April 2 – Trundle Makes Cardiff Grumble

FOOTBALL would nothing without the passion of local derbies. Sometimes, however, players can get a bit carried away. When Swansea won the Football League Trophy with a victory over Carlisle today in 2006 two of their star players’ first instinct was to stick the knife into their local rivals Cardiff.

The two Welsh sides had not even met for almost nine years, but with Swansea picking up some fresh silverware in their countrymen’s backyard of the Millennium Stadium, two of their number saw this as the perfect time for a spot of goading.

Lee Trundle, who had scored a spectacular opening goal in the Swans’ 2-1 win, and Alan Tate paraded a Welsh flag bearing the words “F**k off, Cardiff” and Trundle donned a t-shirt with a cartoon showing a man urinating on a Cardiff shirt.

Was this merely a spot of friendly banter? Not according to South Wales Police who arrested the pair on suspicion of public order offences following a number of complaints. The Welsh FA also threw a disrepute charge their way.

The Swansea manager, Kenny Jackett, said: “I honestly don’t think the players knew what they were doing, it was something that was in the heat of the moment and I’m sure they regret their actions.”

This incident had followed a number of unsavoury confrontations between the two Welsh sides, such as ‘the Battle of Ninian Park’ in 1993 that saw Swansea fans rip out seats and use them of missiles. This came a year after Cardiff fans had worn t-shirts celebrating the suicide of Swansea winger Alan Davies the year before.

See a clip of the two sides doing battle the right way below and check out another pair of brawlers that were doing their thing today here. We’ll be right back tomorrow with some more footballing history, so join us then.