History Main / UnnecessaryRoughness

** The Liverpool-Manchester City rivalry of the late 2010s and early 2020s was initially a quite pleasant FriendlyRivalry, with both teams being united in their loathing of United/gloating at United's downfall. Despite the intensity of the rivalry, with the title ''twice'' being settled by a single point - between 2017 and 2022, no other Premier League team could get near them, they racked up the 5 highest league points totals of all time, and between them they reached 4 of the 5 Champions League Finals, it's not so much of a problem on the pitch. Both teams themselves don't seem to have any particular issues with one another, and the managers for that time, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, get along famously (and as recently as October 2022, Guardiola was at pains to both apologise for a particularly vile bunch of chants from the City faithful and insist that the rivalry was ''not'' toxic). The fans, however, have different opinions - the City team bus has been damaged more than once, and anti-Liverpudlian/Hillsborough related slogans have been graffitied in the away sections of Anfield (Liverpool's home ground). And then there's the singing.

** However, it should also be noted that players can move at incredible speeds (the fastest, Wales winger Gareth Bale, has been clocked at ''36.9 kilometres per hour''. ''With'' the ball. For context, Usain Bolt's world record time was set at 37.6 kilometres per hour) and even the slightest touch on their standing leg can knock them off-balance and send them flying and, well... hitting the ground at speeds that would get you a speeding ticket in most metropolitan cities isn't exactly fun. The rolling around and screaming, however, is usually faked.

** There's a REASON why the infamous Portugal vs. Netherlands match in the 2006 Germany World Cup was nicknamed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nuremberg_%28association_football%29 The Battle of Nuremberg]]. Four red cards, '''sixteen''' yellow cards, Luis Figo [[UseYourHead headbutting the Hell out of Marc Van Bommel]]...

** Wimbledon's reputation was enhanced by the notorious and direct tackle committed by hard nut enforcer [[FaceOfAThug Vinnie Jones]] [[note]] who has since found fame as an actor playing hard-man roles[[/note]] when he memorably shut down Newcastle and England striker Paul Gascoigne... [[http://cahiersdufootball.net/blogs/teenage-kicks/files/2014/09/paul-gascoigne-and-vinnie-jones-7329679761.jpg with]] a GroinAttack!

* In the 2014 World Cup quarter-final between Brazil and Colombia, a record 54 fouls happened (with only 4 yellow cards, showing the referee was condescending). The defeated Colombians had both the game's punching bag in James Rodriguez (who even managed to get a penalty kick, which he scored) and the dirtiest player in Juan Zuñiga ([[https://twitter.com/mtesperon/status/485211893561577472 who stomped Hulk's knee]], and kneed Neymar's back, breaking his vertebra and sidelining the striker from the remaining games).

--> "Washington saw Tomjanovich running toward the altercation. Not knowing that he intended to break up the fight, Washington hit Tomjanovich with a roundhouse punch. The blow, which took Tomjanovich by surprise, fractured his face about one-third of an inch (8 mm) away from his skull and left Tomjanovich unconscious in a pool of blood in the middle of the arena. Jabbar likened the sound of the punch to a watermelon being dropped onto concrete. Tomjanovich had a reputation around the league as a peacemaker. [...] Reporters heard the sound of the punch all in the way in the second-floor press box, and some rushed to the playing floor in disbelief. [...] besides having the bone structure of his face detached from his skull and suffering a cerebral concussion and broken jaw and nose, he was leaking blood and spinal fluid into his skull capsule. His skull was fractured in such a way that Tomjanovich could taste the spinal fluid leaking into his mouth. He later recalled that at the time of the incident, he believed the scoreboard had fallen on him. The doctor who worked on Tomjanovich said "I have seen many people with far less serious injuries not make it" and likened the surgery to Scotch taping together a badly shattered eggshell."

** During the 2009 Bulls-Celtics playoffs during game five, Rondo fishhooked Brad Miller's face as Miller went for a layup. Rondo's hand was three feet away from the ball, and all Rondo got was a personal foul. He should have drawn a flagrant one at least. Official review upheld the decision. (Because to do otherwise would be like going on national television and saying, "Bulls, we may have cost you guys the game.") Can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6JpEx_CqOc here]].

* The Boston Celtics' Kevin [=McHale=] once ''clotheslined'' Kurt Rambis to keep him from getting a basket, as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7r6vXeOfyQ here]]. It says a lot about the NBA at the time vs the NBA of today that he didn't even get a foul. Hell, that the commentators say they were expecting something like that to happen sooner or later (it was a playoff game between bitter rival teams), and describe "knocking your guy on his ass" as a legitimate strategy.

** Similar to American football, ice hockey has a catch-all penalty for dirty play, "roughing." This penalty can range from "callous disregard of safety when skating into your opponent" to "intentionally firing [[ExpospeakGag a solid piece of vulcanized rubber]][[note]]That would be the puck[[/note]] at your opponent's face." There's also the similarly intentionally vague "game misconduct" penalty, which is basically the hockey term for being ejected from the game.

* A very common accusation from the Soviets during the 1972 Summit series, exacerbated by the frou-frou no contact rules of Russian Hockey, as opposed to the genuine physicality of proper North American Hockey, Soviet players, unprepared for any serious checking, were [[{{Scrub}} trying heavily to avoid the parts of hockey they couldn't compete in]] and only playing the way ''they'' wanted to play.

** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Avalanche-Detroit_Red_Wings_brawl 1997 Avalanche/Red Wings brawl]], aka [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYjhaTG49Ws "The Brawl in Hockeytown"]], which was the revenge match of an incident in the previous season between Red Wing Kris Draper and notorious Avalanche enforcer Claude Lemieux, and sparked the Red Wings-Avalanche rivalry of the late 90s and early 00s. Notable both for drawing a lot of blood on the ice (leading to another nickname, Bloody Wednesday), but also for leading to ''another'' fight almost exactly a year later (and combined produced two of the greatest goaltender fights in hockey). [[note]]This technically makes the Avs the only team to get multiple entries, as they were previously the Quebec Nordiques[[/note]] Some of the blood was from Lemieux, who was getting pummeled from behind by Darren [=McCarty=], and another player to bleed was Patrick Roy, who brawled with Mike Vernon after Brendan Shanahan intercepted his bid to aid Lemieux.

* The 1956 Hungary-Soviet Olympic water polo match is a classic example of this trope. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_In_The_Water_match The Other Wiki]] has details, but the simple fact that it's known as the "Blood in the Water match" gives an idea of what happened.
* In a case that crosses with SoreLoser, after a 2008 Tae-kwon-do Olympic match, one Cuban competitor got so angry at losing that [[http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3056/2791042840_bd4123a23b.jpg he kicked]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CecGsG_4yoc the umpire's face.]]

* Kyle Busch wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution at a NASCAR Truck Series race in 2011, and the announcers were furious with Kyle Busch, saying he should be parked for the rest of the year. He was inevitably parked for the Cup race at the track the same weekend. This was even worse, as it potentially cost Hornaday the title as a result.

* In 2015, Matt Kenseth was put out of contention in a race at Martinsville due to an early wreck severely damaging his car. When Joey Logano later went to pass the off-pace Kenseth, he deliberately turned in on Logano and both cars went hard into the wall, knocking them out of the race completely. While the incident earned Kenseth a 2 race suspension, it had the desired effect of also ruining Logano's chance at the Championship that year. Given how the fans in attendance ''cheered'' as it happened, consensus was that Logano [[AssholeVictim had it coming]] since he'd spun Kenseth out for the lead at Kansas earlier in the year.

* A case of this led to one of the most classic [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKiuLgmYVus referee calls]] of all time when the referee decided to explain in a little more detail than just name-dropping the trope what had drawn the penalty call (the defender threw a couple of punches after taking down the quarterback), complete with miming the offending action. HilarityEnsued.

* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books and movies (especially the latter), the Slytherin Quidditch team has a ruthless and aggressive playing style, but it's all considered part of the game. While the referee Madam Hooch winds up screaming virtually non-stop at the Slytherin team and awarding Gryffindor half a dozen penalty shots, we don't know what kind of offence would result in someone being sent off and not even the Slytherin team ever outright assault an opponent. Quidditch is an exceptionally violent and dangerous game anyway--realistically, the bludgers could quite easily kill someone.

[[folder:Films - Animated]]

[[folder:Films - Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Played straight and inverted in the Creator/RodneyDangerfield comedy ''Film/{{Ladybugs}}'', where one of the girls from the OpposingSportsTeam at the end covertly trips up one Ladybug and is immediately assaulted by one of her teammates (the girl who started fighting gets ejected from the game). Inverted a few scenes later, where another Ladybug player very roughly and aggressively shoves an opposing player to the ground while making a goal, but inexplicably receives no penalty for doing so.

* ''WesternAnimation/RaceForYourLifeCharlieBrown'' had, among other things, the three bullies diverting the raft of the Peanuts gang through a mining area (complete with explosives) and a log mill.

* In ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', the episode "The Gang Gives Back" has Dennis, Dee, and Mac forced to do community service by coaching two YMCA youth basketball teams. They all teach their players to use ''copious'' amounts of this, including sticking open safety pins in their wristbands to stab the other team with. Unsurprisingly, the BigGame at the end is an all-out ''brawl''.
* In ''Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman'' (episode "Travelling All Stars") we see a baseball match where the professional team's players deliberately injure members of the Colorado Springs team and receive no penalty. (Naturally, Colorado Springs wins anyway.)

* ''Series/FridayNightLights'' is full of these; in one case Riggins is shown having bloody gashes on his neck stitched up midgame, the implication being that an opponent tried to claw his jugular open.
* ''Series/NecessaryRoughness'', about a sports therapist working for a (gridiron) pro football team, is a pun on the football foul. Excessive on-field violence becomes an important point in season 2 when the new owner [[RippedFromTheHeadlines institutes a 'bounty' system where players get under-the-table bonuses for injuring key players on the opposite team]].[[note]]The New Orleans Saints had recently been caught doing this when Season 2 aired.[[/note]] When Coach and Niko find out about it, they are furious because it is an extremely dangerous practice and if the truth is revealed, the league will shut the team down and clean house.
* On ''Series/{{Justified}}'' the Bennetts and Givens have been FeudingFamilies for over 50 years but in the 1980s agreed to a truce. However, Dickie Bennett and Raylan Givens ended up on opposite sides of a high school baseball game. Dickie tried to hit Raylan with a baseball, a brawl erupted as result and Raylan hit Dickie in the knee with a baseball bat. Dickie's knee was broken and he had to walk with a limp ever since. Dickie still holds a massive grudge over this and in the present tries to kill Raylan with a baseball bat.
* ''Series/FatherBrown'': In "The Last Man", a vital cricket match comes down to three balls left and six runs to win. The opposition bowler deliberately bowls a ball at Kembelford's star player's head to knock him out.

