Quote Originally Posted by Faraway_Pie View Post
The “leg breaker” was John Sheridan ( no connection to the NC manager of the same name as far as I know ). I wasn’t at the game but it sticks in my memory because sendings off were pretty rare in those days. However, because it was before subsitutes were allowed some people thought that referees would sometimes send off a player based on the seriousness of the opponents injury rather than the nature of the tackle just to even things up.
Please let me know where I can pick up my valuable prize.
Yes, Saturday 1st December 1962, a matter of weeks before the 2nd worst winter in living memory kicked-in and decimated the fixtures for months. Too late for the Swindon player sadly.

I was going through that season recently and I'm always intrigued by sending's off pre 1973-ish because they usually were for some out of the ordinary reason. The reporter did note (as well as that the player was stretchered off and taken to hospital for an x-ray) that the ref appeared to take stock of the player's injury before ordering the Notts player off (no actual coloured cards in those days of course) so it's very possible Sheridan's challenge was not malicious in intent and just one of those unfortunate things.

The Swindon player in question had been a regular and then didn't play again that season but did make a brief comeback, which led me to look him up and he confirmed in an interview 4 years or so ago that his career was ended by breaking his leg in 1962, so he was obviously not able to make a full recovery match fitness wise due to that injury and had to call it quits eventually.

Sheridan I believe is still with us, age 85. A very distinctive looking character, always easy to pick out on the team photos. No idea if he had a reputation for being a hard player or not though.