Bar Fights

[Michael Hardman]

Who remembers the bar fights at the Sportmans in the late 70s early 80s. I remember Pom wacking a German contractor, followed by Graham Meek and late entry Billy Summers. Then the women proceeded get in on the action with them shouting like f.........g moer him, kick his in head doll.Twenty minutes later in walks Rodger and the Gang. No more problem. The German ends up being the Poms best friend and buying each other drinks.

[SandyB]

Bar  fights  .. yes  working  in  the bars saw a few .. but  to  start  off  ... an  extract   of a     writing  I  did  on  Iscatterlings   ...  it  had  to  do with  grudges  and bar  fights  and  would  occur  in  the  wild  old  daysof  the  50's  and early  60's  continued into the  70's and 80's as well  .. I  recall  my dad   telling  us   about  this  happening  .. so read on  ...

funny  remembering  grudges  ...  I  remember  him  talking  about  one  of  the  social climbing   brown nosing snobs  who  had  pissed  off  a  lot  of
good  honest  working  people ( himself  included )  .. anyhow  said  person
was  put  in  place  when  there  was  a  function  on  ( dance  or
something  of  the  like )  game  plan  was  that   when  said  person  was
in  vicinity  of  bar  at  top   end  of  rec  club  hall  ( mostly  men
collecting  drinks  at bar )   a  scuffle  would  be  put  into   play  .
this  scuffle  would  then  suck  in  said  person   during  which time he
would  get  a  good  amount  of  blows   just  to  teach  a  lesson ...
Witnesses ??  .. None  that would  testify  as  to  who  started  the  fight
in  fact  the snob  more  than  likely  got  the  blame   ..the  old  saying
eendrag  maak mag  .. or  the  conspiracy  of  silence  .. ??

[Michael Alexander]

Here's a scan of the bar hours, just for interest sake I guess....

[Donald Duck]

SandyB.

One of the "Old Snobs" read your posting and pointed out to me that the reason he does not participate in this site is due to the events that you describe.
Just makes me wonder how many other people are afraid to post due to predudice and jealousy.

[SandyB]

 @ Kenny .. That was an  incident from 60's / early 70's  that I was recounting ..  and yes unfortunately there were people  who where ruthless in their trying to climb the ladder and would step on anybody to become a big fish in the small pond  ,, cliques ,,  the artisan class and the  " staff '   the snobs ..  all part of small town happening ..   of course  its a no names mentioned thing ..   so really they got nothing to lose as its all bygones ..  .. My Dad did the transition from " artisan class " to staff / management / boss ..  even standing in for engineers when they were off .. but he never forgot his  roots  or where he came from , thats the mistake some make , they  forget  ..  I would not put it to jealousy or predujice ,  instead more a case of what you sow you reap ..   good  leaders never forget where they came from , instead use their past experience  wisely ..
If not part of the bad part of the  " old snobs " then they  got nothing to lose ..
But yes my years of working in the  bars  in the late 70's gave me one hell of an insight into  the small  yet cosmopolitan  and crazy society we lived in ..  and the fights .. Boy were they something to  observe .. as a barman we should have got danger pay some nights ..

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

@ Sandy   
Nicely put.

Our postings didn't stop Gordon Brown from joining us......and giving us his point of view.

So??????

[angus Buchanan]

Ja - that place - if you were an engineer or something similar you were called in if it was found out that you had a drink with the Plebs - even if it was in the process of "team building" that did not change the crime. I remember an engineer that went out with his foreman and artisans for drinks on Friday evenings - he was 'as a result' called in and told that if this behaviour persisted that it could and would affect his chances of any promotions etc - he told them where to get off (i will not mention his name - i think he still works for De Beers)

regards Gus.

[Michael Alexander]

Why and where did this "hang-up" originate from, that kind have mentality has disappeared these days.... it's actually sad if you think about it...how many friendships have been lost..... 

[SandyB]

Mike  I imagine it  was just the way things were in those days ,, more formal , more  invisible lines  .  and those trying to ensure their exisitence ..  especially in a small community  ..Business seems to run on a more informal  basis nowadays  .. years ago you would not use your boss's first name in addressing him .. nowadays its ok either way .  its a case of we all together in this game so lets make it work  and  show  mutual respect  and decency to each other  .. 
sadly so there were the cliques  who really thought they were something .. meanwhile just the big fish in the small pond ..

[Michael Alexander]

Perhaps a hang up from WW2, where there was rank and order.... discipline and then this would have filtered down into civilian life after the war ended... if one looks at the the old Appie training photo's.... you can see the stern look on the faces..... 

