Yes it is, City and Hereford have a long history. When Hereford went up to the football league i remember John Charles and Terry Paine playing for Hereford, such a long time ago, yet it feels like no time at all, at United.
The southern league in the 1960s was a wonderful place, brilliant football, competitive, physical, fast, skilled, not like the 5 a side game today, slow, predictable, boring.
If you put a current player in there in the 60s thay wont know what hit them, one tackle and they would be out for three months.
Yes a tackle, when i was a lad, the yardstick for being ready for mens football was being able to stay on your feet after a tackle from behind.
YES FROM BEHIND.
No one tackles today, forwards can do what they want without fear of interference, it makes the game more of a spectacle, which of course increases gates.
As a Birmingham City manager once said to his team at half time v Arsenal many years ago, that theres no point running along side a player, there isnt is there? In the second half a City player broke the leg of an Arsenal player, in two places i think, putting him out for a year or so.
Birmingham back then were a well known hatchet team, their wasnt enough paper to list the disciplinary action. Mark Dennis was a very bad man. In the anglo Italian cup the Blues had a fight with an Italian team and won. Such happy days.
Tackling is safe, my brother was an example, he was a Roy Keane type, but stronger, he could have a tackle flying in, two, three four, sometimes at once, and still keep the ball. If a challenger ran over him, hed get up from that.
This is whats missing from football today, the gladiator bit, there are no hard men anymore. The football is passe, boring, tippy tappy rubbish.
As the years have gone by, the art of football has gone, that goals used to be a thing of creativity, genius, beauty, now its just taps over the line. The Da Vincis of football went a long time ago, replaced by behemoths 7 feet tall, run all day etc.......where are the Giles, Zidanes....etc
Gone. For good.