2) Mark Van Bommel
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Shirt pulling, niggling fouls, sneak attacks when the referee isn’t looking, terribly late tackles and constant time-wasting – Mark van Bommel checks every box in the infuriating, dirty player category. Fans love him and rival fans love to hate him, that is Mark Van Bommel in a nutshell. He is the wily old fox of dirty tackling, and for that he is number 2 on our list.
1) Kevin Muscat
Fans of dirty tackling will no doubt be familiar with Kevin Muscat’s name. A former Crystal Palace and Millwall player who moved to the Australian A-league in the latter part of his career, the now-retired Muscat’s list of dirty tackles stretches as long as the Great Wall of China.
Here’s a snippet of his disciplinary track record:
- In March 2002, Wolves man Muscat was sent off for elbowing Grimsby Town striker Michael Boulding. Suspended for 3 matches.
- Sent off for stamping on Watford’s Danny Webber.
- Former Charlton player Matty Holmes sued Muscat after a bad tackle from the hardman resulted in Holmes’ leg being broken in four places. Both parties settled the issue outside court for an estimated sum of 750,000.
- Sent off and suspended for 5 games after tackling Sheffield United player Ashley ward from behind, a tackle that sparked off a brawl.
- Suspended for two matches for “violent conduct” in December 2005.
- In January 2011, Muscat was sent off for elbowing Adelaide United player Adam Hughes.
- In his first match back from suspension, Muscat delivered a horrifying tackle on Melbourne Heart player Adrian Zahra in a derby match. He was suspended for 8 games.
- In his playing career, Muscat received 123 yellow cards and 12 red cards.
