Discussion Windy Hill Brawl May 18 1974

[sherbrook]

Did anyone on here witness this brawl that occurred as the Essendon and Richmond players were coming off at half-time?

The Essendon physio had his jaw broken and some players actually ended up in court over the affair

Some of the participants were Mal Brown, Steve Parsons, Brian Roberts,Barry Grinter, Ron Andrews and John Cassin

Essendon defender Grinter was a serving member of Victoria Police at the time and actually made an arrest on the field

 

[Mero]

Mal Brown was virtually a non-participant, though he played a small part in the start.
Laurie Ashley the Essendon runner was gobbing off at Mal Brown about his willingness to grab Essendon ruckman Graeme Jenkin's privates in ruck contests .
Brown had a go back and moved towards Ashley. Some reports say he pushed him, others that he chested him, some say he punched him.
(Brown did get one week for striking Ashley, something he denies, even though he is usually fairly open and honest about who he has whacked and belted.)
John Cassin who was on a bench in a dressing gown ran out to Brown and grabbed him in a headlock and the two of them fell to the ground.
Realising Brown would probably kill him if he got off him, Cassin spent the whole of the brawl on the ground holding Brown down in the head lock.
Richmond players came in to defend Brown, Essendon players came in to defend Cassin.
Ronnie Andrews king hit Brian Roberts so hard he thought he'd been kicked by the police horse.

What you see of the brawl from the one camera Channel 7 had at Windy Hill in those days was the worst of it.
It's clear Steven Parsons king hits Essendon PE Instructor Jim Bradley while he is pushing and shoving with Graeme Richmond, Robert McGhie and Neil Busse (all except McGhie in street clothes).
The rest of what you see is what took place.
Lots of pushing and shoving, a few blokes letting a few go, and a bit of wrestling.
To be fair to Jack Edwards and his famous commentary, "players are laid out, people are laid out everywhere" from his view that was probably the case.
But realistically the only people on the ground were Jim Bradley, Brian Roberts, Alan Noonan and Laurie Fowler having their own wrestle and Cassin and Brown having a little bit of a cuddle. There was also Barry Grinter for Essendon who was, as mentioned, a copper and chased Steven Parsons down. He held Parsons on the ground and when a mounted policeman came up on his horse he told him to arrest him for assault. Parsons did get charged over it but eventually the charge was dropped.
For one thing Parsons was only 17 and would be charged as a minor.
They held the investigation into it and Andrews and Parsons got suspended for hitting people, Brown got suspended for assaulting Ashley. And the other suspensions were for being there, but not actually throwing punches.

 

[giggler99]

The channel 7 footage.

 

[sherbrook]

If you look closely at the footage, you might notice Brown carrying a lock of hair from Cassin's head, which enraged the Essendon camp.
Parsons had a brief but colourful VFL career to say the least

 

[bradrowe#32]

That was gutless by Parsons. Has he said anything publicly about the incident? Any regrets? It looks shocking.

 

[NotAMagpieBogan]

Can someone please point out which number Parsons was?

 

[benji2]

Can someone please point out which number Parsons was?

#39

 

[GrahamClayton]

At 0:18 in that clip, note the young boy who almost wanders into the middle of the melee, and is gently pushed away by one of the policemen