Long throws are portrayed as a recurring, excessive trend that replaces tactical development with repetitive, low-quality ball-flinging. Disapproval is traced to an FA Cup match in 1996, where a single goal and frequent long throws reinforced the view that the tactic is rubbish. Long-ball reliance is described as a way for teams to avoid complaints about opponents using the same approach. The repeated sight of players drying the ball and taking backward steps is framed as triggering frustration. The only exception suggested is when a team has a specialist like Rory Delap. The piece also criticizes kits with comedic intent, citing Manchester City’s 2025-26 third kit designed to resemble a rain-flecked window with neon green highlights.
"I can date my disapproval of long throws back to a single afternoon in November 1996, during which I endured an FA Cup tie between Northampton and Watford, a game that took place long enough ago for me to have forgotten everything about it but for these basic facts: Darren Bazeley scored the only goal, and long throws are rubbish."
"Watford patented the use of the long ball so they could not complain at Northampton's reliance on the tactic, wrote the Telegraph. A succession of long throws and high crosses nearly produced something on several occasions. Oh, they did produce something: boredom, swelling over time and by repetition to a kind of weary fury, an outrage bubbling just below the surface because it couldn't be arsed to break out."
"Nearly 30 years on, the mere sight of a player towelling down the ball and taking several backwards steps awakens some dark corner of my brain. Unless your team are in possession of a Rory Delap character in which case fill your boots (gloves?) it's just feeding a footballing fruit machine in lieu of developing actual tactics. Stop it."
"We refer of course to Manchester City's 2025-26 third kit, which uses a fabric designed to look like a rain-flecked window on a particularly dismal, grey day (with neon green highlights). It proudly represents"
Read at www.theguardian.com
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