Like Nat Lofthouse, who got his second goal for Bolton in the 1958 Cup Final against Manchester United in exactly that way. It can be viewed on Google and to a modern observer looks utterly shocking, but obviously was within the laws. In fact, opposition players were allowed to barge the goalie whenever he had the ball in his hands, thus putting him under serious pressure when he was trying to kick out. Are those things still within the laws?

Dixie Dean(Everton?) scored 60/62 goals in one season many, many, moons ago. Most of those were when he shoulder barged the 'keeper into the net.

A poster earlier in the thread said that all the 'argy-bargy' that goes on in the penalty box, can't be policed by the ref, yes it can, it just needs a brave ref to give a pen(both ends) & for other refs to follow suit & it will soon stop. Bit like refs now allowing the game to flow a lot more & the likes of JA not getting his squillions of free-kicks per game.

IMO It's views like this that keep us in the dark ages. Nutting someone is never an in-house problem. It is assault and should be treated as such or will never be eradicated.

Edited by gloryhunter (17 Aug 2022 8.44am)

Giggsy didn't head butt his missus either. Merely a head clash.

I find it weird the negative attention Andersen has received to be honest, it's almost like no one has ever watched a PL centre-back before. Had Nunez not reacted as he did many neutrals would probably even have had Andersen as a MOTM contender. Had Andersen been a Liverpool defender pundits would have been wetting their knickers at how easily he contained the striker and celebrated the sh!thousery.

Personally, I think Liverpool and its fans are desperately trying to excuse the fact their "star" signing lost it with the slightest of provocation. The only reason to involve the police is to report that Liverpool have been robbed of £85m.

If that head butt had occured in the local night club or pub,there would have been all sorts of reaction along the lines of the culprit being arrested and charged etc etc,why is it then acceptable to deal with this offence by internal discipline when it is clearly an offence that should be dealt with by the police,what kind of example does it give to population if there is one rule for footballers and everyone else is treated differently,it is about time this was dealt with by criminal prosecution route!!