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Football fans divided over violent tackle which saw player's hair pulled

Poppy Bilderbeck

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| Last updated 

Football fans divided over violent tackle which saw player's hair pulled

Featured Image Credit: Twitter/ @KameronBennett

People are flooding to social media in debate over a tackle made in the European Football League.

On 17 September, American football teams the Frankfurt Galaxy and the Rhein Fire from Germany went head-to-head in a semifinal match taking place in Duisburg.

Or we should really say head-to-hand, with one player from Frankfurt Galaxy's team grabbing hold of a Rhein Fire team member's hair in the third quarter of the match.

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DJ Kam Bennett took to X - formerly known as Twitter - to share a clip of the game.

The video shows Frankfurt linebacker Wael Nasri make a tackle by grabbing the hair of his opponent.

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It takes seconds for a fight to then break out between the two teams, everyone jumping in for a piece of the action before the referee steps in to break up the chaos.

Ouch. Credit: TNT Sports/ Instagram/ BIGV1
Ouch. Credit: TNT Sports/ Instagram/ BIGV1

Some X users have argued the hair-pulling was a 'legal move'.

One said: "Yup, hair becomes part of the uniform."

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"100 percent legal," another added.

A third weighed in: "Legal but morally wrong."

And a final resolved: "Sadly yes this has always been legal."

People were divided online over whether the tackle should've been allowed. Credit: TNT Sports/ Instagram/ BIGV1
People were divided online over whether the tackle should've been allowed. Credit: TNT Sports/ Instagram/ BIGV1
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However, other social media users are resolute the move shouldn't have been allowed.

"Yea but it should be a horse collar by definition of the uniform tackle," a user wrote.

Noting they aren't trying to debate an existing rule 'at all', they added: "It was legal, just interesting the pulling and yanking a player back isn’t [banned] due to the potential injury when the motion is similar to a horse collar (which was not always illegal) if we talking player safety you shouldn’t be allowed to pull player and sling them back…"

And another argued: "Contortions of the neck caused by pulling like that can cause serious neck injuries. Coupled with a tackle from a compromised position and it’s worse. If the point is to limit injury, why would the same considerations not apply? Should we wait to see someone break their neck?"

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And according to official NFL rules, you are allowed to tackle another player by their hair

In 2016, NFL Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino, said: "Grabbing the hair and pulling the runner toward the ground is legal."

Topics: News, World News, Football, Sport, Twitter, Social Media

Poppy Bilderbeck
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