KEY POINTS:
It was 1981, a golden era of New Zealand football and the middle of the All Whites' World Cup campaign.
As All Whites assistant coach Kevin Fallon emerged from Customs at Sydney Airport, New Zealand football boss Charlie Dempsey asked him to speak to the media about the team's next World Cup match against Australia.
Fallon asked the press corps if there were any New Zealand media present. No, he was told. Fallon then asked if they had their pens ready. Yes, yes, he was assured.
"Well, you can f*** off, then," he blasted before walking off, leaving the media and Dempsey dumbfounded.
All Whites coach John Adshead soon arrived to save the day with some smooth-talking, but it's a story that embodies Fallon. He was a rough diamond who didn't care what other people thought. Still doesn't.
It's why he is unconcerned about reports last week that he was involved in a fracas during a football match between his Mt Albert Grammar School and Auckland Grammar at the national champs in Napier.
Depending on who you talk to, Fallon either manhandled an Auckland Grammar pupil after a wild tackle erupted into a scuffle, or was assaulted himself trying to keep the peace. Either the villain, or the victim of his reputation.
"It was just a little..." he says in his still thick Yorkshire accent. "It was no big deal. It's not even worth talking about. It was just a little happening in the game. It's football."
Fallon is loath to expand on what has been the talk of school football for 10 days.
Some of the things he has said already have got him into hot water, such as when he told the Herald he thought Auckland Grammar had pulled out of playing his side in the Auckland Knockout Cup final because they didn't want to get beaten again.
He sent an "unreserved apology" to Auckland Grammar that was read out at the school's assembly.
"You can't go through life having regrets," he says, asked if he laments what happened.
Deep down, though, you get the sense he regrets it has become a talking point. He regrets the fact it has taken the gloss off what has been another successful season for his MAGS team.
Since setting up the MAGS football academy in 1997, the school has won eight Auckland Secondary School Premier League titles, including the past five, as well as five national titles and eight Auckland Knockout Cups.
Before he arrived, they had not won anything for 23 years. Now they set the standard.
On top of that, five All Whites who lined up against New Caledonia last week - Chris James, David Mulligan, Tony Lochhead, Jeremy Christie and Allan Pearce - came out of his programme.
Countless others have gone on to careers overseas or played in New Zealand's top league, the NZFC.
By his own admission, Fallon is no saint.
"Rebel," he says, fighting for the right word. "My wife has stressed for two days [about the coverage]. I told her not to worry because I don't.
"If people want to fire me, they will fire me. I'm a believer that whatever is meant to be, will be. There are certain things you do and you might regret, but you can't go back. People always seem to remember controversial things [with me]. You get castigated for that, like this week."
There might be a perception some parents are unhappy about their children being coached by Fallon. He says he hasn't ever been approached by a parent upset at his methods.
"I have only ever had support, just like last week. Parents have said, 'if you need any support, Kevin, let us know'. I have had a couple of people send me emails raving on about the discipline and enthusiasm I have shown their child. If only people knew... " he says, trailing off and telling a story about someone who left a bottle of $180 Irish whiskey for him in the liquor store he frequents. He doesn't know who it was but assumes it was a parent.
"People look at me and go, 'there he is, doing this and that, swearing'. That's not the case. You would have to see me with the kids. You would have to ask them [about me] but I would be very confident.
"I don't adjust the way I have always coached. The only thing I adjust is a television set now and again. I am a coach. I have success with kids and men because of the way I do things, the way I explain things. It's the way I am."
