1981 Huddersfield V Wigan 6 sent off

Spurned on to watch this 2nd Division English game after watching the Wrexham Football doco. Wigan first at the time of this game, trying to get get back into 1st Division after their relegation last season and Huddersfield running 5th chasing a top 4 spot.
Players you amy know, George Fairbairn captain and coach of Wigan and the English fullback and Gary Stephens who had recently played for England. Also, Nicky Kiss who in a few seasons played for England.
At times, hard to find the footy, head butt, plenty of head highs a couple of fights.
Stand out player for was the #13 of Huddersfield, Tony Johnson. Great attack, stood up for himself with the late hits and head highs, gave his all.
6 sent off, could have been more.

[@Mancheguache]

That wasn't a tackle on Tony Johnson - it was a hate crime

[@jonnyaddles]

Poor lad! Ref hated him, the opposition hated him, awful.

[@Biffo1262]

You have to wonder given the way he was targeted if it was racially motivated. He certainly got zero protection from that appalling ref.

[@Mancheguache]

@@Biffo1262 This was the early 80's so racism was definitely a factor surely. I don't remember much on the terraces when Green Vigo rolled up to Central Park and started winning games for us though but this looks really bad. I'm ashamed really - poor bloke. Still, at least he got a win-bonus.

[@colinoverton790]

I presume to that Wigan gave the ref a bung?

[@Mancheguache]

@@colinoverton790 Doubtful - at the time, they were broke. The ref was just out of his depth. He should have abandoned the game and awarded the points to Huddersfiled after the first brawl

[@stephenholmes1036]

Johnson took some stick, The ref was appalling

[@a.c.4732]

targeted from the get go ...

[@royheaney65]

I made my debut for Wigan the week after. Id just changed codes from professional football after spells at Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers. I watched the game from the stands and thought what the XXXX have I done.

[@tonyjonesbassoonwhippet2271]

😂👏

[@D13Nword]

Let's go Bolton!

[@moptopbaku6022]

The referee was atrocious. He let so much dirty play go unpenalised until it was too late.

[@lokolad3541]

Tony Johnson was abused❗️ But Man What A Player He Was 👊 Much Respect to Him 👍

[@WillBabbitt]

I visited this ground regularly, outside match times, as a child. This has dug up some fond memories.

[@jontalbot1]

The ref should have been sacked after this. Entirely his fault

[@MrGranfield]

So the players who were fighting and got sent off was the referee’s fault?

[@jontalbot1]

@@MrGranfield Obvs players have responsibility but you must have seen games like this where the ref fails to punish fouls so the players seek their own retribution, then it becomes a free for all. The ref is there to manage the conduct of the game and this one failed. On the subject of poor reffing l played in a game in 1976 with a woman ref. She was too intimidated to blow her whistle but most were very gentlemanly and said when they had committed a foul. Apart from one bloke on the other side who took the piss. Our captain was a big lad who walked up to him, screwed up his shirt to lift off his feet for a face to face and said If you do that again I’ll effing kill you and put him down again. The rest of the game passed off without incident.

[@keithnaylor1981]

Cracking idea for both teams to look almost identical - one in red and white, the other in white and red!

[@bobbytreetop1701]

Huddersfield were in claret and gold .

[@willyoueatmypussyplease3549]

I thought it was teammates fighting and tackling they're fellow teammates I was confused just watching it lol

[@PNETriffid]

@@bobbytreetop1701 I only noticed when you mentioned it, it looked red and white hoops to me.

[@dougclark9921]

@@bobbytreetop1701 claret all over the place

[@tvbant]

Oh it wasnt too bad, one team's hoops were a good 1cm thicker 😂

[@chriscurtain1816]

Six minutes in, and I'm wondering what you have to do for a sending off.

[@chriscurtain1816]

OK. Got it.

[@northlincsfox243]

A good commentator here. Keith Macklin I think. He also covered football matches, mainly ‘up norf’.

[@onthisrock1970]

Went to a brawl and a game of rugby league broke out

[@eagleeric2598]

Love it.

[@alistairbanks6595]

Tony Johnson looked like he got knocked out 3 times.

[@eagleeric2598]

But he kept having a go.

[@elih9700]

The last one was clear assalt, ref was useless.

[@johnhanson5943]

Good ‘ole days.

[@jam-nc8ut]

I saw about 30 sending off offences in this video, and it was just 11 minutes of highlights.

[@HowardRamsey]

Yes, I missed a lot of them too.

[@andrewward1425]

11 minutes of utter chaos lol😂

[@suffern63]

Sport,football,rugby league or union,cricket,whatever sport you can name was different in the 80s

[@eagleeric2598]

It sure was and what was acceptable then isn't now.

