i've never really understood how in the 70's teams played with 15 players for the whole season, there was only one sub, the ball was a rock, pitches were abysmal, tackles were hard and rarely penalized yet players these days are falling like flies and out for ages for simple things.?
most injuries players have now probably wouldn't prevent them from playing a game of football to a low standard on a brick pitch either - the difference is the standard is higher at the top level and the players are genuine athletes which makes the margins for success/failure so small.