Sheffield United's first football hooligan?

Fatty Foulke wasn't a man to mess with.
Fatty Foulke playing for Sheffield United in 1902Fatty Foulke playing for Sheffield United in 1902
Fatty Foulke playing for Sheffield United in 1902

When he lost his rag, people tended to run for cover.

On this day in 1902, the 6ft 4ins, goalie was in net for Sheffield United in the FA Cup final against Southampton at Crystal Palace.

At the end of the 1-1 tie Foulke protested that Harry Wood’s dramatic equalising goal two minutes from the end should not have been allowed,

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“Foulke left his dressing room, unclothed, and pursued the ref, Tom Kirkham, who took refuge in a broom cupboard.”

He had to be stopped by a group of FA officials “from wrenching the cupboard door from its hinges to reach the hapless referee” says wikipedia.

In the replay, also at Crystal Palace, the Blades won 2–1 - Foulke was a happier man and although it is not recorded, it’s safe to assume no furniture was disturbed.

*Foulke, said to weigh 24 stone, was one game short of 300 appearances for United in an 11-year reign spanning 1894–1905.

He died aged 42 in May 1916, possibly from a liver ailment, and was buried in Burngreave cemetery.

His wife Beatrice shares the plot - she died aged 58 in 1933.