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Post by dem on Jan 17, 2019 19:06:49 GMT
I remember I had to strongly disuade my mum from knitting me a scarf and bobble hat in Hednesford's colours. I did eventually buy a silk scarf, but it took a while as the supporters shop--rather a grand title for what it was--didn't have them in for ages. The club's nickname is the Pitmen to reflect the importance of coal-mining in the area and I suspect a fair proportion of supporters were miners, who rather frowned at silk scarfs, but tolerated them. Top man, Rip. I knew you'd not let me down. I swerved bobble-hats and patches - was more of a lapel badge guy. Looking back, the whole under-age drinking thing was incredibly relaxed. Had no difficulty getting served in pub or off licence. As long as you behaved nobody seemed to care. My first local, from about fourteen/ fifteen onward, was bang next door to a police station. If you've not read it, I'm sure you'd enjoy Dave Roberts' follow up to The Bromley Boys, 32 Programmes. Loaned it from the library so there should be a copy in circulation. |
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Post by ripper on Jan 18, 2019 9:53:23 GMT
I remember I had to strongly disuade my mum from knitting me a scarf and bobble hat in Hednesford's colours. I did eventually buy a silk scarf, but it took a while as the supporters shop--rather a grand title for what it was--didn't have them in for ages. The club's nickname is the Pitmen to reflect the importance of coal-mining in the area and I suspect a fair proportion of supporters were miners, who rather frowned at silk scarfs, but tolerated them. Top man, Rip. I knew you'd not let me down. I swerved bobble-hats and patches - was more of a lapel badge guy. Looking back, the whole under-age drinking thing was incredibly relaxed. Had no difficulty getting served in pub or off licence. As long as you behaved nobody seemed to care. My first local, from about fourteen/ fifteen onward, was bang next door to a police station. If you've not read it, I'm sure you'd enjoy Dave Roberts' follow up to The Bromley Boys, 32 Programmes. Loaned it from the library so there should be a copy in circulation. I did read Dave Roberts 32 Programmes, which is another very good read imo. I got a feeling of regret when reading it that I had not bothered to keep any of the programmes I had bought over the years. One thing that I had and never quite had the nerve to take along to a game was a rattle. I suppose they have more or less disappeared nowadays. My grandfather made it in the 1930s/40s and it was passed down to me. The noise it made was ear-splitting. I do have a vague memory of the occasional one on the terraces, but I could never bring myself to use it as it instantly drew attention. The Hednesford Town ground was bang next to an old coaching inn and there was another pub about 150 yards away, both being within a 3 minute walk of my secondary school. Actually, one was run by the parents of a girl in my class. It was common to see in those days boys and girls you knew were nowhere near 18 drinking in pubs. Girls got an easier time as they would put on make-up and instantly look more mature, but so long as you behaved yourself then it was quite relaxed for boys as well. Very different now. |
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Post by dem on Jan 19, 2019 9:31:09 GMT
Ah, think you acted wisely, Rip. The guy with the rattle was the bloke nobody stood next to (see also the oddball with the terminally malfunctioning transistor radio pressed to his ear, failing to tune into the half-time scores as though his life depended on it).
Had quite a collection of programmes too, somewhere around the 700 mark - lost during a house move, along with stash of punk 'zines, several issues of Foul! The Alternate Football magazine and Wealdstone's ace early '70's xerox job, Long Ball Down The Middle! Chokes me up thinking about it even now.
Went to quite a few England internationals as a kid, always to cheer on the opposition (hated Ramsey's anti-football). It was dead easy to bunk in. One guy would buy a ticket on the turnstile, the rest crawled through between his ankles. Even the single time we got caught, the steward just smiled and turned a blind eye.
