A headbutt or butt [1] is a targeted strike with the head, typically involving the use of robust parts of the headbutter's cranium as the area of impact. The most effective headbutts strike the most sensitive areas of an opponent, such as the nose, using the stronger bones in the forehead (frontal bone) or the back of the skull (occipital or parietal bone). The word is both a noun and a verb.
Headbutts can be used from close range such as from the clinch, or on the ground. They are typically applied to the head of the opponent, since the head is often a readily available target and has several sensitive areas, but can be delivered to any part of the body. It is considered a quick, very effective but risky maneuver, as a misplaced strike can also cause injury to the person delivering the headbutt.
An effective headbutt can be performed with a forward, rising, sideways or backwards motion; each being effective from different positions. Parts of the cranium with thick bone and high local curvature make for good weapon areas, and these include the forehead near the hairline, the outboard curved part of the parietal bone, and the occiput. Ideal targets are usually the fragile areas of the head, including the bridge of the nose, the cheekbones, the hinge area of the jaw, the temple, and the top edge of the eye socket.
Hitting the opponent's teeth or mouth is likely to cause mutual damage. The chin of the enemy is also a generally bad position to headbutt unless striking from below up into the bottom of the chin, similar to an uppercut. In the United Kingdom, a headbutt is sometimes referred to as a Glasgow kiss, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the city of Glasgow's violent reputation. [2]
The character Yosser Hughes in Boys from the Blackstuff was noted for headbutting people and inanimate objects. [3] In one scene, his young daughter headbutts a social worker. [4] Headbutts often feature in professional wrestling and fighting video games.
In The Mummy Returns , Evelyn O'Connell headbutts some opponents, which she learned from her husband Rick O'Connell.
Rams are well known for butting with their heads and horns. From this, the terms battering ram and hydraulic ram are derived. Goats are also well-known for butting. [5] Many males in various animal species employ butting during courtship to show off their strength to potential mates.
Cats engage in a gentle behavior that resembles headbutting, where they "bunt" a person or another animal with their forehead scent glands to mark their territory with pheromones. [6]
Headbutts are generally forbidden in most contact sports and, if performed, result in penalties and even disqualifications. However, it is a strike allowed in Burmese boxing, capoeira, muay boran, combat sambo, some full-contact karate rulesets/variants - namely Kūdō - and in the self-defence art of krav maga. In traditional boxing, official game style regulations are used if the headbutt is accidental. If a match does not reach halfway, it is no contest. If it reaches past the official match point, then scores will be calculated.
It is also the primary focus of the Eritrean martial art Testa. [7] Headbutts were a commonly used technique in vale tudo and mixed martial arts before the introduction of the unified rules of MMA. Similarly, although the art itself forbids any kind of strikes, some masters of judo taught the use of headbutts under the name of atama ate waza, as demonstrated by Kyuzo Mifune and Mikinosuke Kawaishi. [8] [9]
Intentional headbutting is illegal in association football and even attempting one will warrant dismissal by a red card. [10] Famously, during the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final between Italy and France, French team captain Zinedine Zidane headbutted Italian player Marco Materazzi, after an angry exchange. Zidane received a red card. It was his last professional game, and ended his career on a "discordant" note. [11] This moment was later immortalized by a sculpture titled "Headbutt" by French artist Adel Abdessemed. [12]
In February 2011, Gennaro Gattuso was suspended for four matches after confronting and headbutting Tottenham Hotspur assistant coach Joe Jordan at the conclusion of a UEFA Champions League match. [13] [14]
In 2016, Roy O'Donovan was handed an eight match ban, one of the longest bans in A-League Men history, after he headbutted Phoenix defender Manny Muscat. [15] [16]
In August 2022, Liverpool player Darwin Núñez received a red card for headbutting Crystal Palace player Joachim Andersen after several rough tackles between each other during the match. [17]
Headbutting is not allowed in ice hockey. In the National Hockey League even an unsuccessful attempt at headbutting warrants a double minor. An actual headbutt is a major penalty and a game misconduct, and a match penalty is mandatory if the referee rules that there was reckless endangerment. [18]
On March 3, 2014, Milena Knežević headbutted Anita Görbicz during the last seconds of the game between ŽRK Budućnost and Győri ETO KC in the EHF Women's Champions League group stage. Knežević was banned for the next two matches. [19]
On April 9, 2017, Japanese wrestler Katsuyori Shibata headbutted Kazuchika Okada during their match at Sakura Genesis 2017. The headbutt was so hard that it caused Shibata to start bleeding from the forehead. After the match, Shibata collapsed backstage, from where he was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a subdural hematoma.
Zinedine Yazid Zidane, popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the most successful coaches in the world. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Zidane was a playmaker renowned for his elegance, vision, passing, ball control, and technique. He received many individual accolades as a player, including being named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003, and winning the 1998 Ballon d'Or.
A strike is a directed, forceful physical attack with either a part of the human body or with a handheld object, intended to cause blunt or penetrating trauma upon an opponent.
Gennaro Ivan Gattuso is an Italian professional football coach and former player who most recently was the manager of Ligue 1 club Marseille.
