Robin Friday - a true footballing hero

I HAPPENED to stumble across the playing career of former footballer Robin Friday the other day.

I’d heard of the ex-Reading and Cardiff City striker but knew nothing of his life story or sporting triumphs.

My interest in him took hold after discovering that Welsh rockers The Super Furry Animals had previously written a song in his honour, entitled The Man Don’t Give a ****.

The cover of the single features its subject flicking the Vs at Luton Town goalkeeper Milija Aleksic, whom he had just rounded and scored past.

I was instantly hooked.

My not-very-detailed research quickly unearthed the details of a fascinating, if short, life.

Born in Acton in 1952, Friday started his career at Walthamstow Avenue before moving to Hayes.

Legend has it that the club once played the first ten minutes of a match with only ten players…while Friday finished a boozing session at a local pub.

Clearly the worse for wear, Friday managed to get his kit on and join in, much to the amusement of the opposition…until he scored the only goal of the game.

Friday eventually signed for Reading, for whom he scored an impressive 55 goals in only 135 games.

He eventually left for Cardiff City – a move which led to his arrest after trying to travel to the Welsh capital by train without a valid ticket.

However, Friday’s finest hour came in a match for The Bluebirds against Brighton in October 1977. An ongoing tussle with current BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson ended with our hero kicking the moustached one firmly in the face. After receiving a not-unexpected red card, Friday made his way to Brighton’s changing room where he emptied his bowels into Lawrenson’s kit bag.

It would be Friday’s last ever professional appearance. He soon after returned to the non-leagues, claiming he had grown tired of people telling him what to do.

Despite his undoubted quality, he was a flawed genius – his passion for drink, drugs and a good time meant his career was painfully short and failed to reach anything close to its potential.

He was found dead in his Acton flat in 1990, aged 38, having died from a heart attack.

I can’t help thinking the man himself wouldn’t have cared much.

A former manager once told him: "If you would just settle down for three or four years, you could play for England."

Friday replied: “I'm half your age and I've lived twice your life."