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Post by ripper on Jan 19, 2019 17:14:31 GMT
I had a mate at school who gave me a whole pile of Wolves programmes from the early to mid 70s, but sadly I don't have them anymore. For years I have been comforting myself that they, together with hundreds of old comics and books, were somewhere in our loft, but several expeditions up there have left me thinking that all were thrown out at sometime, yet as it is chaotic to say the least in our loft, there is still a small chance that they are tucked in some remote corner. Never been to any internationals. I did go to see Wolves play in the UEFA Cup against Juventus in 1972. I was only ten at the time and we were surrounded by Juventus fans in the stands--no thought of segregation back then. The thing I remember so clearly is my dad buying me a hot dog at half-time and my astonishment that it was sealed in plastic, something I had never seen before. Funny how something so trivial sticks in your mind.  Yep, there always seems to be a guy with a transistor radio--a really cheap one with terrible sound quality--trying to hear scores from other games. I would think that smartphones have now consigned such things to history, but who knows? |
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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 19, 2019 20:22:29 GMT
Never been to any internationals. The only 'international' I've been to was to see Western Australia beat Rangers 2:1 at Perry Lakes stadium, Perth, in 1975. One of the great giant killer results, but now all but forgotten. |
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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 19, 2019 20:35:21 GMT
Had quite a collection of programmes too, somewhere around the 700 mark - lost during a house move, along with stash of punk 'zines, several issues of Foul! The Alternate Football magazine and Wealdstone's ace early '70's xerox job, Long Ball Down The Middle! Chokes me up thinking about it even now. Can't remember if I've posted this article from Biblionews before - the fate of a book collection:    |
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Post by ripper on Jan 20, 2019 9:54:56 GMT
Never been to any internationals. The only 'international' I've been to was to see Western Australia beat Rangers 2:1 at Perry Lakes stadium, Perth, in 1975. One of the great giant killer results, but now all but forgotten. I would guess that would have been a pre-season tour that Rangers were on at the time. I had not realised that UK teams went that far during the 70s. Nowadays that football is so globally popular I can understand somewhat why tours to the Far East and USA are undertaken as there are an increasing number of fans and revenue from there, but I can't imagine that football was that big down under at that time. Did the game attract a good crowd, James? Thinking about it, the mid 70s was the time when there was a concerted effort to make football popular in the USA, so perhaps the Rangers tour was hoped to do the same in Australia? |
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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 20, 2019 10:07:40 GMT
Did the game attract a good crowd, James? Thinking about it, the mid 70s was the time when there was a concerted effort to make football popular in the USA, so perhaps the Rangers tour was hoped to do the same in Australia? Just found this page about it: members.iinet.net.au/~jacob/wasoccer/1975State.htm Perry Lakes was an athletics ground, so didn't have the capacity of the Aussie rules or cricket grounds. Still, 9,000 was a huge crowd for a soccer game. As the late, great Johnny Warren's autobiography makes clear, you either had to be female, an immigrant or gay to like soccer in 1970s Australia:  |
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Post by ripper on Jan 20, 2019 16:24:35 GMT
Just found this page about it: members.iinet.net.au/~jacob/wasoccer/1975State.htm Perry Lakes was an athletics ground, so didn't have the capacity of the Aussie rules or cricket grounds. Still, 9,000 was a huge crowd for a soccer game. As the late, great Johnny Warren's autobiography makes clear, you either had to be female, an immigrant or gay to like soccer in 1970s Australia: That's a very decent crowd for what was probably considered a minority sport. These pre-season friendlies often see weakened teams being fielded as managers try new players and tactics, plus the fear of losing a key player to injury. I remember going to see Middlesborough play my local non-league side in a pre-season match about 20 years ago and how disappointing it was when only a couple of the bigger names played. We had all gone to see Gazza play but he wasn't even on the coach. |
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Post by dem on Jan 20, 2019 21:41:49 GMT
Never been to any internationals. I did go to see Wolves play in the UEFA Cup against Juventus in 1972. I was only ten at the time and we were surrounded by Juventus fans in the stands--no thought of segregation back then. The thing I remember so clearly is my dad buying me a hot dog at half-time and my astonishment that it was sealed in plastic, something I had never seen before. Funny how something so trivial sticks in your mind. Never mind bloody Juventus! Wolves faced the mighty Wealdstone at Lower Mead Stadium circa 1974/5 in a testimonial for Stones captain Eric Burgess who'd been forced to retire through injury. Eric had some family connection to Bruce Forsyth, so Brucie and Anthea Redfern - both in Wealdstone kit - performed kick off duties. Jimmy Greaves turned out for us for ten minutes or so, after which, it was more like a cup tie than a friendly, both sides really going for it. Wolves, with commendable insanity, fielded their stars - the Doog, John Richards, Kenny Hibbitt - and won 5-2. The Radio 1 team played at least one charity match at Lower Mead in the 'seventies. Ed Stewart (keeper), Tony Blackburn and David Hamilton featured, pretty sure J. Saville and cigar also involved. James, thanks for posting the article on the fate of David Cohen's collection but it is heart-breaking! |
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Post by ripper on Jan 21, 2019 19:11:52 GMT
