The Skyrme model predicts the isospin independent part of the nucleon–nucleon spin–orbit interaction to be repulsive, in conflict with nucleon–nucleon scattering phenomenology. It is shown here that Kälbermann's modified version of the Skyrme model leads to attractive long range behaviour of the spin–orbit interactions in both isospin channels, although at the expense of giving up the chiral symmetry of the model, and thus its link to large-N_c QCD.