As Leicester prepared to meet Southampton at Filbert Street on October 15, 1983, there would have been vastly different expectations for anyone associated with both clubs. Rooted to the bottom of the table, Leicester were winless in their eight league matches. In contrast, Southampton were sitting pretty.
It didn’t quite turn out like that. In fact, both teams would end up leaving empty handed after the match was abandoned with just 22 minutes played. Heavy rainfall left the playing surface resembling a paddy field in places, as players and officials struggled to cope with the conditions.
Captured on Match of the Day, the fixture started off relatively sedately. But with the rain lashing down, and the wind picking up, soon the action started to take on a comedic slant. With the ball beginning to stick in the puddles forming on the pitch, playing football became a challenge.
A torrential downpour during the match proved too much for the already saturated surface, as the mere task of dribbling and passing turned into a farce. Referee Robert Nixon halted proceedings at one point to discuss the situation with his senior linesman, before deciding to carry on regardless.
Cheers could be heard amongst the crowd of less than 9,000 at Filbert Street, as play restarted, yet with John Motson describing the pitch as “virtually unplayable”, chances of the match finishing looked slim.
Players attempted to take the pitch out of the equation by going aerial, although Kevin MacDonald’s back pass to keeper Mark Wallington was thumped so hard that it almost went out for a corner. MacDonald would later find himself struggling to dribble the ball through the shallow end, before releasing Gary Lineker to take on Mark Wright.
Both future England internationals ended up sliding towards the advertising boards like tobogganists, as every slip, mistake, failed pass and dribble, and splash was furiously “waheyed” by the amused spectators.
The high point of the comedy was undoubtedly Steve Lynex performing the breaststroke after being fouled by Steve Moran. “A little swimming gesture by Steve Lynex as he fell, as if to indicate that’s the only way to get through,” Motson noted. “It’s all something of a lottery,” he added, as the show continued.
All good things have to come to an end, though. After Lineker twice failed to take the ball with him in quick succession, and players thrashed around at the ball hopelessly, Nixon had seen enough. “The referee has had to bring it to an end, and frankly I’m not surprised,” said Motson.
Nixon, Milne, and McMenemy would later appear on the pitch, discussing the prospect of resuming the match. But with rain continuing to fall, the outlook seemed bleak. Ground staff prodded forks into the surface in a desperate attempt to drain some of the water. It was a fairly pointless act.
Milne looked far from happy as he left the pitch, and let out his frustration after the abandonment. “We could have cleared the ground given time,” he complained, although the Express’ David Emery didn’t share this optimism.
“If he really can find sweepers of that calibre, Milne should snap them up...perhaps then Leicester would not have conceded 12 goals at home this season already,” Emery noted, also describing Filbert Street as a duck pond.
Milne was not the only dissenting voice, with groundsman Steve Welch adamant that Nixon had made a mistake, stating that the playing surface was fit by 3.55pm. Maybe Milne and Welch were sensing the chance of a rare Leicester win on a pitch that certainly levelled the playing field.
The Mirror’s David Moore also felt Nixon had made an error, but at least match official had one supporter in Jimmy Hill. “It was clear there was no alternative other than to abandon the game,” the presenter said on Match of the Day.
Leicester would win the rematch at the end of November, part of a sixteen match run that saw them lose only two league matches, and eventually they avoided relegation. Southampton finished the season as runners-up to Liverpool, but suffered the agony of an FA Cup semi-final defeat against Everton.
In total, Southampton would play 51 matches during the 1983/84 campaign. But it is those 22 minutes at Filbert Street in October 1983 that stick in my memory, making for entertaining viewing, and reducing professional footballers to the level of the paying spectators and the television audience.
Sometimes football can be a bit too serious, and there is not enough room for a few “waheys” and levity in the crowd. Assuming you had not paid good money to watch just 22 minutes of football, Leicester City v Southampton proved that football could occasionally provide a refreshing break from the norm.
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