Five of the best tunnel brawls in sport

After the bit of handbags we witnessed at The Emirates last night, here’s five tunnel brawls that were worthy of the name.

A bit of fisticuffs on the way off, or sometimes on, to the pitch can really liven up a sporting event.

Here’s some of the best we can recall but if we have missed any crackers please let us know below.

Dublin v Cork 2011

The Dubs almost made this list for the famous, and shrouded in mystery, half-time of the 1983 All-Ireland final with Galway. But as that incident can’t be verified, this one can. Starring Philly McMahon and Michael Shields there are some serious belts thrown here.

Arsenal v Manchester United, 2004

When an incident gets the suffix ‘gate’ you know it is a biggie. At the very height of their rivalry, an Arsenal/Manchester United game in 2004 descended into a food-based brawl. Well a pizza-based one anyway. A very fractious game ended in a 2-0 win for United, ending Arsenal’s unbeaten run in the league at 49. In the post-match throw down a food fight breaks out, with Cesc Fabregas allegd to have lobbed a slice at Alex Ferguson and Pizza-gate was born.

Here’s how Ashley Cole retells the story in his biography. "This slice of pizza came flying over my head and hit Fergie straight in the mush ... all mouths gawped to see this pizza slip off this famous, puce face and roll down his nice black suit."

Arsenal v Manchester United, 2005

One year on and this clash didn’t involve any Italian food but some epic trash talking and staring. Featuring the two enforcers on each team, Patrick Viera and Roy Keane went at it before kick off in one the most famous, and entertaining, pre-match spats.

And as Roy would say, ‘at the end of the day’ his team won 4-2 after a storming encounter at Highbury.

Cork v Clare, 2007

This pre-match schemozzle wasn’t all that bad but it ended up getting a lot of coverage due to the presence of loads of kids around the fight and the bans handed out later on. Termed ‘Semple-gate’ both teams charged out of the tunnel at the same time and a few small bumps soon led to more serious digs. No great harm was done and Cork won in the end but the banning of Donal Og Cusack, Sean Og O’hAilpin and Diarmuid O'Sullivan meant they bowed out at the next hurdle to Waterford.

Video of the incident has been scrubbed from the internet it seems, so all we have are stills like the main one above of Colin Lynch and John Gardiner getting acquainted.

Valencia v Inter, 2007

This one gets in as not only is it a great brawl that eventually gets into the tunnel and dressing room, it also happened in such a big game. After drawing 0-0 in the Mestalla, Valencia made it past Inter Milan on away goals.

That displeased any number of the Inter players and things got a bit fighty. Nicolas Burdisso ended up with a broken nose and a number of the Italian side fought their way into the home dressing room to continue the scrap.

Valencia CF vs FC Internazionale   fight _ by igniz75