Robin Friday and Poo-gate circa 1977 - myth or reality?

[Goldstone Rapper]

Yesterday, I was reading about the maverick striker Robin Friday. I put together this article here
http://thegoldstonewrap.com/2013/05/22/legend-of-robin-friday/

I'm intrigued by the fact the book by Paolo Hewitt and Paul McGuigan 'The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw' makes absolutely no reference to the story that Friday supposedly defecated in Mark Lawrenson's kitbag after being sent off in the Brighton v Cardiff City game in October 1977. At the same time, this story is trotted out on the internet so often whenever his name is mentioned. I wondered if anyone knew if any Albion players have ever corroborated the story or whether it's a myth that's grown down the years to embellish the Robin Friday legend. Certainly Lawrenson and Mullery's autobiographies make no mention of it. I'm becoming sceptical of it as I wonder how easy it would be for an opposition player to creep into the home dressing room and be able to work out which one was Lawrenson's kitbag.

On a wider scale, I'm interested in the views of NSCers who got a chance to see Friday play about what he was like as a footballer. Was he really all that? Any Brighton fan who was around in the 1970s got several chances to see him. He played for Reading against Brighton in the League Cup tie of 1974/75 that went to three replays. He also featured for the club in Brighton's 3-2 away win in November 1976 (Albion scorers were Ward and Horton 2) before the much discussed game of October 1977.

Once again, all thoughts on the matter welcome!

 

[hitony]

Apart from gaining free advertising for your blogs etc, why are you pushing the boundary's with this subject with the present situation being quite a delicate issue on here?

 

[Deleted member 2719]

I once got sent off in the last seconds of a match for swearing at the ref (which i didn't do) and the red mist came down and was going to p*ss in the Refs kit bag when i got back to the changing room fortunately it was a fair walk until i got there and the mist had lifted a bit by then so the Ref got away with, he was a ***t thou.

I know nothing about the Friday incident thou.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Apart from gaining free advertising for your blogs etc, why are you pushing the boundary's with this subject with the present situation being quite a delicate issue on here?

I appreciate the current situation is delicate. However, the match I am referring to was over 35 years ago involving people unconnected with the incident in the Play-Offs in 2013. I posted about it here because NSC probably has many users who (unlike me) got to see Robin Friday play and I wanted to know what they thought of him. As for linking to a blog article I've written, there is a chance that Brighton fans who have heard of Friday may be interested in an Albion angle to his career.

 

[Seagull on the wing]

A marvellous player on the field....an idiot off it.....another good player for Reading was Pat Terry...

 

[big nuts]

Apart from gaining free advertising for your blogs etc, why are you pushing the boundary's with this subject with the present situation being quite a delicate issue on here?

I don't see the problem personally. I've always been entrigued by Robin Friday, the book is superb and some of the stories are stuff of legend.

He threw a corner flag into the Swindon fans after scoring.
I thought he shat in the oppositions bath not a kit bag.
He also left reading festival early afternoon to play a match at 3pm if true that's truly phenomenal.

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

Well he came into my mind yesterday also and I was telling people at work about him. I did read up on t'internet and it makes more of him doing a poo in the Mansfield bath but does also mention Lawro's kit bag.

Although we was a cult hero at Reading, we had a team of stars and I don't recall him doing anything special and outstanding but, as i say, it was all about us back then.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Thanks seagull on the wing, big nuts and Freddie.

I've just found something called 'The Legend of Robin Friday' which is a '50 page photo-essay Roger Titford traces exactly how the legend of ‘the greatest footballer you never saw’ came about and where it’s turning into pure myth. It crystallises Friday in his prime, examines the utterly different attitudes to the game existing not that long ago and the fascination that the modern fan has with his era. Gloriously illustrated with the best-ever collection of images of Robin in action.'
http://www.exacteditions.com/browseEditions.do?magazineId=1224

It says: "It's the mainly anti-hero charisma that drives the legend nowadays. Just as a terrorist of one generation becomes a politician of the next so today's football world takes just the bits it wants from the legend of Robin Friday. This is where the legend takes its wings and flies into the world of myth, exaggeration and putting together incidents that happened separately. The thing with Bobby Moore - over in a moment. No, he didn't kiss the policeman after the wonder goal, as it says on YouTube. And no, despite what it says on some punk football T-shirt website, he didn't crap in Mark Lawrenson's kit-bag after being sent off. Dishonourably, arguably out of character, he kicked the young Brighton centre-half in the face as he lay on the ground. No one then knew that Lawrenson would turn into an establishment BBC pundit of somewhat complacent and annoying nature - so maybe that's what makes it 'funny' for some today."

And yes, it mentions him doing a poo in the Mansfield bath....

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

I was at the game and my uncle Jim talked about him (he was originally a Reading fan) but quite honestly he didnt make much of an impression on me. Admittedly I was only 10 at the time and only had eyes for Wardy...

 

[Racek]

A marvellous player on the field....an idiot off it.....another good player for Reading was Pat Terry...

Did you see him play?

 

[Kumquat]

I liked the story about how when he moved to Cardiff he used to travel from London rather than move house. On the train from London to Cardiff he would routinely not buy a ticket and wait for someone to go to the toilet before knocking on the door, telling them he was the ticket inspector and asking them to pass their ticket under the door for him to check. He would then just pocket it and walk off. Not sure how many times it worked but a good story.