Manchester derby bust-up is nothing new… I remember lights going out in one scrap and when back on everyone had cuts and bruises
SunSport columnist and Brighton striker says tunnel fracas are nothing new and a product of players' desperation to win
I WAS a little surprised by the furore over the post-match confrontation at Old Trafford last Sunday as these kind of incidents have always been a part of our game.
Go back to 2005 and there was an insight into football which both shocked and thrilled people caught by the TV cameras.
A furious Roy Keane stormed down the tunnel at Highbury and told Patrick Vieira exactly what he thought of him.
“Pick on someone your own size,” Keane bellowed at the Arsenal captain after he had been giving Gary Neville some.
Two midfield generals going head-to-head before a ball was kicked made for an enthralling watch and set the tone for the game and for two clubs that were dominating English football at the time.
Fast forward 12 years and the way the game is played has changed significantly — but the rivalries and the determination to succeed remain.
Latest football news
And if you strip everything back you are left with players who are desperate to win a game and riled if they haven’t.
That was the case last Sunday when the action was gripping enough — never mind that afterwards things were thrown and Mikel Arteta suffered a cut to his head. But it was all probably just fisticuffs.
MANC WARS Why tunnel bust-up was down to rivalry that goes deeper than derby game
These scenes may be a bit unfamiliar to fans but they can be common. More so verbal exchanges but it happens.
Stadium tunnels are often tight and filled with testosterone. With that combination of a confined space and emotions running high you get the ideal scenario for confrontation.
One of the worst I have been involved in was in 2013 when I was playing for Crystal Palace at Huddersfield and one of our players got caught with an elbow during the game, fracturing his cheekbone and breaking his nose.
The referee took no action at the time, we lost the game and to say we felt angry and aggrieved is an understatement.
Come the final whistle there was a lot of frustration and anger and, as both teams and coaching staff bottlenecked into the tunnel, the arguments spilled over into pushing and shoving.
My memory is of one of our lads knocking the lights out and when they came back on there were cuts and bruises on both sides.
Most read in football
When we got back in the changing rooms the adrenalin was pumping and, after going through a sticky patch where we had got eight points from as many games, that coming-together bonded us as a group.
In fact, it spurred us on to get ten points from our next four fixtures and was a real turning point in our season that went on to be very successful.
Funnily enough, we bumped into a couple of the players who were involved back at the hotel but by then tempers had cooled and just a few glares were exchanged.
In some ways our game is becoming more sterile by the season, so to see players exhibiting that passion for their job in the tunnel — where fans can’t see — is proof of how much it means to them and how much they care.