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Post by dem bones on Jun 7, 2013 8:26:58 GMT
Non-fiction; Dave Roberts - The Bromley Boys (Portico, 2008) As a fourteen year old, Dave Roberts fell in love with his local amateur team, Isthmian League strugglers Bromley F.C. The 1968/ 69 season had seen them finish a disappointing 17th (of 20), but manager Dave Ellis has bolstered the core of the side - including the free scoring Alan Stonebridge, midfield psycho Phil 'Tomato Face' Amato and "my goalkeeping idol" David Jensen - with some dynamic new faces. A narrow 1-3 home defeat to a West Ham XI in a pre-season friendly (sub Clyde Best turned the game for the Hammers who were trailing to an Alan Stonebridge special) raises the optimism level. Dave has decided that this year, come what may, he'll follow Bromley home and away. He's equally determined to land a job in the Club Souvenir Shop. And befriend hippie loner 'The Grubby' who sneaks into home games by climbing over a wall. So, a tricky away visit to Wycombe Wanderers on the first day of the season followed by tough but win-able fixtures versus Kingstonian and Wealdstone at Hayes Lane. Worst comes to the worst, they can't finish below those perennial wooden-spoonists, Corinthian Casuals (equally notorious for their obsessive sense of fair play and a Chocolate and Pink kit so shocking even Pans People would have drawn the line), because nobody ever does. What could possibly go right? Simply put, quite the loveliest tragic-comedy I've read in years. No matter which success-starved side you support (non-league or otherwise), chances are, The Bromley Boys will do it for you, too. ****** This post respectfully dedicated to the memory of Roy Couch, Wealdstone F.C. statistician and a very lovely man who died last night. My sincere commiserations to his brother and fellow fan Alan. R. I. P. Roy.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 4, 2019 8:33:51 GMT
"... He now writes books, which all seem to have a theme in common: obsession." Dave Roberts - Home and Away (Bantam, 2016) Blurb: Life as a non-league football fan is rarely glamorous, but for Dave Roberts, the 2015/16 Vanarama National League season looked like paradise. With perennial underachievers Bromley having been promoted to the highest level in their 130-year history, Dave would have the chance to travel the nation with a loyal band of fellow supporters – and even his wife Liz when he could persuade her. Since it was also 35 years since he had last lived in the UK, it would be like the ultimate package holiday; well, for Dave at least. And with a man called Moses banging in the goals up front, could Bromley even find their way to the promised land of the Football League?
Home and Away is the brilliant, Bill Bryson-esque account of a year exploring the real heartlands of football, from glamorous seaside resorts (Grimsby, Southport), fallen giants of the game (Wrexham, Tranmere) to Cotswold upstarts (Cheltenham, Forest Green) to name but a few. Conditioned to expect dismal performances, Dave instead found himself on a journey of discovery of a forgotten Britain, and of rediscovery of the joy of being a football diehard.Should imagine I'm not the only fan of The Bromley Boys approached this sequel with caution. How could Home And away possibly live up to it's magnificent and downright lovely predecessor? Far as this reader is concerned, it does - gloriously so. The return of John ("the Grubby") to Hayes Lane: "The greatest, and possibly only, love story in the history of non-league football" (and how joyless Dover stewards did their all to crush it). The great Bromley-Guisely fan alliance. The season-long evolution of the "Bromley Geezers" chant, including choral interlude. Are you a carry bag man? Who are the Strongbow Dark Fruits Ultras? As with all my favourite football books, Home And Away is about so much more - and often anything but - 22 guys/ girls booting a ball/ each other across a field for 90+ minutes. And now I can't get Bowie's bloody Heroes out of my head. Website: Home and Away: Meet the stars of the book(s)! #footballitis
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Post by ripper on Jul 8, 2019 21:25:32 GMT
I read The Bromley Boys after reading your assessment of it, Dem, and I have to agree that it is a wonderful book, and so reminiscent of my own experiences following my local non-league team at about the same age. I hope that people not interested in football are not put off reading it as it is such a good, page-turning read, and as Dem so rightly says, it is about so much more than the sport itself. Indeed, a very similar book could have been written about an obsession with any other pastime or hobbey, it just happened to be football that enticed Mr Roberts into its grasp. Great to hear that the author has another book out, and it will certainly be on my 'to read' list.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 9, 2019 18:57:23 GMT
I read The Bromley Boys after reading your assessment of it, Dem, and I have to agree that it is a wonderful book, and so reminiscent of my own experiences following my local non-league team at about the same age. I hope that people not interested in football are not put off reading it as it is such a good, page-turning read, and as Dem so rightly says, it is about so much more than the sport itself. Indeed, a very similar book could have been written about an obsession with any other pastime or hobbey, it just happened to be football that enticed Mr Roberts into its grasp. Great to hear that the author has another book out, and it will certainly be on my 'to read' list. You should be able to loan it from the library, Rip, as there is definitely at least one copy in circulation. And, there's a third Bromley Geezers book due August 22nd .... Dave Roberts - The Long, Long Road To Wembley (Unbound, Aug. 2019) Blurb: In 1968, fourteen-year-old Dave Roberts had a dream - to see the team he'd recently begun supporting, Bromley, play at Wembley. The trouble was that Bromley were rubbish, and when they spent the following decades far away from the pinnacle of non-league football, the dream seemed unreasonably ambitious.
