I hacked him down out of love for the game

[Ray de Galles]

Why is it a "professional foul"? What was the origin of the term?

It gives the impression that there are some players who commit fouls not for the grubby mercenary reason of financial gain but for the pure Corinthian values of foul play itself.

[Crusoe]

I hacked him down out of love for the game

Is it not just a misnomer for deliberate? (footballing murder vs. footballing manslaughter)

[Bored Of Education]

I hacked him down out of love for the game

In sports, a professional foul is a deliberate act of foul play, usually
to prevent an opponent scoring.

Association football

The concept was introduced in football after an infamous incident in the
1980 FA Cup Final when Willie Young of Arsenal committed a deliberate
foul on Paul Allen of West Ham, when Allen had a clear run at goal. As
the laws of the game stood, the referee (George Courtney) could only
award West Ham a free kick, which he did. This provoked a national
debate on deliberate fouls that denied opponents the chance to score a
goal. At the time, the English game was suffering a downturn in
attendances and the chairmen of the Football League clubs decided to
consider ways in which the game could be made exciting. A subcommittee
was appointed to produce some suggestions, chaired by Jimmy Hill and
including Sir Matt Busby and Bobby Charlton.
The sub-committee produced several suggestions, including making the
professional foul a mandatory red card offence, which they submitted to
the IFAB for consideration. All the suggestions were defeated. However,
the Football League was determined to have their way, and instructed its
referees that professional fouls (including deliberate handball to stop
a goal being scored) should be deemed serious foul play, which was and
is a mandatory red card offence. The new interpretation was first issued
to referees prior to the 1982-83 season, and the first player (probably)
to be sent off for a professional foul was Lawrie Sanchez in the
Football League Trophy.

FIFA first instructed its referees to send off for a professional foul
prior to the 1990 World Cup, and in 1991 the provision that a
professional foul should be considered serious foul play was
incorporated into the Laws as a Decision of the IFAB. The professional
foul was made a red card offence in its own right in 1998.

Subsequently, the wording of Law 12 was changed and the term
professional foul was replaced by denying an obvious goal-scoring
opportunity to remove the implication that in order for a red card to be
issued, such a foul had to be deliberate. Currently, if a player denies
a player an obvious goalscoring opportunity by foul means, whether
deliberate or not, he is sent off.

[Ray de Galles]

I hacked him down out of love for the game

Yes yes yes, we know all that. We can all use wikipedia but why is it called a professional foul?

[Gangster Octopus]

I hacked him down out of love for the game

Astounding to think that the concept of a professional foul was introduced because the unpleasantness of an Arsenal player, isn't it...

[Bored Of Education]

I hacked him down out of love for the game

I realise that we can all use Wikipedia

I am trying to teach my lads to foul for the sheer pleasure of it
rather than any financial reward. Other teams' players' pocket-money
depends on their fouling, I believe

I am starting to get deja vu

[Nishlord]

I hacked him down out of love for the game

The first time I heard the term 'Professional Foul' was during the 1978 League Cup Final. And it was the title of a Tom Stoppard film as long ago as 77.

Bet Revie's Leeds had something to do with the origination of it.

[wingco]

I hacked him down out of love for the game

Yeah, I'm sure the phrase "professional foul", as well as the concept, predates Young's foul on Allen.

That 1980 final, sad for many reasons, was also the first time a player (Allen) took to the field whom I knew to be younger than me. I was just 17 at the time. Now, even the chairmen, etc, etc . . .

[ursus arctos]

I hacked him down out of love for the game

I had always understood it as referring to the kind of cynical foul that "professionals" would be expected to make because they relied on the game for their livelihoods, whereas the "Corinthian" types beloved of those in blazers would allow the forward to proceed unchallenged towards goal.

I don't think that a translation of the term exists in any other major European football language, though I do think that I've heard the English used in Italian (like "fair play").

[Reed John]

I hacked him down out of love for the game

I always thought it was called professional because the fouled player whose leg was just snapped in two is meant to understand, in the words of Sonny Corleone, "Tom, this is business and this man is taking it very, very personal!"

[Jorge Porbillas]

I hacked him down out of love for the game

It's a professional foul because it is against the Corinthian values of adhering to the rules isn't it?

[Ray de Galles]

I hacked him down out of love for the game

But aren't all fouls against Corinthian values? I presume that other fouls were not considered deliberate and so didn't warrant the term "professional" at the time.