The Big Match Revisited 3.10.1976 Brighton Crystal Palace

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In October 1976, Brighton drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace in Division Three at the Goldstone. It was the first of Albion’s first five clashes with the Eagles that season. Brighton manager Alan Mullery was far from happy after his high-flying team let a point slip to old rivals Palace. “We should have won: we had a lot more chances” he said. And he blamed Albion’s lost impetus on two smoke bombs thrown onto the pitch in the second half. They held up play for a couple of minutes  “and the game went dead after that,” complained Mullery. But a crowd of 27,059 obviously enjoyed a duel that was a credit to the Third Division. Brighton striker Peter Ward, rapidly becoming one of the hottest properties in the lower divisions, was a constant menace to Palace. This $4,000 bargain from Burton Albion has plenty of skill and is always involved. Brighton had by far the better half with Ian Mellor, Brian Horton and Ward prominent in their flowing movements. But they missed the contructive skills of the injured Welsh international Peter O’Sullivan. Palace ‘keeper Paul Hammond made several fine saves and one real sizzler – when he shot rund the post.

It must have been a bit of a shock to Albion when Palace took the lead in the first minute of the second half. Dave Swindlehurst’s pass set up the chance and Jim Cannon shot hard and low past Peter Grummitt in the Brighton goal. But it brought swift response from Brighton and six minutes later they were level from a move that started with a Dennis Burnett free-kick to Harry Wilson. Wilson’s centre was flicked on by the busy Ward, and ‘Keeper Hammond could only push the ball into the path of defender Ken Sansom, who put it into his own net. It was bad luck for Sansom who had defended strongly. Palace played well as a team, and manager Terry Venables was well satisfied with the point. Barry Silkman, drafted in to replace the now departed Peter Taylor, did not get much chance to shine. He was injured in the second half and replaced by Phil Holder. Mullery could not help joking afterwards when he said: “I wonder if those smoke bombs were a move by Venners!” But the last laugh was nearly on Brighton. In the closing stages Swindlehurst broke through and Grummitt had to produce the save of the day to tip his fierce drive over the bar. 

Palace – Hammond; Wall, Sansom, Connon, Jump, Evans, Chatterton, Hinshelwood, Perrin, Swindlehurst, Silkman. Sub: Holder.

Brighton – Grummitt; Tiler, Wilson, Horton, Rollings, Cross, Fell, Ward, Mellor, Piper, Burnett. Sub: Cattlin

Brighton Crystal Palace Rivalry

Crystal Palace versus Brighton games were popular with the crowds owing to direct railway line between East Croydon and Brighton, but that did not extend to the rivalry and bile we see today. That all changed in August 1974. Palace had just suffered back-to-back relegations from top flight to third tier and as a result, were one of the biggest clubs in the division. They were expecting to challenge for an immediate return to Division Two under the management of the flamboyant Malcolm Allison. Allison brought his Eagles to the Goldstone on the opening day of the 1974-75 season, but things did not go their way – Ian Mellor scored the only goal of the game on his debut to give Peter Taylor’s Brighton victory. The crowd of 26,235 was the Goldstone’s biggest for several years and was swelled by a significant contingent from Croydon. Despite a police operation involving 85 officers, dogs, horses and motorbikes, there were still 20 arrests and outbreaks of violence as rival fans clashed. Palace’s next visit to the Goldstone came the following season, by which point the Albion were in the process of developing themselves a new nickname. Every time the Palace supporters in the 33,300 that had packed into the Goldstone on February 24th 1976 gave their way cry of “Eagles! Eagles!”, the home fans responded with a cry of their own – “Seagulls! Seagulls!”

A group of Albion fans led by Lee Phillips and including future director Derek Chapman had come up with the chant in a West Street pub and it rapidly caught on as Sammy Morgan scored twice to give Brighton a 2-0 win. That victory ensured that Brighton ended the campaign in fourth place in the Division Three standings, one spot higher than Palace. Both sides looked well positioned for a promotion push in 1976-77, but they first had to overcome the losses of their managers that summer. Taylor resigned citing his failure to win promotion in two seasons at the helm. Allison meanwhile was sacked, partly due to his off-the-field antics, which rather brilliantly included getting himself photographed in the team bath with porn star Fiona Richmond. Both clubs settled on former Tottenham Hotspur players to take the reigns, which is really where the fun began. For Palace, that was Allison’s assistant, Terry Venables. For Brighton, chairman Mike Bamber turned to Alan Mullery. Two clubs with a simmering rivalry now had two managers in charge who hated each other, a situation that had developed a decade previously when Mullery was handed the Spurs captaincy by Bill Nicholson over Venables.

Mansfield Town ended that 1976-77 season as Division Three champions but both Brighton and Palace followed them into Division Two, the Albion as runners up and the Eagles two points back in third. The league meetings saw a 1-1 draw at the Goldstone – a game in which Mullery had to appeal for calm after smoke bombs were launched onto the pitch – and a 3-1 win for Palace at Selhurst. There were also three meetings in the FA Cup played in front of near-30,000 crowds. The first was a 2-2 draw at the Goldstone and the replay was another stalemate, this time 1-1 at Selhurst. That necessitated a second replay, eventually held at neutral Stamford Bridge on Monday 6th December 1976 after two previous attempts to get the game played had fallen to waterlogged pitches. And it was here that the Brighton – Crystal Palace rivalry was elevated to the levels of bitterness we see today. Paul Holder put Palace ahead and Peter Ward had a perfectly good goal disallowed for handball, with Eagles defender Jim Cannon confessing afterwards that Ward had only handled because he had pushed the Albion striker. Still, Brighton would have another chance to get back into the game when they were awarded a penalty 12 minutes from time.

Brian Horton duly converted, only for referee Ron Challis to make him retake the spot kick because of encroachment – from Palace players, who therefore had gained no advantage which should have meant the goal stood. Needless to say, Horton’s second effort was kept out by Paul Hammond and the Albion were out of the cup. Mullery was far from impressed as he confronted “Challis of the Palace” afterwards and his mood was not improved when an Eagles fan then threw a cup of coffee at him as he headed down the tunnel. Now absolutely fuming, Mullery pulled a load of change out of his pocket and threw it on the floor while shouting “That’s all you’re worth, Crystal Palace,” and flicking V’s at any Palace fans in the general vicinity. Mullery was not done there either and he stormed into the Palace changing room, this time throwing a fiver on the floor and telling Venables that was what his team was worth, before being led away by police. Mullery was later fined £100 for this fantastic meltdown.

George Best Red Card

The idea of using red and yellow cards by referees was credited to Ken Ashton. An Englishman, he had refereed at the top level and was well-versed in the problems refs had communicating with players, particularly when differing languages were concerned. As he was driving down Kensington High Street in London a traffic light in front of him turned red. He thought what was good enough for the traffic would be perfect for referees -  'Yellow, take it easy; red, stop, you're off’. The cards were trialled at the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico and it was on Saturday October 2nd 1976 that they were introduced to the Football League when two players were red-carded. The first was David Wagstaff of Blackburn Rovers after 36 minutes of their Second Division match at Orient after arguing with the ref. The second came in the 67th minute of another Second Division match when a Fulham player was red-carded for foul language at Southampton. That Fulham player was George Best - guess which player got the most publicity!