Top red mist moments in sporting history.

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Devill

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Who needs the movies when you've got sport? Who needs fiction when you've got the actual, factual fist-flinging foolishness of the world's top sportsmen?

Whether it's Zinedine Zidane's World Cup headbutt, Inzamam-ul-Haq's bat-wielding breakdown or Nelson Piquet's post-crash flick-flacks, sport's lethal brew of testosterone, adrenaline and raw emotion seldom fails to produce moments of outrageously violent acts.

"Why'd they do that?" the commentators cry.
"What was he thinking?" the sportswriters wail.
"Now that's entertainment," the sports fans smile.

Here are 10 of sport's most spectacular (and most painful) moments of madness...


ERIC CANTONA
English Premiership 1995
You've probably seen the TV footage about a bazillion times, but it's still impossible, when viewing the visuals of Manchester United's short-fused French superstar leaping feet-first into the Selhurst Park crowd, to not wonder what the hell the man was thinking.

It happened during a routine Premiership match against Crystal Palace. Cantona - who'd always had a bit of a problem with discipline - was sent off for kicking Palace defender Richard Shaw. As Cantona trudged off to the dressing room, yobbo Palace fan Matthew Simmons yelled a few choice words (his exact phrasing remains a mystery) at the Frenchman. Tick. Tick. Boom.

In a moment of madness that makes Zidane look relatively level-headed, Cantona launched a two-footed, chest-high kung-fu kick at the hooligan fan.

The Fallout: Cantona was suspended from soccer for eight months. But his refusal to apologise, and his bizarre explanation - his only words at the post-match press conference were: "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea" - sent the British press into hyperdrive.


INDIANA PACERS
NBA 2004
It was the day NBA players got tired of punching each other, and turned on the crowd instead. And thanks to the copyright-infringing, bandwidth-busting beauty of YouTube, the brawl-that-turned-into-a-brawl can be streamed and viewed in all its online glory.

With only 45.9 seconds left to play at Michigan's Palace of Auburn Hills, and the Indiana Pacers holding an unassailable 97-82 lead over rivals the Detroit Pistons, the Pistons' Ben Wallace was fouled by the Pacers' Ron Artest. Wallace shoved Artest. Artest shoved Wallace. Everybody started shoving everybody. And that's when things turned weird.

Artest snuck away from the scene of the crime and - inexplicably - lay down on the scorers' table. A Pistons fan threw a cup of coffee at him, and he responded by charging into the crowd and klapping the fi rst person he ran into. His Pacers teammates then joined in the fray, the on-court scuffl e spilled over into the stands, and - with the ESPN commentator weeping, "This is a low point in NBA history" - the game was abandoned.

The Fallout: Nine fans were injured, nine players were suspended and, eventually, the Pacers were awarded a 97-82 win. But - for better or worse - the 'Malice at the Palace' gave the tired old NBA some much-needed regular-season media coverage


INZAMAM-UL-HAQ
Sahara Cup 1997
Eric Cantona's infamous kung-fu-kicking crowd invasion may have won the headlines, but Inzy's red mist rampage combined horror and comedy to create cricket's ultimate jaw-dropping moment. It happened during the second 1997/98 Sahara Cup ODI between old foes India and Pakistan, at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club. Indian fan Shiv Kumar Thind had smuggled a megaphone into the ground, and spent the entire match broadcasting insults at the Pakistani players. Tubby Pakistani skipper Inzamam bore the brunt of the abuse, with Thind repeatedly calling him 'mota aaloo' ('fat potato'). When the insults eventually turned to 'sara alloo' ('rotten potato'), Inzy cracked.

The big fella jumped over the boundary fence, stormed into the stands and climbed over several rows of seats before grabbing the megaphone and beating seven shades out of the loudmouthed fan. He then stopped, returned to the fi eld and collected a cricket bat (kindly supplied by 12th man Mohammad Hussain) before lumbering back up the pavilion to finish the job.

The Fallout: Inzy was banned for two matches. He mumbled a half-hearted apology, explaining that "inside me there is a vulnerable soul".


EDDIE MERCKX
Tour de France 1975
Before Lance Armstrong there was Eddie Merckx. And before security guards, there was the 1975 Tour de France. The Belgian superstar cyclist won fi ve Tours de France, and looked well set for a sixth until French national pride - and a well-placed Gallic fi st - intervened. During Stage 14's notorious climb to Puy de Dome, a French spectator leapt from the crowd and - determined to prevent Merckx from breaking Frenchman Jacques Anquetil's record of five Tours - punched the Belgian in the kidneys. Merckx was badly winded, and barely managed to finish the stage.

The Fallout: Merckx never recovered from the blow. He broke his jaw in a collision with Danish cyclist Ole Ritter at the start of Stage 17, and quickly faded from the summit of pro cycling.


TIE DOMI
NHL 2001
Ice hockey bad boy Tie Domi was, it's fair to say, not well liked by opposition fans. In the 1997/98 NHL season the Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer spent a record 365 minutes in the sin bin, and in the 2001 Eastern Conference Semifinals he knocked New Jersey Devils defender Scott Niedermayer out cold with an elbow to the head. So when Domi squirted a water bottle at a group of heckling Philadelphia Flyers fans in 2001, one irate (and slightly drunk) fan leapt into the players' area to take him on. Only thing is... the fl oor was slippery, and the fan was none too steady on his feet. The fan slipped, slid, and fell on his face... and Domi skated over and beat him where he lay.

The Fallout: The fan was kicked out of the stadium, and Domi was fined. "When fans try to get involved in our work, they gotta be ready to pay the price," he snarled.


