The ugly side of Arsenal vs Manchester United

Once upon a time, in a time not so long ago, Arsenal vs Manchester United used to be the highlight fixture of the season. Ferocious. Highly-emotional. Some of the words used to describe these games by Sir Alex himself.

And rightfully so. The intense and passionate rivalry was unparalleled in world football at the time as the two clubs went on to grab the seven Premier League titles between them from 1998-2004; Arsenal three and United four.

At times it almost seemed that the sole motive of each club was to get one better over the other; that each had a grip of the other’s collar, ready to get into another bout of boxing at the drop of a hat.Controversies, and more controversies followed each game. There were figurative boxing matches in the form of pre and post -match comments; then there were literal boxing matches on the field with punches being not the only thing thrown at each other.

the word passion seemed underwhelming when used in context with this game. And this was personified and epitomised by two generals on the battle-field, the commanders of their sides; Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira.

Boy din’t they wear their hearts on their sleeves. The two men symbolised their clubs, their ambitions; fought for their team mates, protecting them, standing up for them. Like every great leader does.

The El Clasico is reminiscent of the Arsenal – United rivalry in contemporary football; but it has its own backstory, involving the two managers and a fierce competition between arguably the two best players on the planet. With money ruling the sport more than ever, and the subsequent rise of two clubs with a seemingly endless pit full of money, Chelsea and Manchester City, the same passion seems to be lacking in the English game.

Now the passion in these games did not always lead to great sights, in fact most of it were ugly, but then it invoked a sense of pride, loyalty and belonging to the fans and players alike among the two clubs.

Here are a few of my favourite moments that exemplifies everything that I have been talking about:

Arsenal vs Ruud van Nistelrooy, 23 September 2003

Had Ruud Van Nistelrooy hit his penalty an inch lower, it would have altered the history of football and robbed us of one of the greatest stories of all time, but he did not.

Arsenal had an unbeaten start to the season and were flying high in the league. Patrick Vieira was sent off midway through the second half for attempting a kick at Van Nistelrooy. This inflamed the entire Arsenal team as they believed Ruud had over reacted to the incident to get Vieira sent off.

The drama intensified in stoppage time when United got a penalty after Keown fouled Forlan in the box. And up steps Ruud Van Nistelrooy. He hits the bar, the subsequent scenes that followed were downright ugly.

Take a look for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FUZxnW2tAHk

In the aftermath of this games Lauren, Martin Keown, Patrick Vieira and Ray Parlour from Arsenal were all banned ranging from one to four games and the club was hit with a £175,000 fine, the largest ever given to a club by the FA. Two United players Keane and Fortune were lucky to get away from being charged.

The rest is history as Arsenal went on to record the only unbeaten season in English Football after 1888-89.

Pizzagate incident, 24 October 2004

More controversies followed on and off the pitch as United hosted Arsenal, who were still on a 49 game unbeaten run, hopeful to reach the half-century mark. Form was on Arsenal’s side, but when has form counted for in such games?

Arsenal conceded a penalty in the second-half when Park went down easily under Campbell’s challenge infuriating the entire Arsenal squad. Ruud Van Nistelrooy stepped up to bury the ghost of his past,from exactly a year ago. And he did. Rooney scored the second of the game to hand Arsenal their first defeat in 50 Premier League games.

What followed in the tunnels and the dressing room was unheard of. Someone, allegedly from Arsenal, threw a piece of pizza at Sir Alex. Some say that the slice was targeted at Cesc Fabregas, but landed on Ferguson instead.

Excerpt taken from a blog :

Ashley Cole gave out his version of the pizzagate incident in his book called ‘My Defence’, where he stated that the pizza wasn’t thrown by an English or French Player. Cole said that the fighting and yelling in the tunnel suddenly stopped when the slice of pizza hit Ferguson straight in the face. He said that everybody who witnessed the incident was too shocked to react, including Ferguson, who surprised everybody by storming away to the dressing room, instead of exploding. The whole incident was later treated as a joke in the Arsenal camp, and increased the rivalry between the two teams further.

Pre-game scuffle at Highbury Tunnel, 01 February 2005.

The return game of the same season hadnot even begun yet, when Vieira and Keane were at each others throats again.

The match was a part of Nike’s “Stand Up.Speak Up.” campaign. And indeed many did speak. Keane and Vieira before the game. Fans and journalists after the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=S_np_PF54jw

What followed was a thrilling match with Arsenal leading 2-1 at Half-time, only for United to take the lead through two goals from a young Ronaldo. O’Shea came on as a substitute, deployed as a centre-midfielder sealed a 4-2 win with a delightful lob over Almunia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QKAPdB_4fu4

Here is another round of banter between Vieira and Keane from an older match at Highbury.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2CgwQCBbn6o

Told you! The sights were not pretty. But it meant a lot to me as a young partisan fan following United, and did the same for millions around the world. Hope to see the same glimpse of passion in the English game, let alone Arsenal – United; any game, any match, any player.

So who is up for a street-side scuffle in defence of their clubs? I am.