[@egpx]

Good grief, how did this pop up on my KZbin page? I'm not a huge RL fan but I went to a few games at Fartown in the early 80s - including this one! Whilst I was no expert, it was clear to me that the referee, Mr Vince Moss from Manchester (I even remembered his name before Kieth Macklin mentioned it) had a total shocker. He'd let it get out of hand long before he started sending players off and the brawls were inevitable. Tony Johnson was nearly decapitated three times just in the highlights. Despite this I must admit I enjoyed the game, especially as Huddersfield won. It certainly wasn't a borefest!

[@eagleeric2598]

@egpx thanks for your memories, it certainly adds to the clip for the viewers who interact.

[@egpx]

@@eagleeric2598 thanks for giving me a chance to live it again 👍

[@rockybarrano33]

Same as …enjoyed it though, poor Tony Johnson, was definitely an undercurrent of racism going on there & to make things worse he’s was bloody brilliant..!! Think the ref was way out of his depth & made a rod for his own back letting so much go earlier on…but very entertaining stuff..👍

[@markwilliamson7846]

I was actually there with my dad. I remember Tony Johnson being given some bad treatment and being taken off. I knew his brother Barry as I worked with him at David Brown tractors in the early eighties.

[@MrDunkiep]

8:35. My jaw dropped as i watched that. Shocking.

[@johnqpublic331]

Hopoate got a 6 week ban in the NRL for poking his finger a centimetre or two up someone’s bum, both were wearing playing shorts obviously, yet that “tackle” wasn’t even penalised. That would be common assault in most countries, outside the playing field.

[@tonymarchant9083]

the good old days.....🤕 Tony Johnson got some right stick ...he was a good player

[@gbhoy67]

Brilliant stuff m8 just found your channel & subbed for more 👍

[@eagleeric2598]

Thanks, more to come. Welcome any feedback

[@cliveuuking4602]

The ref was hopeless

[@faithless786r74]

Most refs are hopeless.

[@stevenpercy4172]

Lino wasn’t much better

[@montyf2165]

Good old Lancs v Yorks tear up

[@beecee2205]

Ellery Hanley joined Wigan a few years later and changed attitudes

[@jamesmurphy1389]

And not a mobile phone in sight! Ah happy days of honest thuggery. 😂

[@mikem1473]

Christ what a shambles.

[@Genekellystand]

Good clean fun 😂😂

[@eagleeric2598]

Thanks 😅

[@joebrowne9217]

Should have been 6 sent off before the other 6were sent off! Ref was brutal.

[@billymccrea9674]

A player taken off for his own protection..out of control ref..

[@fantomghost6213]

Ah, the good old days...Lol

[@eagleeric2598]

Head injuries? What head injuries

[@shauncorless8965]

One in all in ,,,it's expected of u 😅

[@bobwright9523]

C'mon the team in the red hoops!

[@ketilflatnose4930]

What tv channel would have carried highlights of a div2 game? Must admit, aside from the thuggery, i really enjoyed the passing and running (to be fair, with only 10 a side at the end there would have been a bit more space). And RL scrums were always good value.

[@tvbant]

"Bout of fisticuffs", just fuss and nonesense 😂

[@andymcaleer4163]

Shocking the treatment of the black player, wow

[@iainparker2269]

The black player for Huddersfield, was victimised abit 😂

[@downenout8705]

I think the ref must have been colour blind, to have missed so many fouls on the only black player.

[@354sd]

Good game

[@trytellingthetruth.2068]

One team is playing in red shirts with white horizontal stripes, and the other team is playing in white shirts with red horizontal stripes.

[@a.c.4732]

....and we only had black & white tv in our house ....

[@trytellingthetruth.2068]

@@a.c.4732 "For those of you watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green". Ted Lowe, Pot black.

[@a.c.4732]

@trytellingthetruth.2068 yes ,I remember that well !

[@the_even_toed_ungulate.]

When men were men and sheep were scared.

[@bigrobbo75]

here in NZ back then and even now the pacific island and Maori players wouldnt have stood for that type of play that was directed at Tony Johnson . Trust me it would have been "all on" indeed

[@andrewtaylor9610]

A good example of why unconscious bias training is often derided and always useful.

[@8ballphil150]

The ref made a rod for his own back . Some terrible tackles he done nothing about .

[@Edwardscissor]

What are those scrum feeds ,throw and hope

[@chicklechives]

He'd completely lost control long before the sendings off

[@Newsomemedia]

Graham swales tough as teak

[@pauldurkee4764]

Did anyone finish that game with a full set of teeth.

[@l01ner]

No one started it with a full set!

[@terrystephens8603]

Imagine today's footballers 😂

[@eagleeric2598]

As they say, "handbags at 10 paces"

[@jonathanwood2465]

Tony halmshaw ,ian slater bit of quality

[@kenjones6441]

Remember Tony Halmshaw at Halifax. Great player.

[@roytheboy1963]

The Ref was so pathetic, things escalated because of his poor decision making!

[@bristolguy45]

Did Tony Johnson owe the ref money?

