“I had to mark the singer from a band called Glass Tiger who was quite useful. Sadly for him the pitch was in poor condition and after I chased him round for 45 minutes, he twisted his ankle and was stretchered off. I never touched him ref — honest!’ Stretchered off with ‘undisclosed injuries to his testicles’ was I believe the newspaper quotation that tells you all you need to know about the match.” — Bruce Dickinson*
This video clip of a football match between Iron Maiden FC and Toronto’s finest singers and media is surely a rarity. It’s a shame that more wasn’t broadcast. On a personal level, this match meant to lot to me. My heroes (Iron Maiden) were facing off against my sister’s (Glass Tiger). And of course Glass Tiger and Co. were pummelled. I loved holding that over her head!
Look for Frew and MuchMusic alumni including Master T (Tony Young) and Kim Clark Champniss in this fun clip.
It must have been cool to be at this game. I wonder what it was like? Wait it a minute — why don’t I just ask a guy who was there?
“I was at that game. Covered it for the newspaper at U of T [that] I wrote for. Keith Sharp (then of Music Express magazine, later my boss at ACCESS) was friendly with the band. As a kid he was a goalkeeper for the Manchester City youth squad, so he had some skills, and he’d organize a match with the Maidens, who were all soccer fiends, whenever they were in town. Alan Frew (Glass Tiger) went down with a knee injury during the match… Others on the Music Express squad that I can recall were Mark Holmes (Platinum Blonde) and Maria Del Mar (National Velvet). I even got some Maiden sideline quotes for my story… And it was the first time I met Keith.” — Jamie Morrison, friend and former journalist
Check it out below!
* Thanks Deke at Arena Rock for providing the Bruce quote!