Zamora/Rooney - England's Hardest Forward Line Ever?

[White Noise]

If thats the pick to play Monte who was the last really hardman front pairing to play for England? Both Rooney and Zamora would be boxers if they weren't ballers but there have been far too many big girls blouses like Lineker along the way.

As a secondary question, what hardman front pairings have graced the Fulham shirt over the years?

[Andy_M]

Horsefield and Hayles wasn't a bad Fulham front pairing for hardman/brute force

[Basil]

Surely Bobby misses way too many games with little niggles and colds to be classed as a hard man.

[cmg]

As a secondary question, what hardman front pairings have graced the Fulham shirt over the years?

Interesting question. Hayles/Horsefield is an excellent call. Apart from that, we seem to be a bit lacking in even single hard men up front. (Mick Conroy springs to mind, but I can't, off-hand, think of a suitably hard partner.) We have always seemed to favour the more stylish type of front man - Steve Earle, for instance, attracted many adjectives - but "hard" wouldn't have been one of them. Coney and Tempest sounded hard but didn't play much together and weren't really hard. Maurice Cook and John Doherty could put it about but I don't think they played much together, either.

I used to think that Mark 'Pancho' Pearson was hard. Until that famous day when Ian St John almost put him into the Riverside terrace with one punch. The immediate aftermath is in this fine picture:

>http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine/big-picture/2011-09-18/pictures-classic-liverpool-photos-1960s-including-shankly-st-john-yeats-and-hughes?p=2<

Despite the caption, Ian St John is not actually in the picture (I think the Liverpool player is Peter Thompson). He turned on his heel immediately after delivering the blow and walked off without waiting for the referee's poinion.

[aussierod]

McBride and Helguson?
Neither all that classy, but both would run through walls and get their head on anything possible, even if it meant taking the odd kick in the head. I'd consider this more of a hardman lineup than Rooney/Zamora. Unfortunately the hardmen of football have for the most part disappeared and replaced with theatrics, even from the supposed hardmen, eg Barton v Arsenal

[jarv]

Steven Warboys and his partner in crime (I forget the name, anybody?). Fulham brought in marinello for a season to provide the crosses. (I hope my memory of that bit is right). Come to think of it, marinello proved to be quite a bit better than I thought he would be. IMO.

[cmg]

I think Warboys played up front with Mitch and Teddy Maybank (not really hardmen).
Marienello slung them across for Chris Guthrie ('hard') and Ivor (not 'hard', just 'brilliant')

But my memory is, like Swiss cheese, full of holes.

[HatterDon]

For Fulham, it's safe to say that Vic Halom was no day at the beach to defend.