"All-Ireland Final day is the most important day of the year in the GAA calendar and many games have gone down in history as unforgettable classics which enthralled the nation. Unfortunately the 1983 Football Final between Dublin and Galway is remembered for all the wrong reasons. It was a game full of unrest and ugliness, where four players were sent off and several others were lucky not to join them. GAA fans were looking forward to the final in 1983 as both counties had a proud tradition of Gaelic football, and it was the first final since 1977 that didn’t involve Kerry. Conditions were terrible on the day of the match with the gale force wind and driving rain making it impossible for the players to play constructive football, and the physical battle was more intense than usual. The game was full of dangerous sliding tackles and heated exchanges between players were frequent. A variety of incidents resulted in three players being sent off from Dublin and one player being sent off from Galway. There were protestations about goals that shouldn’t have been allowed, players clashing in the tunnel at half time, and a fan stabbed in the heaving crowd. Dublin’s ’12 Apostles’ defended superbly against the onslaught of Galway attacks however and held out for a famous win by a margin of 2 points, but the controversy tended to overshadow the Dubs’ great achievement. The following morning’s newspapers coverage had very little to do with the actual game, but focused on the ugliness of the match and also reported on the poor supervision at exits and the terrible crushing in the Canal End and on Hill 16, where a fan was stabbed. There were reports of clashes amongst supporters after the match and of buses full of Galway fans being stoned as they left Dublin. This week’s episode of Scannal relives that infamous final of 1983 through the eyes of four players involved: Barney Rock, who commented, “If you study the match again, the first dig w