ROBERT SUTCLIFFE Danger ... day out on football special

I WAS fascinated to read that a small copse area near Kaffir Road, Edgerton, used to boast not only a tennis court but a bowling green too.

Although I have lived off-and-on for 35 years in the ‘Belgravia of Huddersfield’ as historians describe it, I had never heard anyone mention their existence let alone describe it as Edgerton Park.

Sadly, the last time I walked through it a few years ago I somehow managed to get lost and covered in brambles even though it is only a tiny area and my attractive female walking companion was distinctly unimpressed. S a puny 14-year-old I vividly remember the special trains put on for football fans in the late 1970s and 80s.

Now they appear to be making a comeback, with one taking Town fans from Barnsley back to Huddersfield last Saturday – with one fan speculating that the last time this happened was 1981.

In those faraway decades the dedicated matchday services were a common and much-feared sight with regular users giving them as wide a berth as possible. The idea was to ferry fans to away games in a controlled environment which would allow police to keep any idiots under close supervision.

Hooliganism was a constant problem in those days and huge numbers of fans were transported to games with West Ham Inter City Firm and the Leeds Service Crew being two of the more notorious gangs. But the problem was that the specials became hothouses for trouble-makers and cooping dozens of beered-up young men on a train created its own challenges for the

There was nothing more glamorous than an afternoon laced with danger going with your mates on a football special

authorities and so they eventually fizzled out.

It seems amazing now that my parents let me travel on them but in those days there was nothing more glamorous than an afternoon laced with danger going with your mates on a special to watch the football.

The trip I remember most was a visit to York on 8 March 1980, when we won 4-0. The train started being smashed up long before we reached the station.

On its arrival a shaven-headed thug with a very rude word tattooed on his forehead in block capital letters kicked off on the platform. I can still picture six officers being required to take him down.

Worse was to follow at Bootham Crescent itself when my Asian friend Naeem, who was attending a football match for the first and last time, was racially abused and chased into the York stand by Town fans.

Thankfully those days are gone and, nowadays, I don’t have many qualms before attending matches but seeing the specials certainly brought all the memories flooding back.