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Post by stigofthegas on Jul 27, 2018 23:02:34 GMT
A work colleague gave me a newspaper cutting today. It was basically a list of weird football facts......
”In 1997 five players were sent off in the league game between Wigan and Bristol Rovers, with Rovers playing the last 20 minutes of the match with only seven men.”
I have no recollection of this at all. Was anyone there? What happened?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2018 23:12:06 GMT
I watched it on teletext at Horfield Sports Centre.
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Post by cj on Jul 27, 2018 23:17:21 GMT
I wasnt there but I remember it well. It would have been abandoned if we had 1 more red! Big bust up before half time got majority of the reds. I cant remember who got red for us apart from Josh Low. For some reason I remember him.
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pirate
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Post by pirate on Jul 27, 2018 23:20:14 GMT
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Post by Wembley_Gas on Jul 28, 2018 0:54:54 GMT
I was at that game...the further north we drove the more likely we thought the game would be called off due to snow/frozen pitch. To our amazement the pitch was declared playable when every game within a fifty mile radius was called off. So we watched the bambi on ice show kick off and sure enough it was difficult for players to do the basics. Pritch went in for one sliding tackle and ended up bringing three players down because he just couldn't stop. Referee Lynch did not allow for the conditions and was firing off yellow cards like a six gun. Predictably Pritch slid through another challenge where it is possible some play acting helped induce the second yellow. Perry was always a nasty, feisty but slow defender and would probably have got sent off later anyway but he and the Wigan forward definitely tangled before a corner and were sent packing but to our amazement the ref also sent the mild mannered Tillson from the fray. I still have no idea why but you could sense the level of injustice the remaining eight were feeling. We battled well and Penrice hit the bar I recall, but eventually there were just too many open spaces to stop all their attacks. Josh Low, new to league football and a winger the fans failed to supply the support needed to have ensured a decent career at the Mem, was pressed into service as a makeshift fullback. Never intentioning anything other than winning the ball he mistimed a couple of tackles in quick succession as the pitch started to re-freeze, the second of these ended up with both players sliding off the pitch towards the advertising hoardings and Lynch brandished the red again. The guffaw from Beadle was audible as the incredulity set in. Rovers fans were discussing the possibility of an abandonment as apparently a game could not continue if five players from the same side were given their marching orders and it seemed that the players had some inkling of this. At the next break in play Lynch remarkably left the field. I doubt he's ever admitted why he did so but we all felt at the time that he was checking up on that exact scenario. When he came back on and restarted play he was a changed man and would not get his cards out of his pocket again, even when Beadle (playing centre half by now and already on a yellow) deliberately kicked the ball away as far as he could after the whistle had gone in order to induce the necessary fifth red.
Unsurprisingly Lynch was vilified for his performance, for allowing the game to be played, for not allowing for the conditions, for failing to spot when conditions had become farcical and for turning from a card happy clown into a see no evil hear no evil parody of a ref with twenty minutes to go. I would say the only sendings off he got right were those of Perry and Jones and even they might not have happened if he'd just told the Wigan play actor to get to his feet rather than send Pritch off.
Journey back on the motorway wasn't much fun either!
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Post by Jomo on Jul 28, 2018 1:28:05 GMT
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Post by gregsy on Jul 28, 2018 3:34:15 GMT
Christ, that was 21 years ago....
I think I really need to 'move on' psychologically and stop considering anything that happened since we moved to the mem as recent....
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Post by Antonio Fargas on Jul 28, 2018 7:30:36 GMT
Istr GD got called before the FA to explain his post-match comments, and no further action was taken. ie, I guess they must have agreed with him. www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-association-supports-referee-lynch-1286787.htmlThe Referees' Association has defended match official Kevin Lynch after he came under fire for sending off five players, including four from Bristol Rovers, during Tuesday night's Second Division game against Wigan at Springfield Park. Peter Willis, spokesman for the association, said he was "saddened" by comments made by Geoff Dunford, the Rovers vice-chairman, after the game. Dunford said: "To think that this man is on the Fifa list as a linesman. He is an absolute disgrace to professional football." I also recall we were famous for being a dirty team over the next few months. On A Question of Sport, their 'guess the athlete' section featured a dog-sled team, and on realising it was a load of dogs, Gary Lineker's guess was 'Is it Bristol Rovers?'
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Post by lastminutewinner on Jul 28, 2018 8:18:13 GMT
Christ, that was 21 years ago.... I think I really need to 'move on' psychologically and stop considering anything that happened since we moved to the mem as recent....
I know what you mean, I keep thinking of things that happened around the millennium as 'fairly recent' but is in fact far from it. Time flies eh!!
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Post by Wembley_Gas on Jul 28, 2018 8:25:25 GMT
Yes well that season Brian Gayle got sent off at Northampton for calling referee Scott Matheson a poison dwarf and Penrice got sent off for elbowing in the last regular match versus Brentford (we sent them down and made the playoffs where we lost to Northampton!) So we did rack up the sendings off that season and with Perry and Pritch in the side we were certainly no angels. lt was the following season though that seemed to cement the reputation, in the first match against Burnley Guy Ipoua should have been sent off a minute after coming on for his debut for an atrocious bit of foul play...but we dodged a bullet there only for a remarkable period of games....I think I'm right in saying that Mark Smith's first three starts for the club,whilst notable for the assured performances he put in, were also notable in that we finished each of the games with nine men! I seem to remember Lee Jones got sent off at Gillingham for running from his area to where the melee was in order to break it up only for the officials to see him as an aggressor! We also managed to win one of these games with a Jamie Shore snapshot against AFC Bournemouth , man of the match for me was Barry Hayles at right back!