But he never gave up. After all, Bromley had been there before - the proof was in the black-and-white pictures of the club's 1949 Amateur Cup triumph which hung on the wall of the tea hut at Hayes Lane, and which Dave stared at longingly. It was enough to keep that dream alive, as the rest - fortune, success and marrying Olivia Newton-John - fell by the wayside.
But after fifty years of never losing faith despite constant disappointment, a favourable draw in the FA Trophy gave Bromley the chance to finally make Dave's dream come true...
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Post by ripper on Jul 9, 2019 21:01:24 GMT
I read The Bromley Boys after reading your assessment of it, Dem, and I have to agree that it is a wonderful book, and so reminiscent of my own experiences following my local non-league team at about the same age. I hope that people not interested in football are not put off reading it as it is such a good, page-turning read, and as Dem so rightly says, it is about so much more than the sport itself. Indeed, a very similar book could have been written about an obsession with any other pastime or hobbey, it just happened to be football that enticed Mr Roberts into its grasp. Great to hear that the author has another book out, and it will certainly be on my 'to read' list. You should be able to loan it from the library, Rip, as there is definitely at least one copy in circulation. And, there's a third Bromley Geezers book due August 22nd .... Dave Roberts - The Long, Long Road To Wembley (Unbound, Aug. 2019) Blurb: In 1968, fourteen-year-old Dave Roberts had a dream - to see the team he'd recently begun supporting, Bromley, play at Wembley. The trouble was that Bromley were rubbish, and when they spent the following decades far away from the pinnacle of non-league football, the dream seemed unreasonably ambitious.
But he never gave up. After all, Bromley had been there before - the proof was in the black-and-white pictures of the club's 1949 Amateur Cup triumph which hung on the wall of the tea hut at Hayes Lane, and which Dave stared at longingly. It was enough to keep that dream alive, as the rest - fortune, success and marrying Olivia Newton-John - fell by the wayside.
But after fifty years of never losing faith despite constant disappointment, a favourable draw in the FA Trophy gave Bromley the chance to finally make Dave's dream come true...Thanks, Dem. That one sounds like it could be a corker as well. I would also like to put in a mention for Mr Roberts' '32 Programmes', yet another great read.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 10, 2019 16:50:10 GMT
That one sounds like it could be a corker as well. I would also like to put in a mention for Mr Roberts' '32 Programmes', yet another great read. Yeah, 32 Programmes is another cracker. Wife Liz, who insisted he cull his collection, features prominently in Home And Away. Can Dave convert his American bride into a Bromley Geezer? The chapter in which we catch up with John (the artist formerly known as 'The Grubby') is one of DR's finest. Rip, should you visit the library, you might also like to order Nige Tassell's similarly excellent The Bottom Corner: Hope, Glory and Non-League Football (Yellow Jersey Press, 2016) at same time. Don't know what it was but last month I just couldn't get into supernatural-horror stuff at all, so threw myself back into reading football books, mags, programmes & Co to keep "sane." Home And Away and The Bottom Corner were the pair that most did it for me.
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Post by ripper on Jul 12, 2019 10:36:52 GMT
That one sounds like it could be a corker as well. I would also like to put in a mention for Mr Roberts' '32 Programmes', yet another great read. Yeah, 32 Programmes is another cracker. Wife Liz, who insisted he cull his collection, features prominently in Home And Away. Can Dave convert his American bride into a Bromley Geezer? The chapter in which we catch up with John (the artist formerly known as 'The Grubby') is one of DR's finest. Rip, should you visit the library, you might also like to order Nige Tassell's similarly excellent The Bottom Corner: Hope, Glory and Non-League Football (Yellow Jersey Press, 2016) at same time. Don't know what it was but last month I just couldn't get into supernatural-horror stuff at all, so threw myself back into reading football books, mags, programmes & Co to keep "sane." Home And Away and The Bottom Corner were the pair that most did it for me. Thanks for the recommendation regarding The Bottom Corner, Dem. It's actually on Kindle for 99p at the moment, so I shall buy it at that bargain price. I had a huge box of comics, football mags and programmes prior to getting married. I have comforted myself that it must have been put in the attic upon arrival of Mrs Ripper, but I've been on several expeditions up there, but so far have failed to locate it. As well as many Shoot! mags from the 70s, I had lots of non-league programmes plus a school mate gave me a pile of Wolves programmes from when the Doog was king. Maybe they are lurking in a corner as it is like a Krypton Factor assault course up there, but fear they were chucked out 25+ years ago.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 1, 2021 19:01:18 GMT
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Post by ripper on Dec 6, 2021 11:01:13 GMT
That is very sad news. He had such a talent for evoking what football away from the glamour of the Premier League is all about. His books are often very funny, bittersweet and nostalgic for a time before it was trendy to be a football fan. RIP.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 6, 2021 11:41:56 GMT
That is very sad news. He had such a talent for evoking what football away from the glamour of the Premier League is all about. His books are often very funny, bittersweet and nostalgic for a time before it was trendy to be a football fan. RIP. The Bromley Boys might be the most upbeat book ever to feature on Vault. The screen adaptation is pretty terrible, though by all accounts Dave and the fans had a great time during filming - he arranged for a number to appear as extras. First Ravens home game since his death was v. Wealdstone on Saturday. Dan on the The Bromley FC forum writes: "So proud of the club on an emotional day, the applause before the game and the atmosphere from both sets of supporters were a fitting tribute."
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