-->'''Chavo''': Why don't you bring your football so we can play lucha libre?
-->'''Quico''': Lucha libre?
-->'''Chavo''': Yeah. Haven't you noticed that's what's being played in football pitches lately?

* In ''{{Series/Letterkenny}}'' this along with TrashTalk is the defining trait of Shoresy's ice hockey career, with tons of snowing and dirty hits. His [[{{Series/Shoresy}} self titled spin off]] starts with a group of sports commentators listing his various assaults with a montage of footage.

* Lampshaded in {{Munchkin}} in the Unnatural Axe Expansion with a card named "Unnecessary Roughness", featuring a Dwarf wielding a hockey stick.

* The entire premise of ''VideoGame/MarioStrikers Charged'' is this trope. Tackling your opponent into electrical fences, lobbing bombs, Koopa shells, banana peels, and unleashing Chain Chomps onto the field is very common. They've turned soccer into something so intense the players all wear body armor. Even Bowser.

* In ''BaseWars'', it's not sufficient to tag a runner out. Instead, the two robots fight to the death.

* ''VideoGame/MutantFootballLeague'' is the SpiritualSuccessor to ''Mutant League Football'' and carries on in its tradition. Some dirty plays involve guns and chainsaws, and most tackles are made with pro wrestling slams. You can force a forfeit by killing enough opposing players! One of the very few penalties in the game is the equivalent of unnecessary roughness: unnecessary ''manslaughter''. It's rarely even called. According to Brickhead Mulligan, late hits are one of the leading causes of death for mutants over 25.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', when Brain becomes a basketball player, and he starts playing solo because of his AcquiredSituationalNarcissism, he starts attacking the opposing players. As a result, he loses his popularity with the sports fans just as quickly as he got it.
* Shows up in the 1980 animated film ''WesternAnimation/{{Animalympics}}''. In one memorable sequence, a hockey game ''literally'' turns into a warzone... and a pastiche of war movies. Even the briefing from the coach is violent, starting with "First, you start with the faceoff. After you take his face off, you kick him in the shins..."
* ''WesternAnimation/RaceForYourLifeCharlieBrown'' had, among other things, the three bullies diverting the raft of the Peanuts gang through a mining area (complete with explosives) and a log mill.
* Shows up in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' that parodies the living hell out of sports movies, and ends with a team of hockey players causing bloody injuries to ''a group of four-year-olds''.

* In ''Westernanimation/MightyDucksTheAnimatedSeries'', the eponymous characters go up against a hockey team called the Destroyers, who were banned from the NHL for this, in a practice game.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' has Matrix and Bob[[note]]actually Megabyte[[/note]] in a Pokemon-variant game. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Being Cheating Bastards]] they ignore the "mon vs mon" rule and go straight for the User handler, ending the game when Bob (as [[RentAZilla Bobzilla]]) crushes him under his foot.
* The WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} ''WesternAnimation/HockeyHomicide'' features all sorts of comically over-the-top violence at a hockey game, such as the team captains constantly getting sent to the penalty box for fighting and the referee getting run over so many times he resorts to wearing a suit of armor. At the climax, the fighting between the players degenerates into [[HockeyFight an all-out brawl among the spectators]], which the players end up sitting back to watch as the cartoon ends.
* The ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "Gone Batty" has the entire lineup of the Sweetwater Shnooks knocked out by comically over-the-top violence on behalf of the opposing team, one of whom ''breaks a bat'' over the ''head'' of a Shnook baserunner ''in front of'' the umpire, whose only action is to call the runner most definitely "out". In "Baseball Bugs" the Gas House Gorilla's catcher ''punches out'' the umpire for calling a pitch a ball, the ump has just enough time to apologize and change the call to "strike" before he falls unconscious.
** In "To Duck or Not To Duck," Daffy challenges Elmer Fudd to a boxing match. The referee physically demonstrates on Elmer some of the things not allowed in the match. Daffy does as well inquisitively, and at the end, Elmer [[TeamRocketWins does this to both Daffy and the referee]].

-->'''Eugene:''' ''(picks up a fumble)'' I got it! ''(immediately gets dog piled by all the 5th graders)'' Ow...
-->'''Arnold:''' Hey, this is ''touch'' football!
-->'''Wolfgang:''' [[SarcasmMode Oops, I guess we forgot.]]

!!Examples

* In ''Manga/BambooBlade'', during the first practice match between Muroe High and Machido High's kendo teams, Machido fighter Yuri Ando attempts to break Muroe [[KendoTeamCaptain team captain]] Kirino Chiba's concentration by tripping her, even after her coach (who also serves as the referee) warns her before the match to avoid using dirty tricks. Ando winds up losing the match anyway, as Kirino gets a second wind and finds a way to outsmart her.
* Subverted amusingly in the manga ''Manga/MyGirl'' when Masamune decides to run barefoot in the Fathers' Relay Race at his daughter's school athletics carnival. One of the other fathers deliberately treads on his foot just as the starter's pistol goes off, causing him to trip- so [[PayEvilUntoEvil Masamune grabs the guy's heel and drags him down as he gets up to run.]]
* In ''Manga/AskDrRin'', one of the episodes had the soccer team competing against one of the other teams who made sure to showcase a lot of this, just in case you weren't convinced by a flashback earlier in the episode that showed them being jerks off the field.

