THERE can, of course, be no excuse for any spectator to invade a playing field and attack a player, writes Stephen Wainwright.
But almost everyone saw the funny side of Minnie Cotton's activities fifty years ago this week when the 57-year-old granny gave Trevor Lowe a brolly bashing.
It was the semi-final of the rugby league Challenge Cup and Saints were playing Lowe's Dewsbury side at Swinton, with the match shown live on BBC TV.
Infuriated at the rough treatment of Saints' John Warlow, Minnie grabbed an umbrella belonging to another spectator and dashed onto the pitch.
She then used the brolly to strike Trevor Lowe and at the same time called him a "dirty devil".
Warlow was Minnie's lodger at her Eccleston home and she told the St Helens Newspaper that her protective, maternal instincts had come to the fore: "John's a smashing lad to look after.
"I imagine I felt I had to protect him."
However, some might have felt that the 6ft 1in, 15 stone second-row forward could probably have taken care of himself!
A photograph of Minnie standing in the crowd was taken by chance just minutes before her charge onto the rugby field.
At the rear of the picture is the umbrella that Minnie commandeered to give Trevor Lowe a pummelling.
Speaking later from her home in St Luke's Road, Mrs Cotton said: "I was sitting on the front row of the ringside seats with my grandson, 12-years-old David Reisler, 11, Marshall Avenue, when I saw number 11, Trevor Lowe, kick John when he went down after the four Dewsbury lads had tackled him.
"Well! I just saw red.
"Lowe hadn't even been involved in the tackle."
And so she made a 25-yard sprint after the retreating Trevor Lowe and rapped him on the shoulder with the borrowed brolly.
The Dewsbury player turned round, grabbed the umbrella and snapped it in two over his knee.
A police inspector, along with Saints full back Frankie Barrow, then escorted Minnie back to her place in front of the cheering crowd.
"They were yelling ‘Hands off’," laughed Mrs Cotton.
"They kissed me, and congratulated me.
"But I don't think I'll do it again."
But she did!
A month later during Saints cup final win against Wigan at Wembley, Minnie repeated what the St Helens Newspaper called her "player clobbering act".
Again, the TV cameras captured her on-field activities and this letter subsequently appeared in the Newspaper from someone using the penname "Disgusted Billinger":
"Don't you think it's time that the ‘brolly woman’ was banned from rugby football?
"I am not a fan of any team but twice recently I have watched TV on Saturday afternoon, and it's been a repeat performance.
"She would be better at home doing some baking, or is she after a part in films?
"I would be ashamed if I was her.
"What can you expect from teenagers, when older folk are so silly?"
After her first field storming at Swinton, Minnie had been allowed to remain in the ground, as it was almost the end of the match.
But on the second occasion at Wembley, she'd been ejected and missed the celebrations as Saints won the cup.
As a result, Minnie said she would not be following the team anymore.
But Saints' players had other ideas as she had strong connections with the Knowsley Road side.
Not only had Minnie been watching them for 40 years but her late husband and grandfather had both played for Saints.
And so a compromise was struck in which Minnie received a season ticket for a seat at Knowsley Road, as Alex Murphy, the St Helens captain, explained: "We had to do something to get her supporting us again.
"The players thought it would be a good idea to have a whip round and buy her a stand ticket.
"It will fence her in and keep her out of trouble, and we shall still have our No. 1 fan."
Stephen Wainwright's books The Hidden History Of St Helens Vols 1 to 5 are available from the St Helens Book Stop and The World of Glass and online from Amazon and eBay with free delivery.
Price £12 each.
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