Tbf I played a lot of parks football as well as up to League of Wales, and my permanent knee injury came from a knee-high tackle in a pre-season friendly against a Welsh League 1st Division team, rather than any of the 20 years I spent playing terrible standard Sunday and Newport & District football.

My point being you can get bad tackles at any level. But I don't see any benefit in kids who are supposed to be EFL standard playing anything lower than Welsh Premier League or Conference South on loan, or they're just not good enough.

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

ComeOnCounty wrote:Problem is they are kicking lumps out of these young players. In fact we lost a very talented player who was tipped to come through the youth academy. He played in our lost Gwent Cup victory and was brutally injured by a dangerous tackle. That player had to retire at the age of 17 because of that injury.

As you can imagine, the club would have serious concerns about putting any talent in a position where that can happen again.

I see your point. But let's face it, by the nature and speed of the game, every season players have their careers ended. When it comes to thuggery, Roy Keene on Alf Inge Haaland. In my view Roy Keene should have done serious time for that. I'm not saying those assaults don't take place on parks pitches but don't think they don't take place higher up the pyramid.

Edit.

Having read now GSB's point again I see his argument and merely disagree for the reasons above.

Without doubt Keene was a thug and should of been arrested straight after getting sent off.

George Street-Bridge wrote:There has to be something in it for both sides and I don't see that fourth-tier football in Wales would have anything to contribute to the development of our young players. Too much chance of tough parks players kicking lumps out of them.

I think you’re right. I remember stepping up from boys to men’s leagues and it’s intimidating. The sheer physical difference though may not be as huge as it was 50 or 60 years ago. I remember after skipping past a fullback in my first game getting the old line “ do that again sonny and I’ll break your leg “ and he had a bloody good go too but merely snapped the bamboo in my shin pad. They’ve got little to learn from that experience and a lot to lose.

lowandhard wrote:

George Street-Bridge wrote:There has to be something in it for both sides and I don't see that fourth-tier football in Wales would have anything to contribute to the development of our young players. Too much chance of tough parks players kicking lumps out of them.

I think you’re right. I remember stepping up from boys to men’s leagues and it’s intimidating. The sheer physical difference though may not be as huge as it was 50 or 60 years ago. I remember after skipping past a fullback in my first game getting the old line “ do that again sonny and I’ll break your leg “ and he had a bloody good go too but merely snapped the bamboo in my shin pad. They’ve got little to learn from that experience and a lot to lose.

Evening Mike,

Have to disagree with you on this one. I stress this is only my opinion but at the top level the difference between a winger who will make it as a pro and one who won't is just confidence.

Having met with an old player giving that well known threat the player who will go on to forge a league career will smile and reply.

"I don't think so. You're too slow to get that close to me. But if you do try to break my leg make sure you succeed because if you don't I'll f@cking kill you."

An old player being the clue to your usual outdated view of the beautiful game

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

lowandhard wrote:

George Street-Bridge wrote:There has to be something in it for both sides and I don't see that fourth-tier football in Wales would have anything to contribute to the development of our young players. Too much chance of tough parks players kicking lumps out of them.

I think you’re right. I remember stepping up from boys to men’s leagues and it’s intimidating. The sheer physical difference though may not be as huge as it was 50 or 60 years ago. I remember after skipping past a fullback in my first game getting the old line “ do that again sonny and I’ll break your leg “ and he had a bloody good go too but merely snapped the bamboo in my shin pad. They’ve got little to learn from that experience and a lot to lose.

Evening Mike,

Have to disagree with you on this one. I stress this is only my opinion but at the top level the difference between a winger who will make it as a pro and one who won't is just confidence.

Having met with an old player giving that well known threat the player who will go on to forge a league career will smile and reply.

"I don't think so. You're too slow to get that close to me. But if you do try to break my leg make sure you succeed because if you don't I'll f@cking kill you."

Just to add to the above.

Bullies usually give up if you stand up to them. The only time you give in to a bully is if you're being mugged and he has a knife.

Here's what you do. Always carry two wallets. One for your valuables and one in case you get mugged.

In the event of a mugging you take out the second wallet, throw it on the floor and run as hard as f@ck away screaming 'mugging, mugging, mugging'. Don't worry your assailant will be far more interested in the wallet than you.

Some of you are probably thinking that this second wallet is empty. My second wallet actually contains an olive oil stained piece of paper. On which is written, 'this paper is stained with anthrax. If you are reading this you are going to die.'

Which begs the question ...

Amberexile wrote:An old player being the clue to your usual outdated view of the beautiful game

Fair point this, the tackle from behind was outlawed in 1994 (well, it became a mandatory red card), that was 25 years ago and I don't think threatening violence and hacking tackles has been around since then outside parks games.

I was fast, and used to laugh at defenders trying to kick me too, the ones that needed to try were always the ones that couldn't. Still didn't get a kick when I played against County in 2000 though, well, apart from the one which put me up in the air for the only thing resembling a threatening attack we had all game. Oh, hang on...

Tbh from my experience confidence is a massive part of it. With kids it's (a negative) not realising how good you are, or (positives) not realising how good the opposition is supposed to be, or not having had injuries which affect your thinking and decision-making and playing without fear, the older you get the more you think about self-preservation rather than, say, sliding 10 yards on astroturf after a collision in order to score a goal.

But that experience also helps hugely when it comes to decision-making, time-management, knowing where team-mates are likely to be, etc. And in terms of physicality nowadays it's having the strength and fitness to know you'll be grabbing and leaning and pushing and competing for every single ball, always off-balance and making thousands of minor adjustments just to be able to play your game and execute simple stuff - people who've only played parks games would see a huge difference to county leagues, a huge difference again to welsh league, a huge difference to Welsh Premier, to National League, to League Two - just stuff like how you close down and whether to press, all that stuff varies depending on levels. It's about understanding what's expected of you and being strong enough mentally and physically for those challenges. And sometimes, it's also just dumb luck, timing and opportunity.

I never played the game – well, if you don't count one season in the Reading Sunday League Division 5 East, when I was nearly always a sub – but the thing that marks out players for me at every level I have ever watched is their ability to anticipate not only what happens next but two or three phases further on from that.

That's what makes Amond such a great player in League Two and why Lamar Reynolds never made it.