Giggs queries Blatter's crackdown on bad tackles

By Pete Oliver

MANCHESTER (Reuters) - FIFA president Sepp Blatter's call on Friday for players guilty of deliberately dangerous tackles to be banned for life would be difficult to police, according to Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs.

Blatter, the head of the game's governing body, was quoted as telling The Times: "Dangerous tackling is one of the most important issues in football... Players who do this kind of thing intentionally should be banned from the game."

Giggs saw proving intent as a potential stumbling block for the idea, telling reporters: "It's hard in many cases to say if the player has gone out to injure someone.

"Only the player himself who has inflicted that injury knows that. So how you govern that, or judge whether he gone to 'do' someone or break someone's leg, would be very difficult."

However, the 34-year-old who has the experience of over 800 appearances for United behind him, believes the use of former players could help in deciding disciplinary issues.

"I think the more ex-players you get involved with something like this, who know if a player has gone out to hurt someone, the better," he said.

"They have played the game and they know dirty tackles.

"You don't want it to be a non-contact sport. You want tackles, it's part of the game, but you want them to be fair tackles."