Strikes can be offensive moves in professional wrestling, that can sometimes be used to set up an opponent for a hold or for a throw. There are a wide variety of strikes in pro wrestling, and many are known by several different names. Professional wrestlers frequently give their finishers new names. Occasionally, these names become popular and are used regardless of the wrestler performing the technique.
The guard is a ground grappling position in which one combatant has their back to the ground while attempting to control the other combatant using their legs. In pure grappling combat sports, the guard is considered an advantageous position, because the bottom combatant can attack with various joint locks and chokeholds, while the top combatant's priority is the transition into a more dominant position, a process known as passing the guard. In the sport of mixed martial arts, as well as hand-to-hand combat in general, it is possible to effectively strike from the top in the guard, even though the bottom combatant exerts some control. There are various types of guard, with their own advantages and disadvantages.
Lethwei or Burmese boxing is a full contact combat sport from Myanmar that uses stand-up striking including headbutts. Lethwei is considered to be one of the most brutal martial arts in the world, as the sport is practiced bareknuckle with only tape and gauze while fighters are allowed to strike with their fists, elbows, knees, and feet, and the use of headbutts is also permitted. Disallowed in most combat sports, headbutts are important weapons in a Lethwei fighter's arsenal, giving Lethwei its name of the "Art of nine limbs". This, combined with its bareknuckle nature, gave Lethwei a reputation for being one of the bloodiest and most violent martial arts. Although popular throughout modern Myanmar, Lethwei has been primarily and historically associated with the Karen people of the Kayin State; vast majority of competitive Lethwei fighters are ethnolinguistically of Karen descent.
Marco Materazzi is an Italian former professional footballer and manager.
The rear naked choke (RNC) is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word naked in this context suggests that, unlike other strangulation techniques found in jujutsu/judo, this hold does not require the use of a keikogi ("gi") or training uniform.
Kyuzo Mifune has been categorized as one of the greatest exponents of the art of judo after the founder, Kanō Jigorō. He is considered by many to be the greatest judo technician ever, after Kanō.
Coffi Codjia is a Beninese football referee.
The 2006 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 2006 World Cup, the 18th edition of FIFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany, on 9 July 2006, and was contested between Italy and France. The event comprised hosts Germany and 31 other teams who emerged from the qualification phase, organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 32 teams competed in a group stage, from which 16 teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, Italy finished first in Group E, with two wins and a draw, after which they defeated Australia in the round of 16, Ukraine in the quarter-final and Germany 2–0, in the semi-final. France finished runner-up of Group G with one win and two draws, before defeating Spain in the round of 16, Brazil in the quarter-final and Portugal 1–0 in the semi-final. The final was witnessed by 69,000 spectators in the stadium, with the referee for the match being Horacio Elizondo from Argentina.
"Coup de Boule" is a French song written and performed by brothers Sébastien and Emmanuel Lipszyc, who run a firm called La Plage that produces television jingles, and Franck Lascombes. The soca-style song is about the France national football team's appearance at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final, especially Zinedine Zidane's headbutt on Marco Materazzi. After its release, the song spread throughout the world via the Internet and topped the French and Belgian (Wallonia) charts.
Cabeçada is a headbutt in capoeira. It is a commonly used strike and one of the fundamental techniques in traditional capoeira.
Eul-yong Ta is a South Korean internet phenomenon used to describe the incident when South Korean footballer Lee Eul-yong slapped Chinese forward Li Yi in the back of his head in a match against China in December 2003, or to describe the slap itself. The incident led to numerous parodies in South Korea.
Roy Simon O'Donovan is an Irish professional footballer who played as a striker for National Premier Leagues NSW side the Sydney Olympic FC. He has been capped by Ireland at Under-19, Under-21 and B level. O'Donovan has previously played for Cork City, Sunderland, Dundee United, Blackpool, Southend United, Hartlepool United, Coventry City, Hibernian, Northampton Town, DPMM FC, Mitra Kukar FC, Central Coast Mariners, Brisbane Roar and Newcastle Jets.
Most rule sets for mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions have evolved since the early days of Vale Tudo. As a result of health, legal, and moral concerns, many different rulesets were created, which give different countries and promotions very different tactics and strategies. Similarly, shoot wrestling organizations, such as Shooto, expanded their rulesets to integrate elements of Vale Tudo into their sport. However, for the most part, fighters accustomed to one rule set can easily acclimate to the others.
A gogoplata, foot choke "Piroplata" or kagato-jime (踵絞) is a type of chokehold that utilizes the shin bone. This technique is often used in Kodokan Judo, submission grappling, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Milena Raičević née Knežević, is a Montenegrin international handballer for Rapid București and the Montenegrin national team.
Headbutt is a sculpture by French-Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed. It is 5 m (16.4 ft) tall and made from bronze. It was unveiled on 26 September 2012 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France.
The 2018 A-League Grand Final was the thirteenth A-League Grand Final, played on 5 May 2018. The match took place at McDonald Jones Stadium, with Newcastle Jets hosting Melbourne Victory, the first A-League grand final held outside a metropolitan city.
