Viva Brighton Issue #84 February 2020

INSIDE LEFT: BRIGHTON TIGERS, 1958
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It’s April 13th 1958, and these guys have just
played the game of their lives. Meet the Brighton
Tigers, who’ve just beaten the Wembley Lions
7-6, to win the British League, in front of a sellout
3,000-plus crowd.
1957/8 was the most memorable season in the
history of the Tigers, who had earlier in the season
beaten Russia (in effect The Soviet Union),
the recently crowned Olympic champions.
They played their games in the SS Brighton, an
ice rink that could convert into a venue and conference
centre in the off-season. Both the Tories
and the Labour Party were to hold their annual
jamborees in the building later that year.
In the picture, the eye is drawn to the only man
not wearing ice skates, in the tux and bow tie.
This is Benny Lee, the General Manager of the
Tigers and an SS Brighton director, a canny
businessman responsible for publicising the
matches, and building the team. It was necessary
to field foreign players to achieve any sort of
success, and the majority of the Tigers were
Canadians he had hired.
One of these was goalie Tony Parisi, born at
Niagara Falls, the guy with the beard in the
centre of the picture. His facial hair was not long
for this world: Parisi, a brilliant goal-minder and
a hero of the fans, had vowed not to shave until
the Tigers had clinched the title. He had had his
work cut out all season, keeping the opposition
out: the Brighton rink was smaller than most, and
nicknamed ‘the goaltenders’ graveyard’.
Parisi had let more goals past him than he was
accustomed to that Sunday night, but he made
a great last-minute save to stop the Lions – who
had led the game with ten minutes remaining –
from taking a late-late lead. His compatriot Ron
Flinn capitalised, knocking home the puck in the
dying seconds, to give the Tigers the title.
The Tigers went on to win the British Championship
in 1960, but, alas, their days were
numbered. They continued to play inter-rink
tournaments after the collapse of the professional
league later that year; in 1965 Brighton Council
decided to demolish the SS Brighton, and, without
a home, the club folded. The memories of
Tigers fans, of course, burn bright. Alex Leith
Picture and extra research courtesy of Kevin
Wilsher, of the Regency Society, whose book The
Story of the Brighton Tigers comes out in April.
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