On January 25 1995, commemorated today, an incident that will be remembered as one of the most exciting moments in the Premier League occurred. Eric Cantona performed a legendary action (yeah, many people call it a “disgraceful action”): kicking a Crystal Palace supporter, Simmons Mathew.
Cantona had just been sent off by the referee, Alan Wilkie, for a hard foul on Palace defender Richard Shaw. Without much fuss, Cantona immediately walked off the field to the dressing room.
Before he reached the dressing room, still on the sidelines, someone shouted at him. He is a Crystal Palace supporter, Simmon Mathews. Cantona’s response is already known to the world: he jumped, crossed the scoreboard, and his feet in football boots flew towards Simmons. (What happened to Simmons after this incident? Sad! Read the story HERE)
Immediately the press made this a big issue. Cantona became a media target. He had to “evacuate” to his homeland in France. Alex Ferguson even had to persuade him to want to play again because of attacks from the British media and public. Luckily Cantona was not sentenced to prison and only had to carry out social action for 120 hours as punishment.
Cantona’s actions were indeed unexpected. Even though he is known as a temperamental player, the action was still horrendous. The following is the testimony of several people who saw the incident directly, as excerpted by the Daily Mail.
Andy Cole (then Manchester United player)
I couldn’t believe what I saw. Whoever saw it, the only rational response given was “wow”. We all ran (closer) to find out what was happening, especially wanting to know what made him do that. Was he hit or what? I’ve forgotten what the manager (Fergie) said in the dressing room.
Jonathan Pearce (then a match commentator on Capital Gold Radio)
Cantona is out! Is there a place in the game of football for a man with extraordinary talent but a wild temperament like him? A man who now… Oh my! He kicked…. He hit a fan. Eric Cantona (just now) has jumped and kung fu kicked a fan!
I have never seen such an embarrassing incident in my entire career in football. Eric Cantona had to be sent out of the game.
Alan Wilkie (then the referee who led the match)
Many people say that Palace (players) cheated Cantona, but that’s not true. One me, Cantona was only disturbed twice in the first half. Then he kicked Richard Shaw (for which the referee sent him off).
At that time Schmeichel kicked the ball into the Palace defense. There are only two players there, Shaw and Cantona. They welcomed the ball at the same time, but Shaw was faster. Cantona then kicked Shaw, so I took him off the pitch.
I didn’t see when he kicked the fans because at that time I was talking to Andy Cole who said that I had made the wrong decision.
An assistant (referee) told me what happened, but it happened while I was watching (the replay) on CNN at 2am. (When I saw the show) I just thought: WOW.
Ned Kelly (then Man United head of security)
I followed him down the stairs with a guard. When we stopped, he just looked at me and shrugged. We went into the cell and sat together. Then the police warden came and said: “Listen, don’t take any food from here. I’ll go down the street and get some McD’s and potatoes.
I lent him my cell phone and he then called his wife. Then we talked and he said: “I can’t be bullied like that. Let me serve this sentence.”
I said: “No. Let’s see what the results are.”
But he looked very relaxed at that time. He signed some autographs and took some photos (to immortalize) his presence there. He was so cool in those moments.
Gareth Southgate (then Crystal Palace player)
A fight broke out when Eric was thrown out. Then we heard noise from the crowd and then saw security officers running past. We stayed focused on the game and I scored a goal. But immediately, when we were in the dressing room, I knew my goal would never make the headlines. (Cantona immediately made headlines, even his words regarding this case became a legend and became an interesting debate. Read the story regarding Cantona’s words regarding this matter HERE)
How serious was the incident? We only realized when we left the dressing room. United players lined the tunnel, wearing official United suits, but no one spoke. They are very calm and have been instructed not to make any comments, not to us, not to the press, not to anyone.
ASL
