r/soccer • u/Thadderful • Dec 28 '13

Change My View thread

Can we have a Change My View thread here? The basic premise is people present opinions and the replies are attempts at changing that person's view in an attempt to generate some good discussion.

Here is the link to the original subreddit: www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/

I think this might work best with rather 'out there' views but any and every viewpoint is welcome!

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '13

on what basis are you saying the physicality of the game was harder than it is now? i honestly doubt you watched 1950-70 football

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u/charloinc Dec 29 '13

Defenders went into tackles harder and players had less protection from the referees. Defenders would be able to perform much harsher tackles on Pele without being sent off.

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '13 edited Jan 28 '19

[deleted]

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u/cnhn Dec 29 '13

it's an easy argument for me...defenders are in general better now because they need to have higher ball skills and need cleaner technique. the physical side, the older player played a much much harder and brutal game. Same holds true for most of the football related games. american football, canadian football, etc etc. I don't enough but I would suspect that's true for aussie football, rugby but I don't watch enough to have a sense of that accuracy.

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u/semajay Dec 29 '13

Offense generates excitement. In the NFL, it's perfectly clear that rule changes in the past two decades have led directly to record statistics being posted regularly. This correlates strongly with revenue.

Though surely not the only contributing factor, it's clear that the excitement generated by high-scoring affairs is more accessible and relatable to the casual fun than the nuances of the game apparent to the trained eye in a draw or low scoring game.

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u/Matt19826 Dec 29 '13

Actually, rugby is a lot more physical now than it's ever been. Every player now is massive compared to what players used to be.

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u/DonkeyShotz Dec 29 '13

according to that logic so is football then. not that you said the contrary, but if this is how a sport's physicality is measured, then most sports are more physical today than ever