* ''[[Anime/EighthMan 8 Man After]]'' features a scene where the BigBad buys a football team and tries to ensure his victory by stocking the roster with cyborgs high on PsychoSerum. The team naturally gets brutally and unnecessarily violent until they turn on the referees and even start killing people in the audience.

* ''Anime/HungryHeartWildStriker'': Tenjin High is full of aggressive players whose favorite tactic is crippling their opponents. To illustrate, five of them simultaneously slide-tackle on Kyosuke to injure his leg, leaving Akanegaoka without their key striker for three months. They try it again during the regional championship, [[ItOnlyWorksOnce but by then Kyosuke has gotten wise and dodges their attempt]].
* Wizards in ''Manga/FairyTail'' tend to grow more powerful the stronger their emotions become; in the titular guild's case, it's [[ThePowerOfFriendship the more they feel for their friends and allies' sake]]. Seeking a chance to prove Saber Tooth's superiority, Minerva gives Lucy a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown in a contest that only requires a simple ring-out, while her teammates (sans [[TokenGoodTeammate Rogue]]) laugh and taunt Lucy's friends from the bleachers to ensure Fairy Tail will give nothing but their absolute best. [[GoneHorriblyRight They get Fairy Tail's best, all right]], when Natsu delivers a CurbStompBattle to a fully-powered Sting and Rogue without needing to use either of his {{Super Mode}}s, costing Saber Tooth the lead they've held since the very start of the tournament.
* ''Manga/SlamDunk'': Team Toyotama in the nationals is known for this, as their players often hit and push their opponents in ways the referee can't notice. The one who takes the cake is their ace player, Tsuyoshi Minami, who lives up to his nickname "Ace Killer" by elbowing Rukawa in the eye, and when that doesn't stop him, tries to jump and knee him in the face, but [[CheatersNeverProsper this attempt backfires and he ends up getting a head injury for his trouble]].
* In ''Manga/InitialD'', Shingo Shoji of the Myoji Night Kids is a major {{Jerkass}} who won't hesitate to bump his opponent's car with his own to try and cause them to crash (facilitated by his signature challenge being a "Gumtape Death Match" where both drivers have one hand firmly taped to the steering wheel, making the car dangerously hard to control at high speed). He causes Itsuki (who he wasn't even racing against) to have an accident this way when he bullies him off the road to goad Takumi into accepting his challenge, but when he does it during the race Takumi is able to recover even after his car does a full 360 degree spin. When it's apparent he can't beat Takumi, he attempts to [[TakingYouWithMe end the race in a draw by slamming directly into Takumi's AE86, causing a double crash]], only for Takumi to swerve out of the way, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard causing Shingo to slam into the rail and crash out on his own]].
* Even in a franchise that is basically G-rated dogfighting, ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' does have lines to draw when a battle gets out of hand. In particular, "Showdown at Dark City" shows two Gyms in the same town competing for official status only for both to be immediately denied because the rivalry had turned into ''gang warfare''.

* Anytime a group of superheroes decide to have a "friendly" game during their downtime then eventually they break out the superpowers and violent HilarityEnsues. A specific example would be the Students vs Teachers football game in ComicBook/AvengersAcademy.

* ''Fanfic/DragonsDance'': Lance is disturbed by how unnecessarily painful Giovanni's takedowns are during his gym battle with him, including [[spoiler: having his nidoking force Archer to swallow poison and having his marowak dislocate the bones in Kana's wings to stop her from flying]]. He never technically breaks any rules for the matches, as all the damage is non-permanent, but Lance realizes it's an intimidation tactic, intended to show him just how easy it would be for Giovanni to cause that permanent damage.

[[folder:Film]]

'''Team doctor:''' One side, one side. ''[Examines injured player]'' Get the ambulance! I think he broke his fuckin' neck.\\

* The chariot scene in ''Film/BenHur1959'' is a classic, and often-parodied, example. However, ''there is no law in the arena''. That was the reason for Ben-Hur to participate in the race.

* Same deal as above with the Monstars in ''Film/SpaceJam''. And it nearly worked, too, were it not for Bill Murray. (But then, when you have Marvin the Martian as your referee...)

