Soccer's Hard Men is a 1992 football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 video by Video Vision, presented by then-footballer and current actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 Vinnie Jones

Vinnie Jones

Vincent Peter "Vinnie" Jones is an English film actor and retired Welsh footballer.Born in Hertfordshire, England, Jones represented and captained the Welsh national football team, having qualified via a Welsh grandparent. He also previously played for Chelsea and Leeds United. As a member of the...

. The video featured footage of British players known for their ferocity, including Graeme Souness

Graeme Souness

Graeme James Souness is a Scottish former professional football player and manager.Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s and player-manager of Rangers in the late 1980s as well as captain of the Scottish national team. He also played for Tottenham Hotspur,...

, Bryan Robson

Bryan Robson

Bryan Robson OBE is an English football manager and a former player. He is best known for playing in midfield for Manchester United, where he was the longest serving captain in club history. He was the manager of Sheffield United, being relieved of his first team duties at the club in February 2008...

, Nobby Stile, Norman Hunter

Norman Hunter

Norman Hunter is a former English footballer who was a member of the Leeds United team of the 1960s and 1970s. He was also part of the 1966 FIFA World Cup winning squad, receiving a medal in 2007. He has since been included in the Football League 100 Legends...

, Jack Charlton

Jack Charlton

John "Jack" Charlton, OBE, DL is a former footballer and manager who played for Leeds United in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup...

, Steve McMahon

Steve McMahon

Stephen Joseph McMahon is an English former football midfielder who most notably played for Liverpool in the late 1980s...

, Tommy Smith

Tommy Smith

Tommy Smith or Tommie Smith may refer to:* Tommy Smith , American playwright* Tommy Smith , spent much of his career with Liverpool* Tommy Smith , plays for Queens Park Rangers...

, Peter Storrie

Peter Storrie

Peter Storrie was a Director and the Chief Executive Officer of English Premier League team Portsmouth. He had formerly worked for West Ham United, Southend United and Notts County.-West Ham United:...

, Ron "Chopper Harris" and Billy Bremner

Billy Bremner

William John "Billy" Bremner was a Scottish professional footballer, most noted for his captaincy of the Leeds United team of the 1960s and 1970s. He has since been voted Leeds United's greatest player of all time and has a statue outside the South East corner of Elland Road...

. Publicity for the video described it as "the toughest football video in history". This and similar claims led to accusations that the video glorified foul play. Jones' commentary, in which he described tricks used by "hard man" players to intimidate opponents, caused particular controversy.

The clubs of the players involved in the production were quick to distance themselves from the contents. Sam Hammam

Sam Hammam

Samir "Sam" Hammam is a Lebanese business man, most notable for his high profile involvement in British football clubs.-Career:...

, chairman of Jones' former club Wimbledon

Wimbledon F.C.

Wimbledon Football Club was an English professional association football club from Wimbledon, south-west London. Founded in 1889 as Wimbledon Old Central Football Club, the club spent most of its history in amateur and semi-professional non-League football before being elected to the Football...

, whose "Crazy Gang

Crazy Gang

The Crazy Gang is a nickname used by the English media to describe Wimbledon F.C. during the 1980s and the 1990s.The name, originally that of a well known group of British comedy entertainers popular in the late 1930s, was used because of the often eccentric and boisterously macho behaviour of...

" featured heavily in the video, said the production was "nothing to do with Wimbledon", describing Jones as "a mosquito brain", and banning the sale of the video in the club shop. The Football Association formally charged Jones with bringing the game into disrepute on 30 September 1992, with the video still yet to be released. Following a hearing on 17 November, Jones was fined a record £20,000, surpassing a fine of £8,500 issued to Paul McGrath

Paul McGrath (footballer)

Paul McGrath is a retired Irish footballer, who played as a defender. McGrath is widely recognised as one of the greatest players to have ever come out of Ireland....

 three years earlier. Jones also received a suspended sentence

Suspended sentence

A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...

 with the potential for a six month ban, though the period of the suspended sentence expired without the ban being enacted.

The Professional Footballers' Association

Professional Footballers' Association

The Professional Footballers' Association is the trade union for professional footballers in England and Wales. The world's oldest professional sport trade union, it has 4,000 members....

 (PFA) attempted to bring an injunction to ban the video, but abandoned their efforts after being advised that it was not legally viable. PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor later gave evidence in support of Jones at an appeal hearing, held in February 1993. Jones' appeal was rejected, and his punishment upheld.

Figures from London bookshop Sportspages listed Soccer's Hard Men as the second-best selling sports video in the run-up to Christmas 1992.