SHOULDERS & ELBOWS

My 1940s/50s Sec Mod games teacher repeatedly told his boys there were only three proper ways to tackle in football. Mind you, he also said that if we didn't clean our plimsolls thoroughly and shower diligently afterwards, then the girls wouldn't be interested. We didn't entirely believe him on this latter subject, but we did take the 'three ways to tackle' with a degree of seriousness. He was referring, of course, to the front tackle (man to man, face to face, boot to boot); the sliding tackle (from the side, bottom on the ground, with one straight leg also on the ground and directly on to the ball); and the side-by-side shoulder charge.
As an embryo goalkeeper hampered by a serious lack of talent and courage, I was above most of this rough outfield stuff, but his words did come back to me while watching a recent match on the TV. There was a clear (and to me, perfectly fair) shoulder charge, which the defender won, but on this particular occasion the attacker spiralled to the ground, rolled over three times holding his leg for some reason, and grimmaced with pain. The hapless referee duly gave a free-kick in his favour.
So, the shoulder charge now seems to be outlawed, which is a pity, because it used to be the staple diet of the game. In a sense this charge in the law, if that is what it is, is counter-balanced by the fact that the game - and most referees - does allow the raised elbow, which strikes me as being a foul of much greater seriousness. 
Thinking again of the Shackleton, Carter and Matthews era, our games teacher also used to order us (or the outfield players, anyway) to, 'Tuck your elbows into your sides, and keep them there.' Even when involved in a shoulder charge, and certainly when jumping for a high ball. Nowadays, of course, it is quite routine to see defenders' arms dangling all over attackers' heads and shoulders, and players jumping for a high ball with their arms and elbows sticking out, presumably, as I heard one ex-pro explain on TV, 'to give themselves a bit of leverage.'
Yes, indeed. Leverage. But did I actually dream this old, alternative state of affairs, of a world when players did actually keep their arms and elbows more or less straight? I consulted my small collection of Playfair Football Annual, Charles Buchan's Football Monthly, books about Buchan, Matthews and Mortensen, mainly from the 1940s and 1950s, and one flimsy News Chronicle Annual of 1931.
In these, I checked all the photographs which showed a player challenging for a high ball (usually a forward competing with a goalkeeper, or a defender), and in about 85 per cent of the pictures none of them, other than the goalkeepers, had arms above their heads or elbows sticking out.
It seems to me that if the shoulder charge has been eliminated while the elbow and arm are allowed, then somewhere along the line there has been some subtle rule-changing. Which reminds me that our games teacher also allowed no speaking on the pitch, other than someone's Christian name; and certainly no speaking to the referee; and that if anyone actually scored, then a quick handshake was quite sufficient and anything more elaborate or showy was considered demeaning to the opposition. So don't even get me started on today's goalscoring Grand Operas.