[@bigdog594]

That ref should have had a white cane😂

[@eagleeric2598]

He would have tripped over it

[@jc238]

We wonder how a lot of players from this era now have serious brain injuries.

[@jamesbriers696]

Even by the standards of those days this was bad. The treatment of Johnson was appalling and he got no protection from the referee, who was a total disgrace. Really you have to say that racism must have played some part in the both the Wigan tackling and the ref's tolerance of it.

[@stevendempster709]

I wish Americans would watch this.

[@davej1952]

Deplorable refereeing. If he’d sent off players for the head high tackles it would have set the tone. The referee not taking action when Tony Johnson was repeatedly fouled was worse.

[@Yotsukaido]

Even Div 2 was too much for this ref to handle.

[@barryroberts2196]

The ref should have sent himself off, he was a disgrace !

[@sparx550]

Early form of cage fighting.

[@eagleeric2598]

Haha, all up to the referee sometimes

[@krongle_4785]

What year was this?

[@eagleeric2598]

1981

[@simonjames1964]

Seriously ? " Some harsh words were exchanged ". Lol 😂😂😂

[@yogihaughton7646]

Their kits are virtually the same. They were probably pummeling their own teammates without knowing it.

[@stuartbrittain7835]

Not only the referee - rugby league at that time was just all round thuggery

[@stup1299]

If that was today there'd be hardly anyone left on the pitch. Not exactly a classic but I'm biased and hate watching Wigan lose 🙂

[@familyplans3788]

I'm all for a good hard game of rugby but damn that was a fight that happened to have a rugby ball in there , terrible refereeing

[@manynoree2173]

Image if they were under current international rugby rules/refereeing..no one would be There

[@keithlewis8217]

Including the referee.

[@Redball1980]

Cherry n white hoops ffs

[@kenjones6441]

Can anyone remember the score?

[@eagleeric2598]

Huddersfield 9 Wigan 7

[@keithlewis8217]

I thought it was Huddersfield 3 Wigan 3, oops, my mistake, that was the amount of players sent off.

[@oscarthompson2171]

The referee was at fault. He lost control early, let a lot of assaults go unpunished and as a result players take the law into their own hands.

[@edwinkirk1706]

If you think the authorities are over-reacting with the head injury stuff, check this game out. Really disgusting "tackles", aiming right at the head. Bad. Not helped by an out-of-his-depth ref.

[@bobmust5432]

Referee was pathetic. It’s his fault it descended into chaos. He was in charge except he wasn’t. He soon lost control and it became dangerous. Twice (at least) there was a fight right in front of him and he does nothing, except blow his whistle 962 times.

[@OkaniJMCA]

Wigan were always dirty...lol

[@anthonyleighton4754]

Mans game....

[@davemills6881]

Morons game would be a better description!

[@iandawe948]

The days when brawling was spoilt by outbreaks of rugby. Poor old tony robinson must have thought he was playing against the kkk, seeing some of those alleged tackles

[@chrisscott4766]

Is it the same Gary Stevens who played for Halifax. Great player.

[@Yeviscount]

I reckon a few more could have gone for throwing coathangers....but then again..english rugby league was good at that

[@eagleeric2598]

Agree but looking at the Sydney games of the early 1980's plenty of high shots and punches to the head as opposed to coathanger.

[@grottonisred6541]

Only 6 sent off...you could have doubled that... Same old Wigan back in the 80's... Great times though...

[@darrenclarke3677]

Officials were the cause of the frustration and trouble due to being so poor and allowing foul play time after time

[@alanholgate3442]

Johnson took a lot of bad hits

[@kmully8873]

Racism at it's finest, probably watched Love Thy Neighbour, The Comedians & Bullseye the week before. Semi-bald ref was LOST in the wilderness..

[@darrylmackie9184]

The POMMIES will pass it to anyone, if their in Front of them.

[@antonymay3799]

Good old Wigan even cheating back then 😂😂😂😂

[@karlsilcock8727]

Terrible refereeing permitted to much to go on and only took action when all hell is let loose, he was risking serious injury to players. Incompetent is probably the kindest comment you could make about the refs performance on that day.

[@bulldog1066jpd]

Imagine being black back in the day.....

[@tricovthelite4234]

Think that's the definition of a 'racist ref' !!!!

[@maverick4177]

racially motivated tackling

[@BlueBremner]

That has to be the most pathetic refereeing performance I have ever seen

[@TomahawkKid56]

Do not tell me that rugby was better in the good old days. Appalling game, appallingly refereed.

[@eagleeric2598]

There is always an appalling game every season, every era.

[@Mikeb1001]

Sounds familiar. Farcical decisions in the Salford v London game yesterday

[@PerfectMask1]

Rugby was better in the good old days.

[@a34rwl]

Has anyone said it was 'a man's game' yet?

[@jamclear]

Bunch of hooligans masquerading as rugby players.

what a bunch of wigan rascists 😮

[@andysmith8890]

About 200 mugs watching this utter garbage