Huddersfield vs Wigan at Fartown 1981

[Blind side johnny]

I think you're confusing him with Billy Mcginty (and the pineapple ring incident).

You are correct - my memories not what it was, whatever that was!

[Blind side johnny]

Half of them wouldn't, because their parents wouldn't have let them take the game up if it was to be played in that manner. Rugby's hard enough without cheap shots and thuggery.

Sort of, but there is a considerable trade off isn't there? The game wasn't anything like as fast then, nor were the players as fit and agile, hence the collisions were of a lower impact despite some of the tactics being a little questionable.

More pertinently, fans who criticise today's referees in comparison with those from "the good old days" will find their theories a little short in justification. Vince Moss just stood and watched - all he really penalised was the fighting, and that's only because it was on the telly. Nice haircut mind!

[Blind side johnny]

if you watch the full rl action programme this has come from i think you will find that lewis jones was at huddersfield that day not david watkins.

.

I'd like to see this. Do you have a link to the original material?

I must admit it doesn't sound like Watkins; the accent is smoother and the speech less gutteral/erratic. Watkins is from the valleys whilst Jones is a country boy.

Edited September 21, 2010 by Blind side johnny

[Allan Marsden]

Crikey mate , you should be a video ref,you've got good eyesight to spot a bite!

No but it is an infamous game and quite well documented so I read about it but had never seen any picture of the game ntil this.

[Allan Marsden]

RLaction was a super programme. Far better than Scrumdown and on a par with the Brian Smith / Clive Tyldsley programme

[Ullman]

I remember watching this match on TV. Not PC nowadays I know but this was known as the "pot black" game hereabouts. I'm sure Tony Johnson would have gone on to greater things but he suffered from the same sort of repeated treatment for a number of years before packing it in.

3 were sent off frrom each side, but there should have been more from Wigan, who were a really dirty team, even for those days.

This was a second division matrch as well.

Speaking of Pot Black, Wigan had Kiss, Cannon and Potter in the side back in the 80s.

[Wilderspoolmemories]

Cheap shot wigan.................some things never change!

[hunsletgiant]

i might be wrong but i think Tony Johnson is a sergeant at halifax (police) and is also on the rfl disciplinary panel.

[Hannibal]

i might be wrong but i think Tony Johnson is a sergeant at halifax (police) and is also on the rfl disciplinary panel.

I don't really remember him, but he looked a handy player from that footage.

Reading some of the comments from Warrington fans on Wigan's robust early 80's style, is making me smile.

[1976PMJwires]

I don't really remember him, but he looked a handy player from that footage.

Reading some of the comments from Warrington fans on Wigan's robust early 80's style, is making me smile.

glad one comment made you smile but it was only one warrington fan and not fans (guess you'd p!s5 your pants if it was more than one )

Edited September 22, 2010 by 1976PMJwires

[Wiltshire Rhino]

The disiplinary panel would have had a field day with that game.

The player's punishments would have been changed to just a

Edited September 22, 2010 by Wiltshire Rhino

[Hannibal]

PS Whatever happened to Slalom Lager?

Everyone realised it was horrible, and they stopped selling it.

[Lee]

You forget how brutal the game was back then

[Riversiderontour]

I don't really remember him, but he looked a handy player from that footage.

Reading some of the comments from Warrington fans on Wigan's robust early 80's style, is making me smile.

[1976PMJwires]

Clone

[Griff9of13]

Just goes to show it's in the culture of Wigan RLFC,nothings changed

Cheap shot wigan.................some things never change!

Is it me, or is there a bit of an echo in here?

[Trojan]

Everyone realised it was horrible, and they stopped selling it.

Why haven't they stopped selling Stella, Heineken, Carlsberg, Black Label and Fosters then? It all tastes like p!ss to me. Funnily enough I was drinking Stella in France last week - it doesn't taste anything like the stuff they sell here.

[Steve May]

Why haven't they stopped selling Stella, Heineken, Carlsberg, Black Label and Fosters then? It all tastes like p!ss to me. Funnily enough I was drinking Stella in France last week - it doesn't taste anything like the stuff they sell here.

You sure it was Stella. I'm pretty sure it's the same stuff everywhere.

Maybe it's like Guinness. People will swear blind that the Guinness in Dublin tastes different but Guinness spend millions of pounds making sure that Guinness is the same everywhere.

[Wolford6]

Guinness spend millions of pounds making sure that Guinness is the same everywhere.

So do John Smith's. It's gubbins.

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

The disiplinary panel would have had a field day with that game.

The player's punishments would have been changed to just a

[Trojan]

You sure it was Stella. I'm pretty sure it's the same stuff everywhere.

Maybe it's like Guinness. People will swear blind that the Guinness in Dublin tastes different but Guinness spend millions of pounds making sure that Guinness is the same everywhere.

No I had Pression Stella in France and it tasted nothing like the stuff you get here. Having said that the Pelforth was streets ahead of either the Stella or the 1664

[Steve May]

No I had Pression Stella in France and it tasted nothing like the stuff you get here. Having said that the Pelforth was streets ahead of either the Stella or the 1664

I am unconvinced that Stella isn't pretty much identical everywhere in the World. Are you sure it wasn't a different Artois beer?

[moorman]

Slalom Larger !!!! Dont Knock it .

Slalom was one of Cumbrias least well known exports ,Originally brewed at the Old Workington brewery in the mid 1970s and brewed there after it was taken over by Matthew Brown in the next decade, who sponsored Rugby league in a big way round that time . They did a very good brewery tour which usually ended with large quantities of free samples being consumed . Great Days

This particular brew was sold in bottles and Draught at most rugby clubs at that time and certainly was responsible for a few merry nights and sorry mornings in my youngers days

Great memories

With regard to Wigan at that time .I recall them playing at Whitehaven that same season and Haven prop and now director Ralph Calvin getting levelled by Wigans prop Steve Breheny who subsequently got his come uppance from another haven forward .

As other have commented that the way the game was in those days but lacked nothing terms of entertainamnet compared to the more sanitised game of today.

[RS]

The memories of watching that game have stayed with me since 1981. I was sickend at the time from a sense of injustice and what appeared to be racism in action that went pretty much unchecked.

[JohnM]

The memories of watching that game have stayed with me since 1981. I was sickend at the time from a sense of injustice and what appeared to be racism in action that went pretty much unchecked.

certainly the clips posted on youtube could be taken as that, However, they only account for 5 mins of an 80 minute game. Anyone have the missing 75 mins?