Incidentally Lynch not only cost us any chance of a decent result at Wigan but also the next game against fellow promotion hopefuls Grimsby. With four suspensions to absorb the team we put out was threadbare and included youth product Luke Basford at full back and unfortunately Jack Lester and Kevin? Donavan tore him a new one that miserable Friday night.
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Post by Colyton Gas on Jul 28, 2018 8:38:50 GMT
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Post by Antonio Fargas on Jul 28, 2018 8:46:07 GMT
Now he's literally dining out on his controversy: kevin-lynch.co.uk/Click on biography, he actually boasts about the Wigan game. Seems like a proper lady garden.
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Post by piratesquarters on Jul 28, 2018 9:04:14 GMT
Didn't we have a game against York City, further back where there were a lot of sendings off?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2018 9:14:18 GMT
Wow, reading that referee’s website now he looks like he was thoroughly bent, especially as when he finished refereeing he was given a job at ... Wigan Athletic. I remember after that game Geoff Dunford going onto the radio and being furious with him
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Post by warehamgas on Jul 28, 2018 16:49:45 GMT
Didn't we have a game against York City, further back where there were a lot of sendings off? 1973/74. We lost 2-1 in late in the season we went up, March I think. Without checking think we had Kenny Stephens sent off. It was a controversial match with the ref losing it. Fortunately it didn’t cost us too much. UTG!
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Post by jonjames on Jul 28, 2018 17:01:00 GMT
I was at that game...the further north we drove the more likely we thought the game would be called off due to snow/frozen pitch. To our amazement the pitch was declared playable when every game within a fifty mile radius was called off. So we watched the bambi on ice show kick off and sure enough it was difficult for players to do the basics. Pritch went in for one sliding tackle and ended up bringing three players down because he just couldn't stop. Referee Lynch did not allow for the conditions and was firing off yellow cards like a six gun. Predictably Pritch slid through another challenge where it is possible some play acting helped induce the second yellow. Perry was always a nasty, feisty but slow defender and would probably have got sent off later anyway but he and the Wigan forward definitely tangled before a corner and were sent packing but to our amazement the ref also sent the mild mannered Tillson from the fray. I still have no idea why but you could sense the level of injustice the remaining eight were feeling. We battled well and Penrice hit the bar I recall, but eventually there were just too many open spaces to stop all their attacks. Josh Low, new to league football and a winger the fans failed to supply the support needed to have ensured a decent career at the Mem, was pressed into service as a makeshift fullback. Never intentioning anything other than winning the ball he mistimed a couple of tackles in quick succession as the pitch started to re-freeze, the second of these ended up with both players sliding off the pitch towards the advertising hoardings and Lynch brandished the red again. The guffaw from Beadle was audible as the incredulity set in. Rovers fans were discussing the possibility of an abandonment as apparently a game could not continue if five players from the same side were given their marching orders and it seemed that the players had some inkling of this. At the next break in play Lynch remarkably left the field. I doubt he's ever admitted why he did so but we all felt at the time that he was checking up on that exact scenario. When he came back on and restarted play he was a changed man and would not get his cards out of his pocket again, even when Beadle (playing centre half by now and already on a yellow) deliberately kicked the ball away as far as he could after the whistle had gone in order to induce the necessary fifth red. Unsurprisingly Lynch was vilified for his performance, for allowing the game to be played, for not allowing for the conditions, for failing to spot when conditions had become farcical and for turning from a card happy clown into a see no evil hear no evil parody of a ref with twenty minutes to go. I would say the only sendings off he got right were those of Perry and Jones and even they might not have happened if he'd just told the Wigan play actor to get to his feet rather than send Pritch off. Journey back on the motorway wasn't much fun either! That's an ace description. I was also there but totally forgot about Beadle kicking the ball away. I also remember we hit the post when down to 8 men (I think it was 2-1 at the time but can't be sure). I did enjoy going to Springfield Park way more than the JJB but then I've always preferred those smaller grounds where you can stand up.
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Post by hometobarnsley on Jul 28, 2018 17:51:07 GMT
Didn't we have a game against York City, further back where there were a lot of sendings off? 1973/74. We lost 2-1 in late in the season we went up, March I think. Without checking think we had Kenny Stephens sent off. It was a controversial match with the ref losing it. Fortunately it didn’t cost us too much. UTG! From memory, we were a goal down for quite a lot of the match. Had Kenny and Bruce sent off. Got a late equaliser and got beat by a controversial very late penalty. Referee seemed to be determined that we would lose whatever. Think the sendings off were Bruce first, then the equaliser then Kenny off for disputing the pen. Could be slightly wrong, memory not what it was.
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Post by piratesquarters on Jul 28, 2018 18:47:18 GMT
Cheers, both. my ageing memory thought it more than two players.
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