TY COBB
MLB 1912
Baseball's greatest nutter wasn't much of a people's person. Instead of sliding in for base, for example, Ty Cobb would slide-tackle the baseman - spikes first. So as you can imagine, he didn't take kindly to hecklers. During a game for the Detroit Tigers against the New York Highlanders, Cobb faced a torrent of abuse from Highlanders fan Claude Lueker. Things turned ugly when Lueker hurled a nasty racial slur at 'The Georgia Peach', and an incensed Cobb climbed into the stands to start punch the living daylights out of him.

Lueker, who was wheelchair-bound and who'd lost eight fingers in an industrial accident, couldn't defend himself, so (in the words of the New York Times) "jabs bounded off his face like a golf ball from a rock". When a horrified fan told Cobb that Leuker was a 'cripple' and had no arms, Cobb replied that he'd have beaten the blazes out of him even if he'd had no legs too.

The Fallout: Cobb was suspended indefinitely, prompting strike action from his Tigers team-mates. The Detroit team owner was forced to sign up a raft of local amateurs for their next game, which ended in a humiliating 24-2 defeat to Philadelphia. The end result was that Cobb's punishment was hastily reduced to a 10-day suspension and a $50 fine. Cobb's protesting team-mates, incidentally, were each fined $100.


MINNA WILSON
British Heavyweight Title Bout 1989
As the psychos say, a boy's best friend is his mother. In September 1989, British light heavyweight hopeful Tony Wilson was being dealt the pounding of a lifetime by former Olympic boxer Steve McCarthy. While Wilson was leaning back against the ropes, his 62-year-old mother Minna climbed up to the side of the ring and started hitting McCarthy on the head with her stiletto shoe. The series of staccato tap-tap-taps opened a wound on McCarthy's head that needed four stitches to close.

The Fallout: A bloodied McCarthy refused to continue the fight, so victory - incredibly - was awarded to Wilson. Boxing's biggest mama's boy was duly kicked and punched by the outraged crowd as he slunk back to his dressing room.


CORNE KRIGE
Super 12 2004
We could forget the 2002 Twickenham punch-up. We could forgive the ill-considered Kamp Staaldraad defence. But when Springbok and Stormers skipper Corne Krige pulled a Zidane during the Super 12 game against the Chiefs, it was one meltdown too many for South African rugby fans. The Stormers looked set for a Super 12 semi-final spot, and Krige looked set for a glorious farewell to South African rugby. But then he suffered the biggest brain-fart of his career: with the cameras rolling and the rugby world watching, Krige leaned over and head-butted Chiefs centre Keith Lowen. Twice.

The Fallout: Krige was banned for the rest of the season, and never played for the Stormers again.
Click to expand...
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Devill

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NELSON PIQUET
German Grand Prix 1982
You know how you feel when somebody cuts you off in traffic? You know your road rage reaction when some clown in a slower car won't move out of the overtaking lane? Multiply that by a thousand, and you'll understand Nelson Piquet's German GP meltdown.

The reigning world champ was leading the race, and was about to lap Chilean plodder Eliseo Salazar at the newly-installed Ostkurve chicane. Suddenly - and inexplicably - Salazar cut him off, causing a clumsy collision and putting both drivers out of the race. Piquet was furious. He leapt from his busted Brabham, charged over to Salazar and started slapping the Chilean's helmeted head. After a failed (and frankly hilarious) attempt to kick Salazar in the crotch, Piquet was eventually shepherded away by race marshals.

The Fallout: A van arrived to take Piquet back to the pits... but who should be waiting for him in the back seat but his old buddy Salazar? The flappy-armed fistfight started up again, and when the driver came running around to separate the squabbling racers, Piquet snuck around to the driver's seat, hijacked the van and drove away - leaving Salazar and the driver with a long, lonely walk back to the paddocks.

COLIN MEADS
Test Match 1968
In New Zealand, former All Blacks captain 'Pinetree' Meads is remembered as the NZRFU Player of the Century. Everywhere else, he's remembered as a great big dirty cheat. During a 1968 Test against Australia - back in a time most old folks like to remember for the sport's 'simplicity' and 'honesty' - Meads committed one of rugby's most squirm-worthy, wince-inducing atrocities.

Wallabies scrumhalf Ken Catchpole got himself caught at the bottom of a ruck, and Meads, smelling blood and sensing an opportunity to both free the ball and dismember an opponent, came lumbering into the picture. He grabbed Catchpole's leg and pulled it, twisted it and pulled it some more... despite the toe-curling howls of the stricken halfback. By the time Meads was done, Catchpole's groin had been ruptured beyond recognition and his hamstring had been torn clean off the bone.

The Fallout: This was the days before TV replays and citing committees, so Meads walked away unpunished. Catchpole barely walked again... but he would have enjoyed a quiet smile when, during the All Blacks' 1970 tour of South Africa, Meads had his arm intentionally broken by one of our justice-dealing provincial players.
- by Mark van Dijk -
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Wow, first time I heard of some of these :eek:
 
APoc184

APoc184

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I will be searching the net for the videos. Would be great to see the videos as well. Some of them are pretty old so don't know if it will be up.
I only really recall Krige, Inzamam
 
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Devill

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APoc84 said:
I will be searching the net for the videos. Would be great to see the videos as well. Some of them are pretty old so don't know if it will be up.
I only really recall Krige, Inzamam
Click to expand...

If you find any post them here :D
 
APoc184

APoc184

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Here is the first one: Eric Cantona's Kung Fu Kick

Eric_Cantona_183290g.jpg


and the video:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x668dl_manchester-united-eric-cantona-kung_sport
 
H

hoegh

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who remembers merv hughes hitting a fan with a bat at wanderers?
 
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