How Eric Cantona's infamous Kung-fu kick helped inspire "Soutpaw Grammar" - NME blog

one of his best album covers. thanks skinny, it was a nice read and i havent read much about that album

 

[Bluebirds]

I always thought that was Cornelius carr on the cover of southpaw- well you learn something everyday- Kenny lane

Cornelius was the cover star of World of Morrissey.

 

[Bluebirds]

Nice post Uncleskinny, would have missed it otherwise . I never knew the history of 'Southpaw Grammer' let alone the "fan boy" behavior Moz had for Eric Cantona . Love the photo of the kick and used CharlieFairheads link to read more on Eric. Being the typical American, the football part of the article was a bit tuff to understand but Cantona does have a passion for the game . Wonder if he ever got wooed to come to the United States to play ? He has the looks but may-be the USA market was to small at this time.

When Cantona did the Kung-fu kick (20 years ago today!!) the country was shocked. I remember watching Sportsnight, the midweek highlights show that evening and noone had.any inkling(this was before the Internet and widespread mobile technology) about what they were about to witness.

On of the most memorable television events of my life.

 

[Sidnettle]

Cornelius was the cover star of World of Morrissey.

And was in the video of the Boxers single.

Billy Conn was on the cover.

 

[Anonymous]

Fascinating timing of this article in more ways than one. First off it happened 20 years ago this month and secondly Man United are now in almost the same situation as they were around that time. I remember how Alex Ferguson said just before the transfer window opened in January 1995 that United had problems penetrating the penalty area and found themselves passing the ball about outside the box without being able to find a striker inside the penalty box who could score.

United of course bought Andy Cole from Newcastle not many days before Cantona did what he did down at Palace which was a game I listened to on the radio. United at the moment also find themselves struggling to break into the penalty area to find a striker who can put the ball away. What Cantona did was very unusual for human kind in that most people will not defend themselves from attacks whether they are verbal or otherwise. I guess you could label the vast majority of people out there as passive aggressive in that sense.

Cantona did irritate a lot of people by not accepting abuse and attacking the abuser. While most people could identify with a situation like that most people tend to attack the attacker rather than defend a persons right to defend his pride. I am in no doubt Cantona slept better and felt better about himself for sticking up for himself and putting that well known crippled nazi bloke in his place.

It is weird to live in a world where we are told to defend our rights but when someone does that then that makes people condemn the one who does stand up for himself or herself. I see this as jealousy from the people that talk a lot but keep their clinched fist in the pocket. Cantona was and still is a man that is larger than life and who went his own way and took the punches and delivered them as well. His actions at Selhurst Park in 1995 cost United the double but as a fan of the club I still feel proud of the season United had in the way they fought all the way to the finish and made the eventual champions Blackburn end their season with defeat at Liverpool as they became very lucky champions.

That season made sure United had enormous success and just as with the autograph incident at Anfield Alex Ferguson used it as a motivation whenever United and the players needed it. We'd all rather be like Cantona and stand up for ourselves but far too few of us do in the end which is a shame because life as an adult contains much of the bully culture most endured at school and many suicides among adults come from bullying at work from colleagues or their bosses or both new studies show.

 

[Anonymous]

Celebrating / glorifying an act of violence...... whatever next?
30 years of Roy Keane's assault on Alfie Haaland?
Suarez's bite on an opponent?
Ched Evans' night in a Rhyl hotel?

Cantona was sent down for this attack - regardless of the provocation. He's a thug. No hero worship please.

 

[Charlie Cheswick]

Celebrating / glorifying an act of violence...... whatever next?
30 years of Roy Keane's assault on Alfie Haaland?
Suarez's bite on an opponent?
Ched Evans' night in a Rhyl hotel?

Cantona was sent down for this attack - regardless of the provocation. He's a thug. No hero worship please.

He was given Community Service. The other fella was a complete dick who had it coming. My favourite bit was where he was giving Cantona a load and then as soon as Cantona came at him he was on the run. A complete coward, one of those all mouth from behind their keyboard types that wouldn't have the bollocks to say anything to a person's face.

