On this day, 25 January 1995, Manchester United footballing legend Eric Cantona kung fu kicked a fascist football hooligan, Matthew Simmons, during a match against Crystal Palace.
Simmons, who attended far-right National Front and British National Party rallies and has a raft of violent convictions including attacking a football coach who called him “Nazi scum”, allegedly heckled Cantona as a “foreigner”.
Cantona’s maternal grandfather was from Barcelona, and fought against the forces of fascist General Franco during the Spanish civil war, before being forced to flee to France after the nationalist victory.
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