RIP Norman Hunter

True. I was watching some old highlights on YouTube after this thread started, and by today's standards they'd be playing 6-a-side from the red cards that would result. Of course what's humorous is the godawful state of the pitches back then. Nowadays they're used to immaculate grass; back then it was often a muddy quagmire and the ball became a waterlogged brick. I was a keeper back then, and even the pros rarely wore gloves, making their saves all the more impressive. Makes you wonder how some of today's players could perform under those conditions.

And, speaking of keepers, I saw that Peter Bonetti just passed away as well; he single-handedly kept Leeds from winning the FA Cup somewhere around 1971.

There has been no mention of what a skilled footballer Norman Hunter was. Go past him on his left and with that educated left foot of his, he could unlace your boots tie them together before launching an inch perfect pass to Mick Jones or Alan Clarke up the field. Unfortunately his right side wasn't so cultured - try him on that side and there would be blood, gore and broken bones.

A great player in a great team packed with some of the best footballers of the time, those mentioned above plus Billy Bremner, Eddie Gray, Paul Madelely, Terry Cooper and, of course, the best of them all - Johnny Giles. But, goodness me, they were also a set of the dirtiest bxxxxxds every to put on a football shirt and JG was the worst of them all.

Aaah - happy days.

And the 4 billion soccer fanatics around the world. I'm sure your husband would be horrified to see that American football doesn't feature in the list below.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-most-popular-sports-in-the-world.htm l

Quiet Regina, the men are talking !! LOL

I don't know if you can claim that Johnny Giles was the dirtiest player to ever wear a Leeds uniform; remember that at one point in his career Vinnie Jones played for them as well.

Yes, I'd forgotten about that - could I get away with suggesting that V J wasn't really a footballer?

I think that with JG, the fact that he had such sublime skills brought his dark arts into sharper relief.

Yes Bob.

Is was actually 1970 and remains the only FA cup final that I've attended. I arrived late with a friend and we hurriedly found a place in the stands (no seat numbers in those days). To our dismay we discovered that we were surrounded by Leeds fans. We were both actually neutrals but as two cockney lads we decided to keep quiet. We were afraid that if we had opened our mouths the northern visitors would have assumed that we were supporting Chelsea which could have had disastrous results.

As a footnote, both teams were promoted from the old second division around the same time (early-mid 60's) and had much success with fielding many of the players that helped them to win promotion. These days promoted teams have to invest heavily on new players if they hope to survive in the Premier League.

I lived in England from 1967-73 so I knew it was somewhere around there. Glad you got the opportunity to get to Wembley. We got there in 1969 to watch England destroy France 5-0 in a friendly. That was back when England were World Cup champions and they had a good run in 1970 as well. Of course since then they've had plenty of opportunities to advance in major tournaments if they could only make a few penalty kicks...

The BBC website has a piece on the 1970 FA Cup replay between Leeds and Chelsea for those of a certain vintage wishing to take a nostalgia trip (https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52416192). Regina's husband might enjoy it as well.