Human Behavior

[arana peligrosa]

Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the Eric Cantona incident at Crystal Palace.

In short - on the 25th Janaury 1995 at Selhurst Park stadium, South London, the often questional behavior of the Frenchman was taken to a new level after a spontaneous attack on an opposition fan in the stands. No need to really elaborate as sure many will remember the incident but can't believe 20 years have passed since that night.

The fallout was, Cantona was first given a two week jail order, which was then reduced to community service, a twenty thousand pound fine by the Football Assocation, and a nine month exclusion from the game. He also was dropped as captain from the France national team.

In the time away from the game, Cantona made a few television commercials and presented an (at the time) ambiguous philosophy about sardines and seagulls (an attack on the media) before returning to a heroes welcome later that year (1995) and by the end of season had scored the winning goal in the FA Cup Final..

This is not to condone his actions - I don't endorse any such behavior from a 'professional' player - but 20 years on from the day - many will remember when they first learned about this incident.

[marko69]

I certainly do not condone this sort of behaviour, not just from a professional person in the media, but from anyone......., and Cantona, (at the time) was very remorseful for his actions......., BUT, I must say, to be driven to that kind of reaction, (Like Zidane in the world cup final) there must've been some healthy provocation. DEFINITELY do not condone Cantonas actions, but the "fan" more than likely deserved it. Not trying to be controversial or anything, I just believe that the "fan" hit a nerve. Cantona shouldn't have reacted, but he is human at the end of the day.

Edit: Cannot believe its 20 Years, Saint Jude. Wow.

[The Don]

20 years Jesus, I'm getting old.

I remember watching this happen as a kid and it doesn't get any less shocking to see it. There is no way he should have reacted like that and as has been rightly said, it shouldn't be condoned.

However..........

Working in the world that I do, I understand how certain things can take someone past "that" point. When all rational goes out the window and you just snap. Everyone is capable of it, you just need to press the right buttons. Zidane being a prime example.

I've never had the privilege of meeting Cantona, but I believe he genuinely regrets it. Thankfully he came back to the game and continued to be remembered for more than just that moment.

[Bluemike]

20 years !!!! I am definitely getting old, christ I will be 30 soon.

[The Don]

Me and you both Mike

[hallamblue]

Blimey! Seemed to be only a couple of years ago.

[arana peligrosa]

here is an article taken from a magazine upon the incident that night :

'Sent off for a snide kick on Crystal Palace's Richard Shaw during a bad-temprered league game, Manchester Uniteds Eric Cantona is on his way to the tunnel when he hears Palace supporter Matt Simmonds screaming abuse from the crowd. Reports vary as to what Simmonds actually shouts but according to Cantona it is something to do with France. And Cantona's mother. The player leaps over the advertising hoardings and aims a flying kick at Simmonds followed by several punches'

One of the UK's leading news publications (and I will always remember this) wrote a front page special titled - 'Madman Cantona kicks fan in throat' - the following morning, an all to familiar story of desperate media hacks trying their best for a story and exaggeration of events, and furthermore, was it really a kung-fu kick as we always recognize it ? Anyone can leap into a situation feet first, it doesn't make you Jean Claude Van Damme.

Simmons incidentally, was given a life expulsion from Selhurst Park when all was said and done. Ok what he did was wrong, but what he called out was at worst xenophobic, and you're always going to get unsavory chants from some section of support at games, what made it worse was that it caused such an uproar at the time and Simmonds got much more attention than he probably deserved. If Cantona had simply called back and entered the tunnel, no more would have been made of it.

In the subsequent years we've seen other incidents where fans and players have an altercation but 99 per cent of the time it's a 'supporter' from the crowd confronting a player. Just imagine if Simmonds had entered the field and took a kick at Cantona instead.. I think in retrospect both parties were too harshly dealt with. Both Cantona and supporter made a mistake, but to expel the latter from the stadium for life and give the other a nine month ban from the game (he would hardly miss the fine) seemed a bit too much. Unfortunately moments such as this are easily acted upon hence the title.

One other thing was that while Manchester United lost both league and cup that year (1995) due to Cantona's antics, they were without a number of other key players for the FA Cup Final (I should know, I was there) and had so many chances to win the league championship that season, you can't put blame on the shoulders of one individual alone. As all will be aware, a few short weeks after the game, on a visit to Manchester, Ipswich lost by a 9 - 0 score with the player now excluded. Was it that Town were simply that bad around that time, or Manchester United (provoked by the incident) were looking to give someone a beating out of sight and we were the unfortunate team that happened to be in the their way when the time arose. If Cantona had been in the side that day and more to the point, if the Palace incident had never occured, I'd like to believe we would have left Manchester that day in a much better condition. Unfortunately we'll never know.

[number 9]

Cantona is certainly one of my all time favorite players. I'll always remeber him sticking his chest out and turning to the crowd after scoring a brilliant goal. Alas, the Kung fu kick was probably not one of his best moments. 20 years! God I'm old!