Colin Sheridan: Cantona kick was JFK for my generation

On a cold winter's night 30 years ago Eric Cantona launched himself at Crystal Palace fan Matthew Simmons

KICKBACK: Eric Cantona of Manchester United after kicking a Crystal Palace fan in 1995. Pic: Shaun Botterill/Allsport

On a cold winter's night 30 years ago, Eric Cantona - perhaps growing tired of the suffocating attention of Crystal Palace's Richard Shaw - turned and kicked him. As the linesman’s flag went up to alert referee Alan Wilkie, so did Cantona’s arms in protest. Shaw and Chris Coleman had been kicking the Frenchman and his teammate Andy Cole all night. Cantona had had enough. Wilkie - acting decisively for the first time - promptly sent the mercurial Frenchman off. Instead of leaving the field immediately, he stood defiantly with his hands on his hips, like he often did when he scored. Then, amidst a chorus of vitriolic boos from the Selhurst Park crowd, he paused, before theatrically turning his stiff collars down, and - for the fifth time in his short Manchester United career - headed for an early shower.

For those of us of a certain generation it was a “remember where you were when you heard” moment. Our JFK assassination. I recall I was where I was for every midweek Manchester United game from 1992 until 1996. In my bedroom, pretending to study, listening to BBC Radio Five Live. The commentator Alan Green was as important to me as Oasis and Blur were to my friends. Hearing Cantona’s dismissal in real time on radio would’ve irked me greatly - he was my favourite player - but what happened next was enough to cause me to scream out loud.