Punching out the football to force a fumble is a common act defenders pull as players are wrestled to the ground. If those punches miss the pigskin, the result can be very painful blows below the belt usually experienced by MMA fighters.
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Over in Japan, where American football is played, apparently no punches are pulled...literally. In a game dubbed "Japan's most infamous American football game", two rival college teams went head-to-head and the result was a player who had to be stretchered off because he was punched in the groin.
Yeah, that one had to hurt.
Football Player Punched in Groin
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Kwansei Gakuin University (in the blue) and Nihon University (the red team) are fierce rivals.
Bad blood between the two came to a boil in 2018 when a Nihon player intentionally made a dirty tackle on a Kwansei quarterback after he felt pressured to by coaches. The tackler wound up quitting the sport after the infamous scandal.
Fast-forward to the next time to the two teams played in the 2020 Koshien Bowl. A Kwansei player appears to punch a Nihon running back in his manhood, leaving him in visible pain. He even had to be stretchered off the field.
Was it done on purpose? You be the judge. Regardless, he was probably walking funny for the next week after the run.
Kwansei Gakuin University went on to win the game, 42-24.
"I'm happy that we were able to square off on a stage such as Koshien," Kwansei quarterback Kosei Okuno, who was hospitalized in that 2018 dirty play, told The Japan Times. "Both sides played hard and it was a great game."
To be honest, I didn't even know Japanese football existed. Considering we've seen some nasty hits and dirty plays, it's comforting to know that football is played similarly around the world.
