I think it was Vince Moss who vied with Stan Wall to be the most despised referee to visit the Boulevard in the 70s and 80s.

It may well have been him who was attacked by a spectator who entered the field from Threepennies. Not that I would condone that but he was able to make anyone lose their head.

Have a look at his performance here and bear it in mind the next time we have Ganson or Silverwood; they look fantastic next to this joker.

The vid is also interesting as it shows Wigan playing in 2nd division, views of Fartown and some useless ginger scottish fullback pre dark-side.

[urlhttp://rldvds.corecommerce.com/non_members/nm.html?id=1OvXQqd&ti=15-03-1981%20HUDDERSFIELD%20V%20WIGAN.%20THE%20BATTLE%20OF%20FARTOWN&se=NM[/url

(Mods hope I not breaking any rules here, but many people from Threepennies will remember how bad Moss was !)

Very interesting look back in time,how the game and the grounds have changed.Always seemed more working class all those years ago,now it's all about corporate entertainment and sponsorship as the times have changed.As for the refs,we had some good ones and some bad ones just like now and i can't ever see that changing.

Thanks for posting that TrevLovesJanice. Just watched the full video and thoroughly enjoyed it. Good old days lol. Felt for the Huddersfield forward Johnston.

Oh, and Fred Lindop used to do my head in big style!

he was well bullied hudds 13 n nearly every tackle came with a free facial, thought they used to strike at the ptb in them days??

Loved that! The Hudds no 13 took some hits, but looked a decent player. Ref had lost it way before the biff too.

That was a right stroll down memory lane. Hard to believe I grew up watching that. Few things that caught my eye.
Were forwards in the seventies all in their 50's, surely they weren't young men?
Touch judges who waved their flags, whatever happened to them?
Those little blue invalidity cars, where did they go? I only ever saw them at rugby grounds.
Goal kickers making great mounds with their boots.
And I do miss an old fashioned scoreboard (I know there's still a few around).
Oh and Keith Macklin's voice, superb.

Never ever got over Fred Lindop

Memory lane indeed. Mick Naughton was another I remember who irked a few of our fans. Anyone know what year the defensive line went from 5m back to 10m ? Can't remember now.

I cant remember ever going to Fartown, probably as we were in different divisions in most of the 80s. It looked a dump even in 1981.

Ref let some really bad high tackles go, especially on the Hudds loose man, amazing how slow the game was and how slow the ball movement used to be.

If you want another great view of rugby from the past search for "another bloody sunday" on a popular video site. Its brilliant

this is a bit like the famous leeds v chelsea game in football 1970, when if reffed under latest rules there would have been about 10 red cards. you can pick out similar bits from this game with all the high shots and fighting

how shambolic were the ptb's in this era?

Thanks T-l-J really enjoyed that !

It was for the start of 83/84 season. At the same time the scrum rules changed to give both head and feed to non-offending team so"real" hookers became largely redundant and started to play acting half.

Thanks mate two massive changes in the game that paved the way for the 'modern' game we know today. Great thread cheers.

Enjoyed watching that . Took me back to an era when I first started to watch RL .