Never been to any internationals. I did go to see Wolves play in the UEFA Cup against Juventus in 1972. I was only ten at the time and we were surrounded by Juventus fans in the stands--no thought of segregation back then. The thing I remember so clearly is my dad buying me a hot dog at half-time and my astonishment that it was sealed in plastic, something I had never seen before. Funny how something so trivial sticks in your mind. Never mind bloody Juventus! Wolves faced the mighty Wealdstone at Lower Mead Stadium circa 1974/5 in a testimonial for Stones captain Eric Burgess who'd been forced to retire through injury. Eric had some family connection to Bruce Forsyth, so Brucie and Anthea Redfern - both in Wealdstone kit - performed kick off duties. Jimmy Greaves turned out for us for ten minutes or so, after which, it was more like a cup tie than a friendly, both sides really going for it. Wolves, with commendable insanely, fielded their stars - the Doog, John Richards, Kenny Hibbitt - and won 5-2. The Radio 1 team played at least one charity match at Lower Mead in the 'seventies. Ed Stewart (keeper), Tony Blackburn and David Hamilton featured, pretty sure J. Saville and cigar also involved. James, thanks for posting the article on the fate of David Cohen's collection but it is heart-breaking! Funny thing about Wolves is that my dad disliked them intensely when I was growing up and it kind of rubbed off on me somewhat, so how he came to take me to see them play Juventus I can't fathom. I don't remember any showbiz XI teams playing Hednesford. It must have been nice to see a great player like Greaves if only for ten minutes....not so nice to see J Saville in light of subsequent events. I do recall on one occasion that a marriage reception was taking place at a venue near the ground and at half-time bride and groom were brought onto the pitch. Bride was in all white and goodness knows what she thought about tramping onto a football pitch in her wedding dress and white shoes. They got a good cheer and the ribald comments from the crowd about said bride were muted enough for she and her beau not to hear. |
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Post by Shrink Proof on Jan 22, 2019 10:11:55 GMT
Staying with football, but moving sideways (and back Up North), five minutes of your time can profitably be spent reading the first half of this blog page. A (sort of) homage to Phillip K Dick's "The Man in the High Castle", which is basically 'what if Germany & Japan had won WW2?', this piece is much more parochial. Specifically, 'What if Owen Oyston had not been allowed to buy Blackpool Football Club back in 1988, how might the fortunes of the club and the town have progressed differently over the last thirty years?' Ladies and Gents, I give you ‘The Man In The High Penthouse: an alternate history of Blackpool Football Club’ (with apologies to Philip K Dick). It's reet grim Oop North... |
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Post by ripper on Jan 22, 2019 19:04:13 GMT
Staying with football, but moving sideways (and back Up North), five minutes of your time can profitably be spent reading the first half of this blog page. A (sort of) homage to Phillip K Dick's "The Man in the High Castle", which is basically 'what if Germany & Japan had won WW2?', this piece is much more parochial. Specifically, 'What if Owen Oyston had not been allowed to buy Blackpool Football Club back in 1988, how might the fortunes of the club and the town have progressed differently over the last thirty years?' Ladies and Gents, I give you ‘The Man In The High Penthouse: an alternate history of Blackpool Football Club’ (with apologies to Philip K Dick). It's reet grim Oop North... Interesting. Never seen an alternate history for football before, but I suppose that sport can have its divergence points just as much as geo-politics can. For instance, what would have happened if the Munich air crash had never happened or if Beckham had not been sent off in that World Cup game against Argentina in 1998? Perhaps there's a book in it somewhere, if one has not already been written. |
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Post by dem on Jan 22, 2019 19:47:49 GMT
Interesting. Never seen an alternate history for football before, but I suppose that sport can have its divergence points just as much as geo-politics can. For instance, what would have happened if the Munich air crash had never happened or if Beckham had not been sent off in that World Cup game against Argentina in 1998? Perhaps there's a book in it somewhere, if one has not already been written. Kim Newman's SQPR probably qualifies. And, of course, Vault legend Richard Stain's controversial account of England B internationals, Ninety Minutes Of Hell ... |
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Post by ripper on Jan 24, 2019 11:36:07 GMT
Interesting. Never seen an alternate history for football before, but I suppose that sport can have its divergence points just as much as geo-politics can. For instance, what would have happened if the Munich air crash had never happened or if Beckham had not been sent off in that World Cup game against Argentina in 1998? Perhaps there's a book in it somewhere, if one has not already been written. Kim Newman's SQPR probably qualifies. And, of course, Vault legend Richard Stain's controversial account of England B internationals, Ninety Minutes Of Hell ... How could I have forgotten Mr Stain's contribution? Another aspect of non-league football that occured to me is how often games were played in conditions that would today not be tolerated. Snow, hail, pelting rain, I've stood on the terraces in all those conditions, willing for half time and a quick trip to the burger van for something warm. There was a stand, but it was really no protection against the elements, and on the terraces at least you could move around to keep the circulation going. There must have been times when games were called off, but I don't remember any specific occasions. Back then, letting people know of a game being postponed was much more difficult. No internet, many still didn't have phones, non-league fixtures were not often mentioned on Grandstand unless it was in the F.A, Cup. Also, postponing a game might mean that your players may have other commitments when it was actually played--many were amateurs or semi-pros. It's bad enough here in the Midlands and I can imagine it would only have been worse further north. |
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