Oh yes a good brawl always lifted a game to another level. We used to be quite good at using them for motivation as well, especially in previous sides that lacked talent. As a sport we should've embraced that side of our game. Ice Hockey commentators laud the scraps in their game....admittedly it doesn't have much else, but still we shouldn't feel so coy about a small thing that added to what WAS the greatest game.

One of the best ones I "remember" (another birthday, tomorrow), was circa 2000, when Fleary and Farrell of Leeds started on Langer. Andrew Gee wasn't having any of that, so he went in, windmilling like a 1970's Pete Townsend.

Sadly, we didn't see the Gee we were promised, propwise, just Langer's minder

Spot on.
I never really had a problem with Eddie and Stevo, but it hacked me off when Stevo used to chirp up "there are kids here, they don't want to see this".
YES THEY DO.
Why do you think so many of them go to watch the pantomime that is WWE?

The Widnes game away in the premiership play off will take some beating.. chaos from kick off...

Talking of Stevo. I'm a little too young to have watched stevo play back in the day. BUT. Wasnt he one of the worst offenders back in the day???

as a kid I wasn't allowed to watch Robocop or Child's Play so PG-rated content like Drummond v Iro was a rare treat, it set us a better example than Rijkaard and Voller anyway

What a great day!!

Was it front page of the Mirror the next day? Rugby League's Day of Shame? Memory may be playing tricks.

iirc, Drummond was nailed on for a GB tour spot, yet the RFL went in with hobnail boots, and banned him from the tour, even before the squad was announced

When the incident went to the courts, Drummond was absolved, and promptly told the RFL to shove it. A shame for him, as he was EASILY still International class. Imagine him AND Offiah on both wings, in Test Match rugby.

Another wow of a brawl was a lancs cup game away at saints on a Wednesday night I think 2 from each team were sent off and some spent time in sin bin at various times in the game..and we won as well

The thing was in the brawls it was rare that anyone actually got full on “lamped”, usually other players were there fast enough to ensure it didn’t happen.I’ve never been sure why Cullen didn’t get lambasted for play acting following his miraculous recovery in “that” game. I really enjoyed watching that sort of stuff as a youngster, I suspect I was a younger version of the old dear who used to attack wrestlers with her brolly at televised wrestling events in the “old” days.

Some other brawls that come to mind.

An earlier Bradford one (not the 2000 all in brawl), probably around 1996 or 97, if I remember rightly the brawl happened on the opposite side of the pitch to Richard Henare so he just got hold of the nearest Bradford player (Glen Tomlinson?) and started punching him.

First game of the season against Wigan in 2001, Toa had been sent off and there was some needle going on, Nutley and Nikau were looking to start on people and there were fights every few minutes. I think Kidwell got sin binned, Nikau ended up getting sent off. The one I remember here was Dave Highton who had just come out of the Academy but was getting stuck right in to David Furner who was a pretty hard nut from Australia.