* Probably one of the worst offenders is ''Film/LittleGiants'', where the assistant coach of the OpposingSportsTeam tells his son to injure the quarterback by any means necessary. He does so ''well'' after the whistle. In real life, not only would he be ejected, but he'd likely never be able to play in Pop Warner again (these are 12-year-olds, by the way). In the movie? Just 15 yards, and the assistant coach getting dressed down by the head coach. Also, the impetus for the [[YouGoGirl star girl football player]] to come from [[TenMinuteRetirement cheering her team on]] to getting back on the field and kicking some butt. For their own part, the Giants commit so many fouls of their own (Not even a false start for Zoltec turning around and farting?) that it makes you wonder what the refs were even doing.
* The evil Iceland team from ''Film/TheMightyDucks II'' sends its captain to take a vicious slash at Banks, breaking his wrist. Despite that such an obvious attempt to injure would get him ejected from the game (at minimum), he only gets a 2-minute minor penalty and lampshades it on the way to the penalty box.
--> '''Sanderson:''' Two minutes is well worth it.
** This also happens in the first film, when one of the [[DesignatedVillain Hawks]]' players runs Banks from behind, taking him out of the game.
* ''Film/{{Sleepers}}'' provides a rare example of unnecessary roughness being perpetrated by the protagonists and morally justified in context. Hey, it isn't a sports film. The inmates of a juvenile prison play a game of football against the guards. The guards have made and will continue to make the boys' lives a living hell, including but not limited to the sexual molestation of the four main characters. The boys see this as a chance to turn the tables for one day. Their game plan is simple: brutalize the guards, who can't resort to such tactics themselves in public, and give the ball to Rizzo, a college star. [[spoiler: Rizzo pays with his life; his death is avenged many years later]]
* In ''Film/SororityBoys,'' the Tri-Pi Sorority girls play the role of the OpposingSportsTeam in a football game against the protagonist Delta Omega Gamma sorority. The DOG sorority's advantage comes from having [[DisguisedInDrag three guys in drag]] on the team, but this advantage is neutralized when the Tri-Pi sorority girls perpetrate a GroinAttack against each of the disguised frat boys.
* Played for laughs in ''Film/TheReplacements2000'', in which the title team racks up over fifty yards of Unnecessary Roughness penalties in one play purely to boost their own morale.
* In ''Film/NecessaryRoughness'', a loudmouth defensive lineman on the opposing team takes a cheap shot at kicker Lucy Draper (played by the lovely and talented Creator/KathyIreland). She gets even.
-->'''Kansas Player''': Welcome to football.
-->'''Lucy''' ''(after getting up)'': Welcome to foot, BALL! ''(Cue GroinAttack)''
** In a later game, after karate expert Samurai is told to go all out:
---> '''Ref''' ''(complete with gestures)'': Illegal contact. Number 51. Sunkutsu elbow THRUST to the up-back. Oimawatsu roundhouse lunge kick to the corner-back. Tagatami insword block to the... shit, never mind... 15 yards. First down.
** There's also the practice match between the team and a team from the local prison. The catch? 1) The people playing the prisoners are all former NFL pros, such as Jim Kelley, Too-Tall Jones, Jerry Rice, etc. 2) The Dean who wants to shut the team down arranged it to get players hurt. "Man, I don't feel well. I think I swallowed a finger".

* There's a famous scene in ''Film/TheKarateKid'' where Evil Sensei orders his charge to sweep Daniel's already wounded leg. The kid is reluctant but ultimately goes along with it.
** The leg is actually injured in the first place when Daniel's opponent is ordered by the Sensei to deliberately cripple him with an illegal attack in ''another'' example of this. He protests the order, does it anyway, and is subsequently ejected from the tournament. For his part, the kid apologizes profusely as Daniel is carried out of the ring.
** Johnny experiences some unnecessary roughness in the sequel, in the opening scene which takes place immediately after the first film's climactic fight. Having cheated and still lost, Johnny confronts Kreese and tells him where he can stick his particular brand of karate. Kreese nearly kills him, but Miyagi intervenes.
* Done in ''a potato sack race'' in ''Film/UncleSam''.
* In ''Film/EscapeToVictory'', the German team commits many violent fouls against the Allied players, which the referee doesn't call. The reason is that the referee has been ordered by the German Army officers to cheat and help the German team win.
* Done repeatedly in ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'' by JerkAss perennial runner-up Chick Hicks, who won't hesitate to slam other racers and cause a thirty-car pileup just to stop his rival. He never gets penalized in any way for his tactics, even after [[spoiler:causing a near-fatal crash for the retiring champion and winning the coveted Piston Cup championship.]]
* In ''Film/MillionDollarBaby,'' Maggie's opponent for the final match repeatedly takes cheap shots and hits her after the bell rings, which should disqualify her, but she only gets points deducted. One such dirty hit ultimately [[spoiler:leads to Maggie's CareerEndingInjury.]]
* The rival baseball team in ''[[Film/ThreeNinjas 3 Ninjas: Kick Back]]''.
* In ''Film/TheWave1981'', fascist methods apparently gave the water polo team more team spirit than ever. The supporters really cheer them, they work as a team… but lose shortly anyway. So one of them tries to drown the adversary captain. Yeah, fascist training leads to team unity, but not to fair play.
* ''Film/TheLastBoyScout'' takes the trope to its logical extreme (but ultimately a subversion because...well, it should be obvious why) when a football player gets high on PCP and then ''pulls out a gun and shoots 3 opposing players'' to score a touchdown before killing himself.
* During the dirt bike race in ''Film/HappyBirthdayToMe'', Etienne and his rival attempt to force each other off the track. Etienne eventually wins the scuffle (forcing his rival into a ditch) and the race.
* During the championship game in ''Film/FacingTheGiants'', early in the 2nd half [[OpposingSportsTeam the Giants]] commit a blatant roughing the kicker penalty that leads to the Shiloh Eagles' regular kicker leaving the game with an injury. This comes [[LaserGuidedKarma back to bite the Giants]] at the end when the Eagles' other kicker, David Childers (who up to then had only been used sporadically on shorter field goals in an attempt to build his confidence) kicks a game-winning 51-yard field goal as [[DownToTheLastPlay time expired]].
* The parish basketball game from ''Film/AngelsWithDirtyFaces'' descends into kids tackling and hitting each other no matter how much Father Connolly tries to intervene. It is only when Rocky takes over as referee that they start to follow the rules of the game, and even then only because he hits them back just as hard whenever they start getting rough with each other.
* The adaptations of ''St. Trinians'' like to show how the girls from that BoardingSchoolOfHorrors vent off with field hockey. ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS4LLAKPwyk The Bells of St Trinians]]'' has a succession of adversaries leaving in stretchers, while ''Film/StTrinians2007'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lsHtEyRrp8 has the other team equally willing to beat up players]].

