THE death of Dave Mackay this week brought many tributes to a man who appeared to be genuinely respected throughout the game.

That's not easy for a football hard man, but proved that you can be a tough guy in football and still win the admiration of players and supporters.

The former Derby and Spurs player was a renowned tough guy, the kind who have been driven out of the game in recent years by the ever more stringent measures against them.

There was a time when every team had a Dave Mackay – a man who would play hard and expect the same in return.

As the saying goes: the ball might get past them and the man might get past them, but never the two at the same time.

And they would make sure that happened by fair means or foul.

In my time throughout the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties there were the likes of Mick Doyle, Norman Hunter, Graeme Souness, Roy Keane, Vinny Jones and plenty more.

In fact, the Wimbledon side who went from non-league to the Premier League built a team of this kind of player.

Hard men didn't die off because the fans didn't like them. Quite the opposite, these players were almost always fans' favourites, cult figures even.

No, they have left the game for a number of reasons.

They have become virtually outlawed by the rule-makers who have taken such a dim view of them that the art of tackling has disappeared with them.

The increase of diving has coincided with the decrease in tackling as players become adept at exposing any slightly mistimed tackle.

And the microscopic TV focus on bad challenges is also a factor.

Hard men are not extinct in the top flight. Kevin Davies was probably the last we will ever see around these parts while Joey Barton is the last of the dying breed still playing at the highest level.

But, while editing Altrincham v Barnet for one of our weekly papers it became evident that hard men still do exist as the story angled heavily on the apparent physical tactics of the Barnet team.

It was accompanied by a number of photographs of what appeared to be tough challenges, three of which accompany this article.

While those on the receiving end of this kind of style are often outraged, those who support a tough team usually cheer their every hard challenge.

I have no problem with it. As long as you are clean enough to stay on the field you are clean enough to play professional football.

The world might now be one football hard man fewer after the death of Mackay this week, but there are still plenty of them about – you just have to go down a few divisions to find them.