[SandyB]

Possibility  Mike ..

[Tamara Hogan]

Hi Guys.
Sometimes the casualness these days goes to far, and the staff get upset when the boss has to be the boss.

[Malcolm Bertoni]

I only went into Caseys the day before I left the mine.

Perhaps the Affenrucken mob were far too good for the town rabble.  :emot19:

[SandyB]

Now lets break away from that subject .. .. A really good barfight  with no  class  distinctions ..
I was on duty one friday night in sportsmans .. possibly  a symptom of people being cooped in  small town .. buildup of frustrations or whatever ??
early on in the evening one could pick up the crackle in the air .. still said to Oom Jan " theres trouble brewing here tonight..  early in evening  already had to put one patron in place for harrassing Aaron the barman ..  during course of evening  there was this  one  short scots contractor sitting at the corner of the bar looking down in the dumps ..  started pouring out his story of woe with his girlfriend in Joburg .. so I used the secret number to get through to the  exchange ( phone was barred but one could get through with the  secret number )  spoke to one of my friends on the board  and organised a call for this  very distressed man .. he had a long chat to his  girlfriend  and seemed to patch things up .. he was very  gratefull to me  for this   favour , and indeed i needed it later on  in  the evening ...
Come closing time .. last rounds .. people had bought far too much booze and were taking their time finishing off and moving out .. groups that when you  siad  " ladies  gents bar closing in 5 mins " just looked at  you  blankly  through  the haze .. time was not on their minds ..  anyhow , suddenly I observe this one  crazed character  lifting up the cover on one of the  snooker tables  climbing on and  tucking himself in ( going to sleep the silly bugger ) so I go there  shake him and ask him if he knows where  he is , that this is  sportsmans bar snooker table and not his bed ..  he was quite civil  .. oops  so he  apologises  and crawls  out from under the cover , as i turned away he set upon me gave me a sideswipe to the jaw .. there was an ensuing scuffle where i ended up on top  of  him ..  said then that he better go quietly .. Nope he did not want to .. so i said  fine  got up grabbed  him by the  feet and proceeded to drag him out .. there was i  with  this  character  dragging him behind me like a wheelbarrow .. so engrossed in  this  mission that when i got to the doorway which was now  crowded with people slugging down the last  drinks  did not see untill i  virtually  bumped into  this very tall character .. i hear the words   " hey  what are  you  doing to  my  friend " I look up , yes a very tall character ..I'm now in the  shit .. suddenly out of nowhere  comes the short scotsman that I helped with the  phonecall  earlier in the evening  .. he launched himself like a  missile  flying through the air and connected  the tall  fellow  in the stomach , he fell backwards out of the doorway onto the  paving outside , in this melee a lot more people falling  over and on top of each other .. well this  was like the  needle bursting the  boil .. the ensuing  letting off of steam that followed on the  lawn outside and into the street  .. men  women , all of the social strata made no diffs ..no names mentioned . all were having a go at each other ..hilarious was one very tall and well built woman  doing an improvised version of kickboxing .. sort of swung leg out at waist height  ..  Bang ! another one down .. and if she  gave someone a klap  you  could hear it !!   the scotsman still doing his  flying like a missile stunt on the lawn .. women hitting men cos they hit their husbands .. women laying  into each other .. men  hitting and scuffling .. everybody pushing shoving .. language to make a sailor blush ..   the bar emptied very quickly now with people coming out to see what was going on .. they too got sucked up into the fight .. ouch !  those with sense  ducked out sideways and kept as close to the wall  some clambering over the  low wall on the side .. this mess continued untill a security  van suddenly appeared on the scene .. well it all just melted away  people  disapeared in all directions ...
The next morning I was called in for a post mortem of what happened .. asked who where and what .. said it all happened so quickly and could not say who actually started it  or who was actually involved ..  I found that most people kept their traps shut , either to protect  or out of embarressment .. such was the way things worked that I knew that some of the contractors would have lost their jobs .. and possibly  some of the permanent staff  as well .. that was the interference that I did not like .. what you did in your  after work hours was your own business ..  and anyhow it was  a bar fight albeit of  mammoth  proportions .. a letting off of steam  how could one fire people for that .. all was forgotten and the following week there were the usual crowd who were  hitting the s.. out of each other the previous week  all drinking happily together ... only diffs I noticed a few security fellas lurking around  just in case of a repeat ..

[Tamara Hogan]

Great story Sandy- You tell them well.