On This Day – 20th October
A 21-man brawl marred the First Division match between Manchester United and Arsenal on this day back in 1990.
Only Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman stayed out of the trouble that escalated after Arsenal’s Swedish international Anders Limpar and Manchester United’s Denis Irwin clashed for the ball. Limpar’s team mate Nigel Winterburn came rushing in and tackled Irwin and the melee escalated from there.
After the brawl, Referee Keith Hackett only booked Nigel Winterburn and Anders Limpar. Hackett had this to say about the brawl in an interview with this blog last year:
‘The game had not presented any problems until a foul challenge sparked off a 21 man brawl. I was blowing my whistle to put a stop to the blowout by the players. I decided that to send off a couple of players would be insufficient. I therefore took the time to issue a special incident report to the FA.’
The FA took the unprecendented step of docking both clubs points for the brawl; Arsenal were deducted two points and United one. Arsenal’s extra point was because they were involved in a similar incident the season before, in a home game against Norwich City. Both clubs were also fined £50,000.
Winterburn and Limpar, along with David Rocastle, Paul Davis and manager George Graham were all fined two weeks’ wages by Arsenal.
Arsenal’s two point deduction never mattered in the end as they romped to their second league title in three seasons, finishing seven points clear of Liverpool in second. They only lost one game all season, a 2-1 defeat away to Chelsea.
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