"Battle of Britain" 30 years on Carlton v Nth Melb , The Oval London

[Collingwood 4 eternity]

Great read on this infamous match back in 1987 by Rohan Connolly on his website Footyology , mostly remembered for Alistair Clarkson whacking Ian Aitkin

http://www.footyology.com.au/thirty-years-on-an-anniversary-theyd-rather-not-remember/

Thirty years on, an anniversary they’d rather not remember

Rohan Connolly

Some football anniversaries are days when those who run the game can puff their chests out full of pride. Others they’d prefer might just slip past unnoticed. And it’s fair to say October 11 is one of the latter, particularly this year.

Wednesday marks 30 years to the day Carlton and North Melbourne played a supposed “friendly” at the Oval in London so spiteful and loaded with unsavoury incident that it became known as the “Battle of Britain”.

 

[Luv_our_club]

Was around the time Carlton were trying to buy North? Or was that later?

 

[ApplecrossWC]

BRING BACK THE BIFF

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Who cares? 30 years ago, a game of little or no significance. This is a game which really SHOULD be forgotten, not recalled. Methinks just another lame reason for a journo to take yet another swipe at Clarkson.

 

[Collingwood FC]

Who cares? 30 years ago, a game of little or no significance. This is a game which really SHOULD be forgotten, not recalled. Methinks just another lame reason for a journo to take yet another swipe at Clarkson.

Turn it up princess, people should remember what a sad angry little man he is...has a fair rap sheet to prove it. Great coach, s**t bloke.

 

[Rezza Tiger]

Who cares? 30 years ago, a game of little or no significance. This is a game which really SHOULD be forgotten, not recalled. Methinks just another lame reason for a journo to take yet another swipe at Clarkson.

Clarko deserves every little swipe he gets for that. Absolute dog act that reflects his personality. The sort of person who will have a potshot at someone and then slam the door so they don't have a chance to face him. As for the game it is significant and will be remembered and recalled.

 

[Pack Specialist]

Who cares? 30 years ago, a game of little or no significance. This is a game which really SHOULD be forgotten, not recalled. Methinks just another lame reason for a journo to take yet another swipe at Clarkson.

30 years on and it is football folklore.

So heaps of people care.

Get over it.

 

[wagstaff]

Iirc, these post-season overseas matches lasted well into the 2000s. Amazing in an era where State Of Origin had ended because clubs didn’t want to risk it these nonsense matches were still being played.

 

[Nostradumbass]

Who's head got shoved into a bin? A great moment in the sport.

 

[Collingwood 4 eternity]

Who's head got shoved into a bin? A great moment in the sport.

Sticks Kernahan

 

[Wallaby]

Iirc, these post-season overseas matches lasted well into the 2000s. Amazing in an era where State Of Origin had ended because clubs didn’t want to risk it these nonsense matches were still being played.

SOO - in season. 44 top players. Star player gets injured - misses AFL matches.

Overseas junkets - after end of season. 2 or 3 stars, lots of fill-ins. Reserve player on junket gets injured - late start to next pre-season.

 

[Gydafud]

Some interesting insight in this video. Funny that the blokes involved are all very cheerful about the whole thing...

 

[Gavin Excell]

Clarko deserves every little swipe he gets for that. Absolute dog act that reflects his personality. The sort of person who will have a potshot at someone and then slam the door so they don't have a chance to face him. As for the game it is significant and will be remembered and recalled.

What happened to Aitken post his jaw being broken

He played in the 1987 flag but not sure was the player he was following the incident

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Who cares? 30 years ago, a game of little or no significance. This is a game which really SHOULD be forgotten, not recalled. Methinks just another lame reason for a journo to take yet another swipe at Clarkson.

Jesus, paranoid much

Yes, I'm sure Rohan Connally sits around thinking of ways to take swipes at Alistair Clarkson, then spends hours writing and publishing an article to achieve this.

 

[Cursed Cat]

Clarko deserves every little swipe he gets for that. Absolute dog act that reflects his personality. The sort of person who will have a potshot at someone and then slam the door so they don't have a chance to face him. As for the game it is significant and will be remembered and recalled.

Brings to mind some of Leigh Mathews' more unsavoury coward punches..

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

Didn't Robert Walls thrown a phone a Kennedy this day?
Blues went over for a junket, north were told to prove themselves, few people covered themselves in glory that day

 

[Drexl 31]

Turn it up princess, people should remember what a sad angry little man he is...has a fair rap sheet to prove it. Great coach, s**t bloke.

Well said. Fully agree. Never forget when Alastair Clarkson put two men on Fevola on 99 goals late in the match when Franklin had already kicked his 100th in the same game and the match was well beyond Carlton's reach. S..t bloke is a compliment.

 

[PenfoldsFan]

Well said. Fully agree. Never forget when Alastair Clarkson put two men on Fevola on 99 goals late in the match when Franklin had already kicked his 100th in the same game and the match was well beyond Carlton's reach. S..t bloke is a compliment.

Lol, yeah one of them is a 4x premiership coach and the other is...forgotten by most.

Pressure point, pressure point...

 

[StevenwellerHFC]

I enjoy watching it.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Iirc, these post-season overseas matches lasted well into the 2000s. Amazing in an era where State Of Origin had ended because clubs didn’t want to risk it these nonsense matches were still being played.

They weren't sending full strength sides by the 2000s.

 

[Sttew]

I loved the side story about the painted CUB logo on the oval. Jim Buckley worked for CUB and didn't like the logo painting by the locals so he went to the paint shop bought paint and a broom. Turns out he was sold a glossy oil paint by mistake and it took months for it to disappear, not to mention footballers traipsing paint into the club rooms.

A couple of months later England was playing India or some other country at The Oval, and you could see the outline of the CUB / Fosters logo, prompting John Elliot to declare, "We got our money's worth out of this promotion".

 

[MUFKilda]

I've seen the highlights on You Tube - it was carnage. I saw an interview with one of the Carlton players who said they were just there for a good time and had been drunk for a couple of weeks, after winning the Grand Final; however, the North team were determined to play seriously and things quickly spilled over. Some of the punches were GBH.

 

[kriles76]

Well said. Fully agree. Never forget when Alastair Clarkson put two men on Fevola on 99 goals late in the match when Franklin had already kicked his 100th in the same game and the match was well beyond Carlton's reach. S..t bloke is a compliment.

Sorry champ, but Clarkson had nothing to do with it. The players took it upon themselves. In the 2008 period, Roughead often went back to defence in the last few minutes of each quarter to bottle things up and make sure the opposition didn't score.

 

[gavaniacono]

Happened to be at this game with some Wolverampton supporters who were also working in London. I didnt think much of the biffo at the time. Looked regulation stuff to me. The 2 wolves folk thought it marvellous. There was a fair bit of local press the next day from memory. Twas a good advert for the game. Should be more of it.

 

[EDFL follower]

What happened to Aitken post his jaw being broken

He played in the 1987 flag but not sure was the player he was following the incident

I think that incident affected him. From memory he won the rising star or whatever it was called in those days. By the mid 90s he was coaching Phillip Island. IIRC he hit the behind post in the dying moments of the grand final that they lost by 1 point to Wonthaggi Rovers. Pretty sure that was 1994.