Leeds v Chelsea '70 FA Cup Final replay (aka a fight interspersed with football)

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

There's a saying about old football/sport to justify the hard nature of the players and 'the good old days' ... "when men were men".

Almost exactly half a century ago, the 70 Cup Final replay (at Old Trafford) possibly epitomised this with a perfect storm .... North v South, two teams that hated each other, Ron Harris v Norman Hunter, an F A Cup trophy at stake and a ref in his last game who seemed to have forgotten what a foul was. And all watched by a live TV audience of TWENTY EIGHT million (only topped by the 66 World Cup Final at the time).

The fouls were legendary as was the ref's tolerance levels. As renowned Observer journalist Hugh McIlvanney wrote afterwards: “At times, it appeared that Mr Jennings would give a free-kick only on production of a death certificate.” As it happened, the referee gave one yellow card.... for a shove.

It has been re-refereed twice since by leading officials according to modern interpretations of the rules. In 1997, David Elleray concluded he would have shown six red cards, while more recently, Michael Oliver said he'd have given eleven (he would?).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52416192


If you want to watch the game (there's actually some good football in there - both teams were decent, finishing 2nd and 3rd in the league that season) ... https://footballia.net/teams/leeds-united


An interesting tactic by Chelseas' Osgood included trying to leg Jack Charlton from behind (he must have been mad!) with Charlton calmly responding... neither were booked! ...

Winner of "Foul of the night" went to Chelseas' McCreadie for his attempt to decapitate poor, defenseless Billy Bremner ... which the referee played on!! ...

Good times eh? Anyone old enough to have watched it?

 

[blue blue]

Ossie was going for the ball and I thought Eddie actually did get the ball.

It was good to see that Ossie didn't retaliate when Big Jack pushed him over.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Ossie was going for the ball and I thought Eddie actually did get the ball.

It was good to see that Ossie didn't retaliate when Big Jack pushed him over.

That's certainly one way of looking at it.

 

[charlie C]

Typical of Bremner being the only player to take a dive that night. Foul of the night though goes to Chopper, who nullified Eddie Gray for the rest of the match after the former had taken Dave Webb to the cleaners at Wembley. Two hard teams who had no love for each other, resulting in a couple of memorable games. Icing on the cake we won the cup. Still my favourite moment of being a Chelsea fan.

 

[kidbob]

I see no difference in how Chelsea played back then and how they play now.

 

[Grinner]

I watched this the other night. Both teams played some great footy and the fouls were horrific but amazingly players just got up and got oon with it. few things I noticed...

Jack Charlton was a bloody good player, not just a hard nut. Very cool on the ball and his will to win was always evident. Tough bastard too,

Macreadie was tough but he could really play too. Very skilful. I read that he was actually mortified by that Bremner challenge and that he hadn't meant it. He wore contact lenses and one had come out and he was blinded by the lights. He and Bremner were mates and Scottish teammates hence his long apology to Bremner after the foul and no retaliation by Bremner afterwards.

Osgood was a silky player and nails. Really great on the ball.

I loved how Man Utd's idea of crowd control was a white picket fence around their ground to keep supporters in!

Bonetti was a class act. Super-agile and fantastic distribution. Shame he got knobbled early on in the replay but he carried on manfully. Doesn't deserve to just be remembered for the World Cup game.

Sprake's howler was hilarious.

Don Revie lighting up a huge stogie on the sideline made me laugh.

Oh and the absolute state of the Wembley pitch was dreadful. I watched the 71 cup final last night and it was pristine.

 

[Buster15]

I see no difference in how Chelsea played back then and how they play now.

What...
Who in the current Chelsea team is even remotely as dirty as that side.

Not a popular thing to say as a United fan, but that Leeds side were a proper team, with the emphasis on team.
Hard as steel but full of exceptional players. Especially Allan Clarke.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

I watched this the other night. Both teams played some great footy and the fouls were horrific but amazingly players just got up and got oon with it. few things I noticed...

Jack Charlton was a bloody good player, not just a hard nut. Very cool on the ball and his will to win was always evident. Tough bastard too,

Macreadie was tough but he could really play too. Very skilful. I read that he was actually mortified by that Bremner challenge and that he hadn't meant it. He wore contact lenses and one had come out and he was blinded by the lights. He and Bremner were mates and Scottish teammates hence his long apology to Bremner after the foul and no retaliation by Bremner afterwards.

Osgood was a silky player and nails. Really great on the ball.

I loved how Man Utd's idea of crowd control was a white picket fence around their ground to keep supporters in!

Bonetti was a class act. Super-agile and fantastic distribution. Shame he got knobbled early on in the replay but he carried on manfully. Doesn't deserve to just be remembered for the World Cup game.

Sprake's howler was hilarious.

Don Revie lighting up a huge stogie on the sideline made me laugh.

Oh and the absolute state of the Wembley pitch was dreadful. I watched the 71 cup final last night and it was pristine.

That was one of the things I took from it... some really hard fouls but apart from a couple of minor (ish) retaliations, they got on with it. No quarter asked for by either side and none given.

In the circumstances, it was actually a good game to watch. Fair play to Chelsea, it was rare that anyone went toe to toe with Leeds and came out on top.

 

[coolhand1969]

The white picket fence is classic, need to bring that back for the conclusion of this season.

 

[Grinner]

The white picket fence is classic, need to bring that back for the conclusion of this season.

It was interesting seeing OT open at both ends. There were even steps for the teams to climb to get the Cup and their medals.

 

[Denis' cuff]

i used to work next to Warwick Rd station and was working overtime that night. Eerie feeling standing on the platform waiting for the train to go home whilst hearing nearby crowd noise from OT.

Both sides loaded with talent and dirty feckers. I think most neutrals wanted a Chelsea win because everyone hated Leeds. Just mental, now, watching some of those challenges going almost unnoticed by the ref.

Osgood used to be a hod carrier (somebody who climbed ladders with loads of bricks for brickies to lay) so like a few of those guys, had a tough grounding before becoming a pro footballer. Brilliant player too, along with Charlie Cooke, Giles, Gray etc.

 

[Grinner]

I watched the 72 Final last night. Leeds were definitely the better team on the day.

- David Harvey was a scary looking monster of a bloke and a decent keeper

- Charlie George just didn't seem arsed to play till the last 20 mins although he did get one very juicy challenge on Bremner

- Alan Ball was an absolutely terrific player. Great energy, hard as nails, constantly working and moving.

- Our keeper was very beige, still struggling to remember his name now. Looked dodgy all game.

- free kicks back then were rubbish. I don't think teams ever practised as they mostly just went long or into the keeper's hands

- Loved the collars and cuffs on the ref's kits

- Mick Jones was in absolute agony but it was nice that Norman Hunter escorted him up the steps to meet the Queen...the only bit of niceness that Norman displayed that day

- Leeds fans were singing YAWN after the goal, I heard Mancs doing it too in the 79 game. seems everybody sang it back then.

1973 tonight...

 

[Kentonio]

I'm not old enough, but growing up all our matches against Leeds were violent as hell. You could pretty much guarantee at least one red card over the 90 minutes.

 

[WeePat]

I'm not old enough, but growing up all our matches against Leeds were violent as hell. You could pretty much guarantee at least one red card over the 90 minutes.

Do you remember when we were drawn against them in the cup in 2012 or 2013, and there was talk of classifying the match as a 'bubble match' [seriously restricting the movements of the away fans until they return to the original pick up point]? It wasn't enforced in the end, and the game passed without any disturbances. English football violence had long since been cleaned up, but West Yorkshire police were still very concerned about the influx of Chelsea fans into Leeds city centre.