Biggest brawls in Aussie sport’ countdown: 10. Battle of Windy Hill 1974 (Fox)

[one-eyed]

‘People are laid out everywhere’: Players, officials and kids – behind footy’s nastiest ever fight

May 6, 2020
David Zita
FOX SPORTS

As far as ‘all-ins’ go, the 1974 ‘Battle of Windy Hill’, which comes in at No.10 in foxsports.com.au’s ‘Biggest brawls in Aussie sport’ countdown, scarily had everything you could imagine.

Looking back on the infamous Round 7 clash between Richmond and Essendon nearly half a century later, former Tiger Mal Brown still remembers the half-time fight vividly.

“They reported everyone and a policeman’s horse trot on me,” 73-year-old Brown told foxfooty.com.au. “I couldn’t have played on the Saturday anyway I had hoof marks on my bloody leg!”

The carnage all started with an aside from Essendon runner Laurie Ashley towards Brown, renowned as one of the great football heavyweights of the ‘70s.

Brown’s recollection is he stood on Bomber Graeme ‘Jerker’ Jenkin after he’d taken a mark, leading to a push and shove and, eventually, Ashley to remonstrate. But they were only “smart-arse comments”.

Then business picked up.


The Battle of Windy Hill involved players, officials and fans. Picture: You Tube Source: YouTube

“(Bomber) John Cassin comes running round the boundary in a dressing gown — he was a reserve — he jumped in the air and he landed on top of me and we were basically on the ground. Then people started fighting from everywhere,” Brown said.

“There was cans thrown — I think one hit Brian Roberts in the nose — Stephen Parsons hit someone … It just escalated.”

But what made this infamous footy fight go down in footy folklore was the fact it wasn’t exclusive to players, as officials and fans jumped the fence to join in the action.

One of those officials was Richmond’s Graeme Richmond, who revealed the team ventured to Windy Hill that day with a view it was going to “win at any cost”. Well, “any cost” was putting it mildly.

“They’re all in. Look at this going on out here,” commentator Jack Edwards said at the time.

“Players are laid out, people are laid out everywhere.”


Graeme Richmond, pictured here leaving City Court, hit Essendon fitness adviser James Bradley while he lay on the ground, causing a broken jaw.Source: Herald Sun

“One of the nastiest things I’ve seen in football for years.”

Amid all the action stood six-year-old James Ferguson — a young Richmond supporter who was at Windy Hill for the first time but had lost sight of his family. As he walked with a policeman to try and find them, the duo got sucked into the eye of an ever-growing storm between the sides.

Ferguson found himself standing next to the limp body of Essendon fitness guru Jim Bradley, who had been king-hit by Tigers official Richmond before eventually being scooped up and returned to safety.

One absentee from the violence, however, was Tigers superstar Kevin Bartlett. And that was by his own choice, according to Brown.

“When we went up the race, Kevin Bartlett was up there. We used to have 20 squashes for each of us to get a drink and he’d already had three by the time we got up there,” Brown said.

[img wdth=400]https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/06c7107b3131b696a9fd500e20bf5540[/img]
Players, coaches, fans and officials were involved in the infamous fracas at Windy Hill.Source: News Corp Australia

“So there was 19 blokes looking for the squash and there was a couple missing.”

Richmond would go on to win the game by 10 points. But the fallout from the fight, understandably, was significant.

Essendon’s Ron Andrews was suspended for six games for striking Richmond’s Roberts, Bradley received a six-game penalty for striking Brown and Parsons received four weeks for his king-hit on Bradley.

Ashley, the runner whose comments ignited the on-field inferno, was rubbed out for six weeks and told by tribunal chairman John Winneke: “You have the dubious distinction, Mr Ashley, of starting off what can only be described as an unseemly brawl.”

For Brown, however, the tribunal turned out to be a silver lining.

“It was a terrific night, because they put us in a room and I rang everybody in Western Australia that I knew because we didn’t have to pay for the phone calls,” Brown said. “It was a great night!”


In 2004, former players Mal Brown and Ken Fletcher re-enacted their 1974 famous brawl at Windy Hill.Source: News Corp Australia

Even though Brown had a part to play in the fight’s commencement, he played a minimal role in the punches thrown as it escalated — something he remains adamant about to this day.

“I think I got a week because the judge said no one would believe us if you didn’t get a week,” he said.

“Everyone thought I was the instigator, which possibly was correct. But it wasn’t correct in relation to the punches. ‘We didn’t do nothing’, in my bad English.”

Still, despite the events of that now-infamous day at Windy Hill, the venue still holds a special place in Brown’s heart.

“Nearly all my mates since that incident have all been Essendon (players),” Brown said with a laugh.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/aussie-sporting-brawls-no10-people-are-laid-out-everywhere-inside-windy-hill-chaos-of-1974/news-story/69569db664c810380ccbc18383a0236a