* The Creator/PGWodehouse Literature/JeevesAndWooster story "The Ordeal of Young Tuppy" has the eponymous UpperClassTwit getting involved in the yearly [[RugbyIsSlaughter rugby grudge-match]] between [[SmallTownRivalry two rival villages]]; the event quickly proves to be an excuse for the participants to beat on each other.
* The impromptu football match between the armies of [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Ankh-Morpork]] and Klatch in ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'' is scored by fouls rather than goals.
** ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'' suggests that this is how Ankh-Morpork street football is traditionally scored. The Big Match at the climax of the book also has an example; ''most'' of A-M United realises that playing UU fairly is both good for the game and not actually that difficult, but there's a handful of real psychos seeded in there, and they're careful only to act when the ref isn't looking (linesmen haven't been introduced yet).
*** The UU team are amateurs so the professional players of A-M United have every advantage. The smarter pros realize that and are also aware that the opposing team are actually ultra-powerful wizards who will likely enact their own Unnecessary Roughness after the game. The Librarian alone is known for beating people to a bloody pulp for calling him a monkey (he is an orangutan).
* Subverted in the ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' short story ''Three Points of Pride''. When Clan Ghost Bear invaded a planet with no armed forces, [[MakeGamesNotWar the local All-Star American football team challenged them instead]], thinking that the Clanners wouldn't know how to play and lose the game through fouls. Unfortunately for them, it turned out Clan Ghost Bear's SuperSoldier Elementals regularly play American Football to keep in shape and were well-acquainted with the rules and how to play. The resulting game is extraordinarily clean because the Clanners [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen refuse to get rough]] (not that they'd need to; the elementals are 250 cm, 100+ kilo slabs of solid muscle, and pretty much plow through the defenders by default).

** Another Real defender, Sergio Ramos, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnF_guJHPeE also tends to be violent]]. Most notably, he basically won the 2018 Champions League Final against Liverpool, first by dislocating star Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah's arm in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi7fXtGTwbc a judo flip]]. And not just that - it was an ''illegal'' judo flip. [[https://twitter.com/europeanjudo/status/1000741984590553088 The European Judo Union]] and other Judoka commenting on the match made that very explicit - even ''MMA analysts'' were appalled. Then, he [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhuiH-b0DbM elbowed goalkeeper Loris Karius in the side of the head]]. Karius was later diagnosed with a concussion and subsequently went from a confident keeper with the best defensive record in the Champions League, holding Real at bay to making two of the worst howlers in Champions League history (he conceded a third goal, but it's generally accepted that ''no one'' would have stopped Gareth Bale's bicycle kick) in the following minutes. Ramos, meanwhile, got away clean with another winner's medal.

* The first instance of cheating in ''Manga/AngelicLayer'' has Hikaru's opponent using illegal [[PsychoElectro electric]] [[LightningLash whips]] that damage her. Misaki, being a {{Pollyanna}}, doesn't know this is illegal, and [[{{Determinator}} keeps on going anyway]]. A twist is that the battle is indeed BeingWatched, by a very important person in the competitive Angelic Layer world, but since it's not an official match and she's trying her hardest, he lets it go because getting through this will help her out in the long run.

* The first instance of cheating in ''Manga/AngelicLayer'' has Hikaru's opponent using illegal [[PsychoElectro electric]] [[WhipItGood whips]] that damage her. Misaki, being a {{Pollyanna}}, doesn't know this is illegal, and [[{{Determinator}} keeps on going anyway]]. A twist is that the battle is indeed BeingWatched, by a very important person in the competitive Angelic Layer world, but since it's not an official match and she's trying her hardest, he lets it go because getting through this will help her out in the long run.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[Franchise/MortalKombat FINISH]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GZdWGGW8gM HIM!]]]]

* Done repeatedly in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' by JerkAss perennial runner-up Chick Hicks, who won't hesitate to slam other racers and cause a thirty-car pileup just to stop his rival. He never gets penalized in any way for his tactics, even after [[spoiler:causing a near-fatal crash for the retiring champion and winning the coveted Piston Cup championship.]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

* ''8 Man After'' features a scene where the BigBad buys a football team and tries to ensure his victory by stocking the roster with cyborgs high on PsychoSerum. The team naturally gets brutally and unnecessarily violent until they turn on the referees and even start killing people in the audience.

** in a later game, after karate expert Samurai is told to go all out:
--> '''Ref''' ''(complete with gestures)'': Illegal contact. Number 51. Sunkutsu elbow THRUST to the up-back. Oimawatsu roundhouse lunge kick to the corner-back. Tagatami insword block to the... shit, never mind... 15 yards. First down.

