Football wasn’t always a non-contact sport.

With all the diving, posing and play-acting you see in the Premiership and international football these days, it’s easy to forget there were times the Beautiful Game was anything but. In fact, football could be downright nasty – with the players below some of the main instigators.

Bring on the FA charge.

23. Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris

Former Chelsea defender known for his uncompromising tackles and his huge chopper. No wait.

22. Billy Bremner

Once described as 10 stone of barbed wire – and that was just his hair – Leeds and Scotland legend Bremner was an argument waiting to happen.  Well, he was Scottish, had ginger hair and was small.  Was so hard he even went toe to toe with tough-as-teak Kevin Keegan during the 1974 Charity Shield.

21. Norman Hunter

Nicknamed ‘bites yer legs’ for his weird sexual appetites. No, wait, it was because he was a tough, uncompromising defender. Played for the Leeds team every hates. Would have appeared higher, but for being beaten up by Franny Lee. See clip.

20. Graeme Souness

Our favourite story about the former Middlesbrough, Rangers and Liverpool midfielder is that Garth Crooks once whimpered he was ‘an uncompromising brute’. You can just imagine him saying that, can’t you? Only with a few more words. He could also play a bit. See clip above.

19. Luis Medina

The former Estudiantes star was so unpleasant even his mother didn’t like him. Was sent off during the 1968 World Club Championship for kicking the crap out of Georgie Best.

18. Roy McDonough

A tough tackler who racked up more cards than Clinton’s.

17. Roy Keane

The former Manchester United skipper was a nasty piece of work. Even Sir Alex was scared of him.

16. Willie Woodburn

Former Scotland and Rangers defender of the 1950s who was banned from the game for life after being sent off for the fifth time in six years.  Five sendings off? Doesn’t seem much does it, but when you consider you had to commit GBH to get sent off in the Fifties, it was probably fair enough.

15. Terry Butcher

The former England skipper was not the kind of man you would want to meet in a dark alley, especially when he’s covered in blood. Has a hard name too.

14. Giuseppe Bergomi

The Italian hardman would have tackled his own grandmother.

13. Tommy Smith

Legend has it Merseyside mothers kept a picture of him by the mantelpiece to keep them from the fire.

12. Jose Batista

The hardest player to ever play for Uruguay, which is really saying something. Just ask Gordon Strachan. Batista assaulted him in the first minute in the 1986 World Cup.

11. Bert Trautmann

It takes some balls to play in the English league when you were a German paratrooper during the Second World War. But what really makes the former Manchester City goalkeeper stand out is the fact he played on in the 1956 FA Cup final with a broken neck. Imagine players doing that now.

10. Chic Charnley

Obviously growing up with a stupid name toughened the former Partick Thistle player up. In fact, he holds the record for the most dismissals in British football. One story has it was once attacked during a training session by two men with samurai swords. The pair ran away.

9. Leonel Sanchez

The Chilean star played a starring role in the Battle of Santiago in 1962 – dubbed ‘the dirtiest match ever’. How? Well, he knocked out Humbero Maschio with a superb left hook. See clip above.

8. Duncan Ferguson

Former jailbird who once found two burglars in his house. Ferguson confronted the pair and was able to detain one of them who subsequently spent three days in hospital. The second man managed to flee but was eventually caught.

7. Miguel Angel Nadal

Probably remembered more for his penalty miss against England in Euro 1996, but Nadal was not dubbed The Beast of Barcelona for his dodgy haircut.

6. Claudio Gentile

Along with Danny Invincible and Leon Best, the Italian defender possibly has the least appropriate surname in football. Please send more suggestions.

5. Terry Hurlock

No one liked him, he didn’t care.

4. Andoni Goikoetxea

Not called the Butcher of Bilbao for his tasty meat cuts.

3. Stuart Pearce

Headbutted by Basile Boli in 1992 and barely flinched. Now that is the kind of players we want in the league nowadays. Psycho is a true legend. Could not resist putting the clip in.

2. Dave Mackay

The former Spurs and Derby star was man not to be trifled with.

1. Billy Whitehurst

A football journeyman who was rumoured to supplement his earnings by engaging in bare knuckle boxing bouts with local gypsies. There is also a story that he beat up Vinnie Jones while the pair were at Sheffield United. Not a man to annoy, so we’ll shut up now.

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