1974 FA Charity Shield

The 1974 FA Charity Shield was a football match played on 10 August 1974 between 1973–74 champions Leeds United and 1974 FA Cup Final winners Liverpool. Bill Shankly led Liverpool out onto the pitch for the last time, he had retired in May 1974 to be replaced by Bob Paisley.

The match was notorious for a display of violence by Billy Bremner and Kevin Keegan, who were dismissed after the hour for trading punches. Both players felt they had been harshly treated and took off their shirts, flinging them on to the Wembley track as they left the pitch. The FA fined both players £500 and banned them until September, meaning they would miss eleven matches. It was the first Charity Shield ever to be shown on television.

The match finished 1–1, Phil Boersma had opened the scoring for Liverpool in the 20th minute, but Trevor Cherry headed home Leeds equaliser in the 70th. The game then went to a penalty shoot out and, with the scores balanced at 5–5 in sudden death, Leeds chose their keeper David Harvey to go next. Harvey hit the ball over the crossbar, and Ian Callaghan scored the winner for Liverpool who won the game 6–5.

The match – and the fight between Keegan and Bremner – is mentioned in The Damned United with Brian Clough requesting of Bremner 'good, clean attractive football...starting next week at the Charity Shield'. In the subsequent film version, the match is included with some of the original footage used.

Match details

References

• Sunday Times Article on the Match
• Mighty Whites Match Report
• LFC History Article on the Match
• Liverweb Match Report