 

[Anonymous]

He was given Community Service. The other fella was a complete dick who had it coming. My favourite bit was where he was giving Cantona a load and then as soon as Cantona came at him he was on the run. A complete coward, one of those all mouth from behind their keyboard types that wouldn't have the bollocks to say anything to a person's face.

He was given a 2 week prison sentence, which was overturned on an appeal. He did porridge for a few days and then given 120 hours community service.

 

[Charlie Cheswick]

He was given a 2 week prison sentence, which was overturned on an appeal. He did porridge for a few days and then given 120 hours community service.

I've got half an hour to waste this afternoon so had a read of an article about the incident and neither comes out of it very well.

Besides acting like an animal at the match in question and thinking he'd just get away with it, Matthew Simmons Was found guilty of actual bodily harm during a fracas at a youth football match in 2011 and was sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for two years, plus 150 hours of community service. Fighting at a kids football match!

On Eric:
Manchester United's kitman was the man tasked with the challenging job of dragging Cantona into the dressing room. Earned the nickname "Vaseline" from the United players for his failed attempt to grab hold of the Frenchman as he lost his temper and threw himself at Simmons. Once back in the dressing room, Davies said Cantona "...was furious. He wanted to go out again. I locked the door and told him 'if you want to go back on the pitch you'll have to go over my body and break the door down'." Once Cantona had calmed down, Davies made him a cup of tea.

I don't hero worship Eric or any other footballer but he's an interesting guy, I liked his book and his analogies were always good entertainment.

 

[Anonymous]

Celebrating / glorifying an act of violence...... whatever next?
30 years of Roy Keane's assault on Alfie Haaland?
Suarez's bite on an opponent?
Ched Evans' night in a Rhyl hotel?

Cantona was sent down for this attack - regardless of the provocation. He's a thug. No hero worship please.

Alfie Haaland got what he deserved after having a go at Keane for being down with a serious injury. Keane and Cantona are both great examples of what people should be like. All the United haters are still crying over all the glory the club had with players that still are the envy of every football fan out there. What makes United and their history unique is the dramatic way and surroundings with which they always paved the way with towards success.

No one will ever remember City and Chelsea and their style of play and how they won titles except for their own fans. When you talk to proper football fans they always admit how they admire United and realise it is an absolutely unique club. Chelsea and City are hated by fans of other clubs as we all know they only managed success because of money and their history is as plastic as the seats their fans sit on.

The same people claiming to hate nazis and racism defend the nazi bloke that shouted racist abuse at Cantona. Some people have to make their mind up and also need to separate the love for a football club with politics because at the moment they are mixing up the two in a very bad way.

 

[Sidnettle]

He did not spend two-weeks in prison, he just spent some time in a cell before the sentence was overturned and he was given 120 hours of Community Service.


"In his brief stay down in the cells, Cantona was at his most supernaturally nonchalant. United’s security officer Ned Kelly accompanied him down to the cells.
We proceeded into the cell, we were just sitting down together when the police warden came in and said: ’Don’t take any food from here, I’ll go down the road and get you some McDonald’s and chips.’
So Cantona spent his night in the cells scoffing McDonalds and trying to convince the United officials to forget about appealing. He seemed almost content with the idea of a fortnight in prison.
We’re eating away and having a chat about it, and he said, ’I just can’t be bothered with all of this, I’ll just serve my sentence.’
I said to him, ’No way, let’s wait until (United director) Maurice (Watkins) gets back and let’s see what the outcome is.’
He was relaxed, signed autographs for the people, took a couple of photos when he was in there. He was just so cool about it."

- - - Updated - - -

Celebrating / glorifying an act of violence...... whatever next?
30 years of Roy Keane's assault on Alfie Haaland?
Suarez's bite on an opponent?
Ched Evans' night in a Rhyl hotel?

Cantona was sent down for this attack - regardless of the provocation. He's a thug. No hero worship please.

"When the seagulls follow the trawler,
it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea."

 

[jm26]

A great, iconic moment.

