Once upon a time there was a crazy group. She knew how to play football, she also won the FA Cup in 1988 and for years was among the 10 best teams in the old First Division, the forerunner of the Premier League, but she didn't earn her nickname by modeling a group of comedians from the 30s, but by being knew how to beat opponents and strike fear into their bones.
Fans of island football know well who this nickname refers to - the famous team of Wimbledon, a club that no longer exists, and its famous footballers Denis Weiss, John Fachanou, Laurie Sanchez, Mick Harford and the most famous and most brutal of them, Vinnie Jones.
Younger readers probably know him as a successful actor, who rose to fame in Guy Ritchie's Two Sooty Twins and Snitch. Then he perfectly played the roles of a ruffian, but he didn't have to act it at all, because that's what he was. The most memorable scene from his football career is not when he lifts the cup at "Wembley" after the victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup final on May 14, 1988, but what happened in February of that year, in the draw with Newcastle (0:0).
Jones walked up to Paul Gascoigne, turned his back and gripped his genitals so hard that Gascoigne collapsed in agony. That photo went around the world, even as it is known 30 years later.
In that match, Vinny's only goal was to stop the "magpie" star, so he told him before the match:
“I'm Vinnie Jones and I'm j... a gypsy. It's just me and you here today, fat man. I eat a lot of dough and bite your ear off, then spit it out on the grass”.
And he was right next to him during the whole match, and the photographer Monte Fresco sensed that there was going to be a ruckus and followed only the two of them. And he "caught" a shot that is part of football history. Interestingly, not long after the match, Gaza sent Jones a red rose, and he sent him a toilet brush. After that they became friends.
According to many, the roughest football player of all time had many more brutal starts, and it is remembered that even the grumpy Eric Cantona, when the staunch Welshman brutally hit him, didn't even think of "hitting him".
- If all else fails, I could wait for the first corner and tie his dreadlocks to the post - he explained at the time to stop the then Chelsea ace Rudo Gullit.
He was the record holder of the elite level of English football with 12 red cards, while the grumpy, but much more football "literate" captain of Manchester United, Roy Keane, did not overtake him by one.
- I can't run, I can't pass the ball, slide and shoot, but I'm still here - that's how Jones once commented on his releases.
Apart from Wimbledon, he played for Leeds, Sheffield United, Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers, in whose jersey he retired in 1999 at the age of 34.
A year before that, he began his film career at the urging of Richie in "Two Sooty Twin Barrels", in which he played the debt collector, Big Chris. When, in 2000, he shone as Tony in the new, much better known Ritchie film "Snatch", in which he starred alongside Brad Pitt, Benicio del Toro, Rad Sherbedzija, Denis Farina, Jason Statham..., a star was born.
Later, he had the lead role in "Vicious Machine", a remake of the famous film "The Longest Yard" with Bart Reynolds, in which he was the captain of the football team whose brutal match with the guards had no rules. He also played in "Sabljarca", "Damned", "X-Men", "Gone in 60 seconds"...
To make it to Hollywood, you have to be a little bit gay and a little bit Jewish
How rough and unfeeling Jones was as a football player is best expressed by some of his statements: "I like it the most when I hear the opponent's bones crunch when they get hurt", "When I find out that a rival has been left by his wife, I do everything to remind him of that on the field "...
He was not only grumpy on the field, but off it as well. In November 1997, he beat up a neighbor and had to spend 100 hours in community service, and another 80 when in 2003, under the influence of alcohol, he slapped a fellow passenger on a plane and threatened to kill the cabin crew. He was also arrested in 2008 for a fight in a pub.
- Over the years, I earned about 80 clips on my head and face from football duels and incidents in bars. "I have a lot of scars," Jones said.
Not even film fame has changed him.
- To make it to Hollywood, you have to be a little bit gay and a little bit Jewish. I'm saving to become a Jew - said Vinnie Jones in his own style, a man who rightly earned the nickname Psychopath during his career.
Bonus video:
