World Football: 20 Dirty Tacklers in the English Premier League Past and Present

If you come in two-footed, studs up and/or approach the tackle with excessive force I would say that's a dirty tackle.

There's nothing wrong with going in strong, hard and fair but sometimes it gets to a point where you wonder what was going on in the player's head.

Okay, here's what I am talking about. In the majority of tackles in this video, Rio Ferdinand stays on his feet and if he does go down, his studs aren't showing before he's even made contact with the ball, man or both. The first tackle on Joe Cole is pretty bad, though.

With that in mind, here are some of the dirtiest tacklers in the English Premier League past and present.

Karl Henry

Karl Henry doesn't have a montage—yet—but here's just a bit of what he can do. Oh, here's another one.

Nigel De Jong

It takes a little while for the actual video part to kick in but the evidence is there. For further evidence of Nigel de Jong's dirty tackling—though these actually didn't occur in the Premier League—check here and here.

I guess de Jong likes to bring his work with him elsewhere.

Joey Barton

Joey Barton has definitely carved out a niche for himself in the Premier League reputation-wise. There's that video and there is also this one.

Paul Scholes

When you say that you're tackling for revenge it doesn't help your defense against being called a dirty tackler.

The fact that you say that, and that most of your tackles were bad, whether because they were late or otherwise, puts you into the dirty tackler category.

Lee Bowyer

Here is just one piece of evidence of dirty tackling from a player who has picked up over 100 yellow cards in his career.

Stephen Hunt

There really is no excuse for this from Stephen Hunt. It's definitely a bad and dirty challenge.

Michael Brown

If that tackle isn't bad enough, Michael Brown also tried to injure Ryan Giggs in this incident.

Roy Keane

Well that's just a little introduction, but if you want more, there's some examples here and here.

Ben Thatcher

It's a struggle to say this was a "tackle." Can't really say much else here.

Jamie Carragher

Yeah, this tackle is definitely dirty. There's also a couple times in this video where Jamie Carragher comes in with his studs showing a bit too much.

Johnny Evans

Premeditated or not. There is no need to go jumping in on a player as Johnny Evans did here. Both players were going for the ball but Evans was always likely to do more damage.

Ryan Shawcross

Ryan Shawcross is well-known for this tackle but, to be fair, his reaction after, not shown on this video, seems extremely genuine.

Still, there have been other incidents such as Francis Jeffer's broken ankle and an unnecessarily late challenge on Emmanuel Adebayor. That incident comes later on in the video.

Kevin Nolan

The video goes by pretty fast but you can see the intent. Victor Anichebe was worried and he had every right to be.

Kevin Nolan carried that type of play to West Ham as well.

Phil Bardsley

Is that really necessary? If you think lunging after a player like that to win the ball is fine then good for you.

Michael Essien

Michael Essien is an all-action guy but his tackle here was definitely on the dirty side. There is also that tackle on Dietmar Hamann.

Danny Guthrie

This might have been more of a one-off thing for Danny Guthrie but still, it was definitely premeditated and malicious. Craig Fagan broke his leg due to this incident.

John Terry

I know John Terry has some good, fair but strong, tackles in him at times but this definitely wasn't one of them. Neither was this. And neither was this.

Lee Cattermole

Okay, admittedly, Lee Cattermole probably did get a little piece of the ball and it doesn't seem like he caught Luka Modric too much. What I'm focusing on, though, is how he went into the tackle. I think that about says it.

Alan Hutton

There's no need for explanation for this selection. The replays make it pretty clear. Let's add this one, too.

Wayne Rooney

A little getting to know you tackle from Wayne Rooney to Cristiano Ronaldo right here. He tried to get to know Niko Kranjcar, too.