As one journo put it at the time, "You didn’t have to look very long and hard at Mr Matthew Simmons of Thornton Heath to conclude that Eric Cantona’s only mistake was to stop hitting him. The more we discovered about Mr Simmons, the more Cantona’s assault looked like the instinctive expression of a flawless moral judgement."

The FA talk about kicking racism out of football but do next to f*** all about it. Eric quite literally did his bit to try and kick bigotry out of the game.

 

[Anonymous]

A great, iconic moment.

QUOTE]

Maybe you think this was a great iconic moment too?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhskAyWlsRg[/youtube]

As for the knob who said ''Haaland got what he deserved'' - you think passing a comment over Keane when down on the deck deserved his career ending and his livelihood taken away from him? Wow, you really need to take a hard look at yourself.

And here we go again.... Chelsea and City and their ''dirty'' money and wonderful Manchester United and their ''clean money''.
Let's look at how clean it is.....
United one of a few teams to demand home gate receipts be kept to home clubs making the rich richer, the poor poorer.
United one of the teams to demand the formation of the Premier League and a bigger slice of the cake for the bigger teams. The rich get richer, the poor poorer.
United one of the teams demanding the introduction of the Champions League, guaranteeing more games and more TV revenue. The rich get richer, the poor poorer.
United one of the first teams (after Spurs) to float on the stock exchange, making themselves richer and the poor poorer.

And Chelsea and City (and PSG) come along with a sugar daddy and United are one of the clubs demanding UEFA bring in Financial Fair Play - with the sole purpose of stopping clubs gatecrashing the party and feasting at the trough. Self preservation society. Huge debts (United, R Madrid, Barca) are acceptable, fresh money with no debts frowned upon.

You see, United (and Liverpool to an extent) engineered the situation to be able to obtain the money - yes legally, but ethically and morally at the expense of every other club. No other club outside United, Liverpool and maybe Arsenal were able to compete with them due to the engineering of taking the bigger slice of the cake leaving the rest fighting for the scraps. And when Chelsea and City came along, was it West Ham crying out, or Villa, or Stoke? No, it was United, Liverpool and Arsene Wenger screaming ''where's the level playing field? It's not fair''. You couldn't make it up!

Look at how many times United have broken the British transfer fee record. Yet ''Chelsea and City bought their titles'' that ''mean nothing'' to fans from outside those two clubs.
Your arrogance smacks of the very reason United fans are despised the world over. I know fans from lots of Premier League clubs and to a man they would love what happened at Chelsea and City to happen at their club. Ask a Coventry City fan, or a Portsmouth, Leeds and Forest fan right now who he (or she) would prefer to own their club right now! It wouldn't be the Glaser's, that's for sure!



You mentioned United and ''their history''....... the exact thing you spent years laughing at Liverpool fans for saying the same thing.... enjoy your history, as that is all you have at the moment and immediate future.

 

[Charlie Cheswick]

A great, iconic moment.

QUOTE]

Maybe you think this was a great iconic moment too?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhskAyWlsRg[/youtube]

As for the knob who said ''Haaland got what he deserved'' - you think passing a comment over Keane when down on the deck deserved his career ending and his livelihood taken away from him? Wow, you really need to take a hard look at yourself.

And here we go again.... Chelsea and City and their ''dirty'' money and wonderful Manchester United and their ''clean money''.
Let's look at how clean it is.....
United one of a few teams to demand home gate receipts be kept to home clubs making the rich richer, the poor poorer.
United one of the teams to demand the formation of the Premier League and a bigger slice of the cake for the bigger teams. The rich get richer, the poor poorer.
United one of the teams demanding the introduction of the Champions League, guaranteeing more games and more TV revenue. The rich get richer, the poor poorer.
United one of the first teams (after Spurs) to float on the stock exchange, making themselves richer and the poor poorer.

And Chelsea and City (and PSG) come along with a sugar daddy and United are one of the clubs demanding UEFA bring in Financial Fair Play - with the sole purpose of stopping clubs gatecrashing the party and feasting at the trough. Self preservation society. Huge debts (United, R Madrid, Barca) are acceptable, fresh money with no debts frowned upon.

