playing them on their U.S. tour in 1976 after an especially vicious hit.

* On the verge of losing the 1972 Summit Series to the Soviets, the Canadians, who were made up of professional NHL players, simply resorted to dirty play, such as deliberately injuring the Soviets' best player Valery Kharlamov, in order to win the series. This is partially averted because in North America, very few people will admit Canada's dirty play helped contribute to their victory.

* During the 1970 NFL season, the then-defending [[Super Bowl]] champion Kansas City Chiefs were playing [[The Rival|the Oakland Raiders]]. Late in that game with the Chiefs leading 17-14, quarterback Len Dawson scrambled for a first-down that would have enabled the Chiefs to run out the clock, gaining additional yardage after a cheap shot from Raider defensive end Ben Davidson. It didn't end there, however, as [[wikipedia:Otis Taylor (American football)#Ben Davidson incident|receiver Otis Taylor]] jumped in and retaliated, resulting in offsetting penalties. Kansas City had to punt, Oakland ultimately knocked a field-goal through to deadlock the game 17-all (no regular-season overtime until 1974). Taylor's antics came back to haunt the Chiefs, as with only four postseason slots in that time, that cost Kansas City a division title and left them as the odd team out in the AFC playoffs.

* While many soccer defenders are known for being aggressive, there's a case from the 1981 [[Copa Libertadores]] that deserves mention: In the second game of the finals, Mario Soto from Chilean side Cobreloa was able to make two Flamengo players leave the game bleeding (the rest of Cobreloa managed to injure two other players). In the third and last game, with four minutes left and victory already guaranteed to Flamengo, the team's coach Cláudio Coutinho decided to avenge the previous game and put benchwarmer Anselmo in the field, with the sole intention of hitting Soto (who promptly got punched in the head, leading to a fight that got both players expelled).

** Page image is Nigel de Jong of the Netherlands kicking Xabi Alonso of Spain during the 2010 [[FIFA World Cup]] Final. A highlight on a game that on [[Twitter]], inspired ''[[Shaolin Soccer]]'' and ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' to be Trending Topics.

* Although many British soccer teams in the late 1960s and early 1970s had at least one player with a reputation for violent tackling and otherwise dirty playing, [[The Damned United|Leeds United under Don Revie]] could fill an entire first eleven with such players, so when they met Chelsea, who had a number of similarly savage players in their first eleven, in the replay of the [[wikipedia:1970 FA Cup Final|1970 FA Cup final]], the inevitable result was one of the most violent matches in the history of the tournament (in 1997, referee David Elleray watched the match and said the two sides should have received a total of twenty yellow cards and ''six'' red cards):

** Leeds' Terry Cooper and Chelsea's Tommy Baldwin were already kicking each other as the match began, while Leeds' Norman Hunter and Chelsea's Ian Hutchinson (the only player to be booked for either side in the match) spent most of the match trading punches and Leeds' Johnny Giles and Chelsea's Eddie McCreadle made numerous lunging tackles on opposing players.

** Leeds opened the scoring after Mick Jones viciously bundled Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Bonetti into his own goalmouth and then rounded him seconds later while he was still regaining his bearings to score, while the winner was scored by Peter Osgood after Jack Charlton, who was assigned to mark Osgood, devoted his attention instead to exacting revenge on Ian Hutchinson for a dead leg.

* On a similar note, though Leeds United fans may remember the [[wikipedia:1975 European Cup Final|1975 European Cup final]] mostly for some questionable refereeing decisions which denied them possible penalties (indeed, many of the club's hardcore fans refer to the club as European champions to this day), Bayern Munich fans may remember it instead for the savagery of the Leeds players which brought a premature end to the careers of ''two'' of their players. Three minutes into the match, a particularly vicious tackle by Terry Yorath on Bjorn Andersson led to the latter having to be substituted and only playing a further handful of matches at senior level. Uli Hoeness, who described the tackle on Andersson as "the most brutal foul I think I have ever seen", was himself taken out of the match after a tackle by Frank Gray resulted in a serious knee injury from which he never fully recovered.

* 1982 World Cup semi-final, West Germany v France: Late in the game French player Patrick Battiston was advancing on goal when German keeper Harald Schumacher ran out and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqYEpVjpinI&feature=related smashed him in the face with his forearm]. Battiston was knocked cold and taken to hospital with broken teeth and a damaged vertebra. Schumacher was not even booked and saved two penalties in the resultant shoot-out. Justice was done in the final as West Germany lost to Italy, and Schumacher later offered to pay Battiston's dental bill.

* The 1956 Hungary-Soviet Olympic water polo match is a classic example of this trope. [[wikipedia:Blood In The Water match|The other wiki]] has details.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty]]

[[Category:Sports Story Tropes]]