where sports men harder years ago

Hard question. Boxing matches used to be bare knuckles, no breaks. Football used to be played without shock absorbing helmets. Baseball was played with balls with no carrying ability. Surfboards used to be made of heavy woods and only star athletes could even pick em up. They were tougher, yes, but they paid a price, they got injured, they got killed. Today is protections are probably a good idea.

l am mainly initiated with American Sports, but l would say athletes back when were tougher than those today.
Today is athletes rely heavily on health, diet, & conditioning regimens that pamper them as much as prepare them for sport. In days of yore athletes could not afford these luxuries & would have shun something that made them look like they cared about thier body.
Remember when baseball players smoked in the dugout, & racecar drivers smoked in the cockpit with open face helmets. Would Willie Mays have worn a bulletproof vest on his elbow like Barry Bonds?
NO! Remember Jack Youngblood playing in the superbowl with a broken leg? No lineman today would do something like that that would risk taking million-dollar-years off thier career.
l am not a soccer historian, but l can not imagine Pele or George best flopping on the ground after incedental contact on the pitch.
Basketball used to be war in the paint, now it is gotten so regulated in the NBA that the last quarter of a game is essentially a freethrow contest. One needs to look no further than hockey. Everyone wears helmets now, what a joke! Clutching & Grabbing is getting more tightly called, it is a travesty. The point of hockey was to have a goal periodically to break up the boxing match. If l wanted fine skating I'd watch figure skating.
Nancy Kerrigan is a lot prettier than Jaromir Jagr, anyway. Nancy Kerrigan, now there is a girl that could take a hit! l think Tonya Harding could beat up Tiger Woods. Tiger woods is a great golfer, but Arnold Palmer did it hungover.
Whatever happened to MVP is with coke problems. l miss the tough guys.

NO DOUBT . THEY DIDN'T HAVE DOCTORS ON THE SIDE TO GIVE THEM ''NOVOCAINE '' OR THE LIKES OF THAT . WHEN l WAS YOUN l WATCHED A GUY PLAY A MATCH WITH A BROKEN JAW , ONLY BECAUSE HIS MANAGER WOULDN'T LET HIM OFF THE FIELD . HE PLAYED IN NETS .