You see, United (and Liverpool to an extent) engineered the situation to be able to obtain the money - yes legally, but ethically and morally at the expense of every other club. No other club outside United, Liverpool and maybe Arsenal were able to compete with them due to the engineering of taking the bigger slice of the cake leaving the rest fighting for the scraps. And when Chelsea and City came along, was it West Ham crying out, or Villa, or Stoke? No, it was United, Liverpool and Arsene Wenger screaming ''where's the level playing field? It's not fair''. You couldn't make it up!

Look at how many times United have broken the British transfer fee record. Yet ''Chelsea and City bought their titles'' that ''mean nothing'' to fans from outside those two clubs.
Your arrogance smacks of the very reason United fans are despised the world over. I know fans from lots of Premier League clubs and to a man they would love what happened at Chelsea and City to happen at their club. Ask a Coventry City fan, or a Portsmouth, Leeds and Forest fan right now who he (or she) would prefer to own their club right now! It wouldn't be the Glaser's, that's for sure!
.

They're my team. I know they're in the shit a bit at the minute but I quite like our owner. He's naive but passionate and everyone loves a tryer. English football is a farce these days though, I do like Mourinho, he's got a touch of the Clough about him but the rest of the top division bores me to tears - as like you said, the top teams just manipulated the system in their favour taking all of the sport out of it. Compare that to the second division where you've got teams like Bournemouth tearing it up while teams like mine who've spent a bomb and can't win a game. I love the unpredictability of it and give me that any day to a bunch of teams battling to finish fourth or avoid relegation.

Anyway, back to Cantona...

 

[Anonymous]

A great, iconic moment.

QUOTE]

Maybe you think this was a great iconic moment too?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhskAyWlsRg[/youtube]

As for the knob who said ''Haaland got what he deserved'' - you think passing a comment over Keane when down on the deck deserved his career ending and his livelihood taken away from him? Wow, you really need to take a hard look at yourself.

And here we go again.... Chelsea and City and their ''dirty'' money and wonderful Manchester United and their ''clean money''.
Let's look at how clean it is.....
United one of a few teams to demand home gate receipts be kept to home clubs making the rich richer, the poor poorer.
United one of the teams to demand the formation of the Premier League and a bigger slice of the cake for the bigger teams. The rich get richer, the poor poorer.
United one of the teams demanding the introduction of the Champions League, guaranteeing more games and more TV revenue. The rich get richer, the poor poorer.
United one of the first teams (after Spurs) to float on the stock exchange, making themselves richer and the poor poorer.

And Chelsea and City (and PSG) come along with a sugar daddy and United are one of the clubs demanding UEFA bring in Financial Fair Play - with the sole purpose of stopping clubs gatecrashing the party and feasting at the trough. Self preservation society. Huge debts (United, R Madrid, Barca) are acceptable, fresh money with no debts frowned upon.

You see, United (and Liverpool to an extent) engineered the situation to be able to obtain the money - yes legally, but ethically and morally at the expense of every other club. No other club outside United, Liverpool and maybe Arsenal were able to compete with them due to the engineering of taking the bigger slice of the cake leaving the rest fighting for the scraps. And when Chelsea and City came along, was it West Ham crying out, or Villa, or Stoke? No, it was United, Liverpool and Arsene Wenger screaming ''where's the level playing field? It's not fair''. You couldn't make it up!

Look at how many times United have broken the British transfer fee record. Yet ''Chelsea and City bought their titles'' that ''mean nothing'' to fans from outside those two clubs.
Your arrogance smacks of the very reason United fans are despised the world over. I know fans from lots of Premier League clubs and to a man they would love what happened at Chelsea and City to happen at their club. Ask a Coventry City fan, or a Portsmouth, Leeds and Forest fan right now who he (or she) would prefer to own their club right now! It wouldn't be the Glaser's, that's for sure!



You mentioned United and ''their history''....... the exact thing you spent years laughing at Liverpool fans for saying the same thing.... enjoy your history, as that is all you have at the moment and immediate future.

The Youtube clip does not work and nor does your reasoning which is very muddy from your obvious bias. Maybe you are the guy that Cantona kicked cause it would make sense. Hold on to those crutches mate!