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The day Denis Law was sent off at the WACA
The Crowd
Roar Guru
3rd February, 2018
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(Tony Feder/Getty Images)
The Crowd
Roar Guru
3rd February, 2018
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It is a big thing when a European football powerhouse tours Australia. Even today, with all the millions involved in the modern game, for a team to come to Australia and pit themselves against the local lads is rare and not to be missed.

Manchester United’s 1967 tour of Australia was just that. In an interview for ManUtd.com Alex Stepney mentioned the importance of bringing the game to the English diaspora, saying that “In places like America, Australia and New Zealand, there were a lot of people who had migrated there from England. So, we went to give them their Manchester United fix”.

Needless to say, all the matches played in Australia were attended in their thousands, and many in the crowd were from the English diaspora.

After playing several matches in the USA and an eventful loss to Benfica and having just played two matches against the All Whites in New Zealand – Manchester won convincingly 8-1 and 11-0 – the Red Devils would play eight friendlies against various representative sides. The first six were uneventful, and Victoria even managed to steal a draw. The match in South Australia, in contrast, had to be abandoned after a pitch invasion by 500 spectators with a minute to go, but not before South Australia had pulled a goal back to make it 5-1.

However, all of this would be overshadowed by one moment at the WACA involving Denis Law and referee Roy Stedman.

Stedman, born in England a Royal Navy officer during World War II, was the top referee in Perth. He had refereed his first international club friendly in 1959 during the Hearts of Midlothian tour (due to travel, matches of the era were not sourced from overseas). Within Western Australian football circles, as Manchester United fanzine United we Stand mentioned, Stedman had a reputation for being anti-swearing.

Law on the other hand was a fixture of the United squad, but his hot-headedness was always an issue. The previous year Matt Busby had put Law on the transfer list after he threatened to walk out on the club if he wasn’t given a pay raise – though Law relented and signed an apology.

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Unlike the second-string team that some clubs like Juventus like to send to Australia today, this squad was full strength. Bobby Charlton, George Best, Nobby Stiles, Alex Stepney, Denis Law – these were the players who formed the nucleus of United in the years after the Munich disaster, and they had already won the league several months before.

Like all the matches on the tour, in Perth there was a huge crowd of nearly 21,000 spectators. The match itself was a dour affair, Manchester easily winning 7-0. However, in the 33rd minute Law earnt the ire of Stedman after a characteristic moment of madness, and he was promptly sent off, to the shock of the crowd.

Neither Stedman or Law have revealed what exactly was said, but Steadman joked decades later that, “That it would have hurt me very much to put the whistle where Denis Law suggested”.

There was some outroar over the send-off, which became a minor international sensation. Many West Australians were angered that a star of the show had been sent off for something so innocuous. Others agreed with the decision, arguing that referees should not give preference to players just because they are superstars.

In the end, though, the decision was well supported. The Australian Soccer Federation would fine Law $50. Law would ironically miss the European Cup final against Benfica later that season due to a knee injury (a side which, even without Law, boasted the same superstars from the tour).

As for Stedman, he would referee at the Malaysian Merdeka tournament the next year and received his FIFA badge in 1970. One of the West Australia players from the United match, John Miller, joked to Western Australia’s football hall of fame magazine The Fame Game that he had something in common with Stedman, as Stedman sent him off in a state league game the following week.

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