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.
Years later appearing on the BBC, Cantona was asked what the highlight of his career was. He replied “When I did the kung fu kick on the hooligan… I think maybe it’s like a dream for some, you know sometimes to kick these kind of people. So I did it for them. So they are happy.”
So what do you think, did Cantona make you happy? Let us know in the comments…
We have produced some merch commemorating the occasion. Check it out here, along with books about football’s relationship with radical politics: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/football https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1906648862853588/?type=3