mistackle

English

Etymology

mis- +‎ tackle

Verb

mistackle (third-person singular simple present mistackles, present participle mistackling, simple past and past participle mistackled)

1. (sports) To tackle improperly, such as when it is not legal, or not in the correct manner.
   • 2015, Albert M. Luongo, Soccer Drills: Skill-Builders for Field Control, page 51:

     If the attacker tricks the defender into going for the tackle and she mistackles the ball, the attacker will most likely be in an advantageous position for a clear shot at the goal.

   • 2016, George McDermott, Success In The Streets "The Great Save" A Survival Story:

     If, for some reason, he mistackled the ball, you could be sure that the man was going to stay there and be planted square on his ass.

   • 2018, John Spiers, Philip Booth, Neil Russel, Who Decides Who Decides?:

     However, consider the dramatic and very public case of the highly skilled international footballer, Eduardo da Silva of The Arsenal — who suffered a compound fibula fracture to his left leg and a dislocated ankle with medial ligament damage in Febrary 2008 when brutally mistackled in the away game at Birmingham City.

   • 2020, Eugene L. Wolfe, Boris Johnson in 100 Facts, page 47:

     And, in what may seem a fusion of the previous two mistackling incidents, there was a third embarrassing episode.

2. To attempt to deal with (a problem) in the wrong way.
   • 1989, Africa Events - Volume 5, page 15:

     The two thought the agreement had mistackled the shari'a by referring it to the proposed constitutional conference.

   • 1992, Agbafor Igwe, Nnamdi Azikiwe: The Philosopher of Our Time:

     […] mistackled while others are neither properly grasped nor tackled at all.

   • 1999, Maher Aziz Bedrous, Emad El-Sharkawi, S.B. Abdel Hamid, and Waeil Saleh Kaddour, “Re-Appraisal for Energy Technology Sustaining Development in Developing Countries: Egypt Case”, in Energy & Environment, volume 10, number 4:

     The issue of technology, in general, was very wrongly conceived and thus mistackled in many developing countries during the past three decades.

Noun

mistackle (plural mistackles)

1. (sports) An illegal or badly executed tackle.
   • 1927 October, William Cletus Doyle, “Games for First Year Latin”, in The Classical Bulletin, volume 4:

     A mistackle counts two yards for the team with the ball.

   • 1983, Ed Torba, The Boys Club Guide to Youth Football, page 166:

     Common errors leading to a mistackle:

   • 1998 September 9, The Grizzly:

     The defense had misreads and mistackles in abundance.