What happened to Eric Cantona's kung-fu kick victim 30 years on
What happened to Eric Cantona's kung-fu kick victim 30 years on
Share:
It was a moment that shook football and which, even three decades on, is remembered as the most extraordinary and surreal episode in Premier League history. 30 years ago this week, Manchester United superstar Eric Cantona suddenly launched himself into the crowd during a match against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
With a flying kick which would have made Jackie Chan proud, Cantona’s right connected squarely with the chest of the fan who had been taunting him from the stands, Matthew Simmons. He then followed it up with a flurry of punches. The moment on January 25, 1995, was so unexpected and shocking it left fans, players, and the media stunned - and earned Cantona a red card, a nine-month ban and 120 hours of community service.
But the kung-fu kick did little to tarnish his career - in fact, quite the opposite, it cemented the mercurial Frenchman’s reputation as a footballing anti-hero. At a press conference following his court appearance, he delivered the cryptic “seagulls following the trawler” speech, which only deepened his mystique.
And when Cantona recently reflected on his best moment, he said: “I have a lot of good moments, but the one I prefer is when I kicked the hooligan.” In another interview, he said his only regret was that “I didn’t hit him hard enough. I should have hit him harder.”.
But what happened to the Palace fan who was at the end of the famous kung fu kick?. Matthew Simmons claimed he had shouted, ‘Off! Off! Off! It’s an early bath for you, Mr Cantona’, but Cantona’s defence denied this version of events, claiming he had actually yelled: "F*** off back to France you French b***ard", before dubbing the Manchester United forward a "French animal" and his mother a "French wh**e".
