Still drunk from night before, he boozed with fans during the match
ANYONE who watches
will at some time have had the urge to kick Mark Lawrenson in the face and take a dump in his kitbag – Robin Friday actually did it!
And it’s just one of many tales of utter debauchery included in the legend of the hard-as-nails striker, who played in the professional game for just four years, retiring at 25.
Before his death of a suspected heroin overdose at the age of 38, Friday managed to cram in more mischief and chaos than those who live until they’re 100.
Controversial
But if Reading and Cardiff fans are to be believed, he wasn’t half bad at football, either.
Growing up in Acton, west London, in the ’60s and ’70s, Friday excelled at sport, especially football.
In his early teens, he had spells with Crystal Palace, QPR and Chelsea, but even as a youngster he refused to change his ‘ individual’ style and was discarded by the time he was 14.
Leaving school at 15, he lasted two months as a plasterer before turning to crime, and was eventually sent to Feltham Borstal following numerous convictions for theft.
By this time, he’d also started dabbling with drugs, and on his release from Borstal he controversially married – and impregnated – local black girl, Maxine Doughan.
While playing for non-league side Walthamstow, Hayes and Enfield between Friday refused to wear shin-pads and was sent off seven times in three years, earning him a reputation as a hard case.
But to fund his heavy drinking, drug-taking and womanising, he also had to work as an asphalter.
And during the summer of 1972, while working on a roof, he suffered a near fatal accident, falling on a spike that tore through his buttock and almost punctured his lung.
In true style, he returned to the team in three months and was snapped up by Division Four side, Reading, who were managed by Charlie Hurley.
Despite impressing on the pitch, Friday’s behaviour was growing increasingly erratic.
Banned
With a taste for Colt 45 malt liquor, he was banned from pubs and invented a dance he called ‘The Elephant’, which involved him pulling out his pockets (the animal’s ears) and flopping out his knob (the trunk).
His LSD-fuelled sessions of listening to heavy metal music didn’t help matters, either.
Often still drunk from the previous night – or that morning – when he played, his bizarre antics included kissing a policeman during a game and sharing a drink with fans during the 90-minutes.
In 1976, Friday moved to Division Two side, Cardiff City, and in his first season he endeared himself to the home fans by scoring past Luton goalie Milija Aleksic before flicking the V sign at him – an image later used on the cover of Super Furry Animals single The Man Don’t Give A F***.
And it was while playing for the Bluebirds that he launched his famous attack on then Brighton defender, Lawrenson, who had successfully marked him out of the game.
Sadly, unable to cope with “being told what to do” and juggle his commitment to hard drugs with football, he retired in 1977, at the age of 25.
Friday returned to Acton, where he landed himself in further trouble for drug-related offences – and was found dead in his flat of a suspected heroin overdose in 1990.
Speaking in 1977, he said: “On the pitch I hate opponents. I don’t give a damn about anyone. People think I’m mad, a lunatic. I am a winner.”