*** The 99 call - code for "[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown everyone, beat the crap out of the nearest opposition player]]" used in the 1974 tour of South Africa. The matches in that tour were notoriously filled with violence, and the Lions captain Willie [=McBride=] came up with the call so that when ''one'' Lions player retaliates, ''all'' players retaliate. It succeeded because the referee couldn't identify a single instigator and send him off. (Nowadays, [[TechnologyMarchesOn video replays]] would mean these kind of tactics will just result in the whole team getting banned.)

* Funnily enough though, the Vancouver/Calgary fight is ''not'' a line brawl notable enough to get its own entry on [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]]; no, that dubious honor goes to these five fights (in chronological order):

* Claude Lemieux was one of the most loathed players in NHL History (no relation to Mario, one of the most loved), and with good reason. Most agree that he single-handedly started the Avalanche/Red Wings rivalry in 1996 for a pretty vicious cheap shot on Kris Draper that broke several bones and concussed him. While the Red Wings would be eliminated from the playoffs that night, they would get their revenge 306 days later during the (in)famous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYjhaTG49Ws "Brawl In Hockeytown"]], that saw both teams accumulate ''18 fighting major penalties'' (twelve of those during The Brawl) and '''''144 penalty minutes'''''.

** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Avalanche-Detroit_Red_Wings_brawl 1997 Avalanche/Red Wings brawl]], aka the Brawl in Hockeytown, which was the culmination of the rivalry that started with the aforementioned Lemieux/Draper incident. Notable both for drawing a lot of blood on the ice (leading to another nickname, Bloody Wednesday), but also for leading to ''another'' fight almost exactly a year later (and combined produced two of the greatest goaltender fights in hockey). [[note]]This technically makes the Avs the only team to get multiple entries, as they were previously the Quebec Nordiques[[/note]] Some of the blood was from Lemieux, who was getting pummeled from behind by Darren [=McCarty=], and another player to bleed was Patrick Roy, who brawled with Mike Vernon after Brendan Shanahan intercepted his bid to aid Lemieux.

* Claude Lemieux was one of the most loathed players in NHL History (no relation to Mario, one of the most loved), and with good reason. Most agree that he single-handedly started the Avalanche/Red Wings rivalry in 1996 for a pretty vicious cheap shot on Kris Draper.

In many sports-related movies, in order to [[KickTheDog show how competitive and ruthless]] the OpposingSportsTeam is, they will perform many aggressive actions (such as knocking opposing players down) that would never be performed in a real game because they would either [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat result in a foul being called]] against the offending player or would [[PyrrhicVillainy serve no useful game purpose anyway]]. Of course, such a play that would [[FictionIsNotFair normally]] call for the player's ejection will only result in a small infraction or no penalty at all, because the refs were [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney paid off]] or [[EasilyDistractedReferee not paying attention]]. Sometimes, the players don't actually want to do it, but are [[OrderedToCheat ordered to do so]] by their ruthless coaches.

* The Merseyside Derby, contested by Liverpool and Everton, used to be known as 'the friendly derby' up until the mid-eighties. It helped that fans of both teams are often drawn from the same families - indeed, local players have sometimes grown up supporting the other team, with the most notable recent example being former Liverpool vice-captain Jamie Carragher, and as a result, it's one of the few that doesn't enforce total fan segregation. This has since changed dramatically and is now a twice-annual fixture that generally consists of nothing ''but'' this trope, to the point where it has racked up the most red cards in the Premier League era and has been referred to as "the most ill-disciplined and explosive fixture in the Premier League." This comment was made after a match in 2010 when both sides had a player sent off. Both sides are usually expected to collect at least two yellow cards apiece, and it is rare for a season to go by without at least one player being sent off in at least one of the two meetings. As of January 2022, the last fixture was a bad-tempered Liverpool victory at Goodison Park, where Liverpool took revenge for two players (star centre-back Virgil van Dijk and new midfielder Thiago Alcântara) being very badly injured in the previous derby at Goodison. The latter earned a rightful sending off. The former didn't even get a booking, as the referee and VAR official both seemed to be convinced that the fact that van Dijk was narrowly offside obviated the small matter of Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford almost destroying his leg, to the bafflement of ex-officials everywhere (there is a long precedent of players being punished for infractions after the whistle has blown).
* The Liverpool-Manchester United derby isn't quite as violent, but it lacks the MoralityChain of shared family ties that the Merseyside Derby has and is the footballing equivalent of ItsPersonal on the grounds that United and Liverpool are the two most successful teams in English history and the rivalry between the two cities is older than the clubs, going back most of two hundred years to the Industrial Revolution. In Spain, it is widely considered to be the equivalent of the Barca-Madrid 'El Clasico' for both these reasons, and it's nicknamed 'El Vitriol'. Fans usually end up taunting one another with the Munich Air Disaster of 1958 (which essentially destroyed the legendary 'Busby Babes' United side) and the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster of 1989 (which over-crowding aggravated by police incompetence killed 97 Liverpool fans and led to the Taylor Report which enforced all-seater stadia and banned fencing around fans. The youngest victim, 10-year-old Jon-Paul Gilhooley, was the cousin of legendary future Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard). Meanwhile, notable on-pitch incidents have included racial abuse by [[TokenEvilTeamMate Luis Suárez]] against Patrice Evra, and John-Arne Riise absolutely destroying Alan 'Smudge' Smith's leg in such a way as to sideline him for eight months, breaking it in two places - the original estimate was twelve months, and frankly, Smith was never quite the same afterwards. The latter, unbelievably, was actually ''by accident'' [[note]] Riise took a free-kick and had a left foot that regularly did passable impersonations of [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Mjolnir]]. [[ButtMonkey Poor old Smudge]] was in the way. [[/note]]. To add insult to injury, Liverpool fans were singing about Riise's shooting power while Smith was treated (though they stopped when it became apparent how serious it was). It should be noted that both of these happened in the last fifteen years. It should also be noted that the fans are generally worse than the players.

** To make matters worse, Karius looked so miserable afterwards that no one could bear to blame him: when he went to the Liverpool fans to tearfully beg forgiveness, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments they responded by singing the club anthem 'You'll Never Walk Alone' at him.]] While Salah recovered and Liverpool went on to win the Champions League the next year - in Madrid, no less, at the home of Real's arch-rivals (this was felt to be poetic justice) - Karius was not so lucky. Instead, he went from a promising (if raw) young keeper with a bright future in one of the most exciting young teams on the planet to a shattered wreck who even after the departure of Liverpool's other senior goalkeeper, Simon Mignolet, dropped down the pecking order to become Liverpool's fourth choice goalkeeper behind the newly acquired [[TheAce Alisson Becker]], veteran Adrian, and promising academy keeper Caomihn Kelleher, going out on loan to increasingly obscure clubs in the Turkish and German Leagues. It's got to the point where even his most staunch critics among the Liverpool fanbase just feel kind of sorry for him.

* The Liverpool-Manchester United derby isn't quite as violent, but it lacks the MoralityChain of shared family ties that the Merseyside Derby has and is the footballing equivalent of ItsPersonal on the grounds that United and Liverpool are the two most successful teams in English history and the rivalry between the two cities is older than the clubs, going back most of two hundred years to the Industrial Revolution. In Spain, it is widely considered to be the equivalent of the Barca-Madrid 'El Clasico' for both these reasons, and it's nicknamed 'El Vitriol'. Fans usually end up taunting one another with the Munich Air Disaster of 1958 (which essentially destroyed the legendary 'Busby Babes' United side) and the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster of 1989 (which over-crowding aggravated by police incompetence killed 97 Liverpool fans and led to the Taylor Report which enforced all-seater stadia and banned fencing around fans. The youngest victim, 10-year-old Jon-Paul Gilhooley, was the cousin of legendary future Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard). Meanwhile, notable on-pitch incidents have included racial abuse by [[TokenEvilTeamMate Luis Suárez]] against Patrice Evra, and John-Arne Riise absolutely destroying Alan 'Smudge' Smith's leg in such a way as to sideline him for eight months, breaking it in two places - the original estimate was twelve months, and frankly, Smith was never quite the same afterwards. The latter, unbelievably, was actually ''by accident'' [[note]] Riise took a free-kick and had a left foot that regularly did passable impersonations of [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Mjolnir]]. [[ButtMonkey Poor old Smudge]] was in the way. [[/note]]. It should be noted that both of these happened in the last fifteen years. It should also be noted that the fans are generally worse than the players.

** However, it should also be noted that players can move at incredible speeds (the fastest, Wales and Tottenham Hotspur winger Gareth Bale, has been clocked at ''36.9 kilometres per hour''. ''With'' the ball) and even the slightest touch on their standing leg can knock them off-balance and send them flying and, well... hitting the ground at speeds that would get you a speeding ticket in most metropolitan cities isn't exactly fun. The rolling around and screaming, however, is usually faked.

* ''Sleepers'' provides a rare example of unnecessary roughness being perpetrated by the protagonists and morally justified in context. Hey, it isn't a sports film. The inmates of a juvenile prison play a game of football against the guards. The guards have made and will continue to make the boys' lives a living hell, including but not limited to the sexual molestation of the four main characters. The boys see this as a chance to turn the tables for one day. Their game plan is simple: brutalize the guards, who can't resort to such tactics themselves in public, and give the ball to Rizzo, a college star. [[spoiler: Rizzo pays with his life; his death is avenged many years later]]

** Another Real defender, Sergio Ramos, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnF_guJHPeE also tends to be violent]]. Most notably, he basically won the 2018 Champions League Final against Liverpool, first by dislocating star Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah's arm in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi7fXtGTwbc a judo flip]]. And not just that - it was an ''illegal'' judo flip. [[https://twitter.com/europeanjudo/status/1000741984590553088 The European Judo Union]] and other Judoka commenting on the match made that very explicit - even ''MMA analysts'' were appalled. Then, he [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhuiH-b0DbM elbowed goalkeeper Karius in the side of the head]]. Karius was later diagnosed with a concussion and subsequently went from a confident keeper with the best defensive record in the Champions League, holding Real at bay to making two of the worst howlers in Champions League history (he conceded a third goal, but it's generally accepted that ''no one'' would have stopped Gareth Bale's bicycle kick) in the following minutes. Ramos, meanwhile, got away clean with another winner's medal.