NEIL DONCASTER
Every w eekend I like to go to at least one game. We are lucky in Scotland to have so many stadiums that make Saturdays a special experience
IT all started with my granddad, Ted. I was very close to him. He was a big, big character in my life when I was growing up and was a huge Crystal Palace fan. He lived just up the road from Selhurst Park and I used to go along to games with him on a Saturday. It was a huge part of my life.
I can still remember everything from that first game. I couldn’t tell you who the opposition was, right enough, but the thing that struck me the most was the whole experience of it. We were in what WASs called the Arthur Wait Stand. If you want to know what the Arthur Wait Stand looked like in 1976 then go there now...
It was just this seething mass of thousands of people, mainly young men. You were swept along with the crowd. It was an evening game I was taken to as my first introduction to this whole new world. It was the smoke, the smells, the noise, the colour. It was an incredible sensory experience.
To this day, I can still visualise the old gypsy woman who used to sell monkey nuts at half-time in a paper bag. I remember my granddad buying me them to keep me amused ahead of the second half. A policeman’s helmet got passed along the crowd as well, if I recall correctly. It just wasn’t like anything I’d ever experienced before as an overwhelmed six-year-old boy.
Around that time, Terry Venables had just taken over the side that was to be dubbed “the team of the 80s”. The lads I would have seen were the likes of Jim Cannon, who was, of course, a Scottish centre-half. He was a stalwart at the back. He had a huge mane of hair, a truly fearsome individual. There was Vince Hilaire, Gerry Murphy, ex-England defender Kenny Samson and, of course, Welsh internationalist Peter Nicholas (pictured).
Peter was actually very influential in my support of Palace and my overall enjoyment of the game. One of my teachers at school knew him and during one of the school team training sessions got Peter to come along and give us half an hour of coaching and to sign autographs. To have in my hand this little slip of paper signed by Peter Nicholas meant the world to me. Just to meet this superstar, as I saw him, coming to coach the school team, it was a huge, huge thing. It really stayed with me how much players being out and about and allowing kids to meet their heroes is a massive part of building engagement with fans. I still have that slip of paper… I played football at school like everyone else did. I was in my primary school team. I was a right-back, my nickname was Donkey – so make of that what you will. Away from being at Selhurst Park and robustly tackling kids on a school football pitch, the game was still never far away in my life. It is hard for even people I work with in their 20s and 30s to comprehend that in the 1970s there just wasn’t that much football on television. You occasionally got England live internationals but very little live football. The results programme Grandstand on a Saturday was certainly a must-view as I checked for the Palace away results to come in. Life has changed a bit for me on a Saturday now, too. Every weekend I like to go to at least one game and get to as many different grounds as I can. Ultimately, we are a members organisation so it’s vital we understand what is concerning all of our member clubs. That enables us to tell them what we are doing as well as answer their questions or concerns. In fact, on January 2, I made it to the final one of all the grounds in Scotland. I’ve now attended a game at every single SPFL ground. Elgin v Forfar was the final stop.
We are lucky in Scotland to have so many special stadiums that really make Saturdays a unique experience. In the top flight you obviously have the likes of Celtic Park, Ibrox, Tynecastle – but throughout the leagues there are some real gems to sit (or stand ) and watch a game.
Arbroath is a fantastic experience. I always enjoy going to Ayr United, which is an authentic old stadium. I also really enjoyed going to Elgin, it was a terrific place to round off my trip.
I’m personally a fan of older types of stadiums which probably goes back to the days of the Arthur Wait Stand with my grandad. For many years we stood on the Holmesdale Road end which was a big standing terrace. It’s not any more, but it’s one of the reasons I’ve been such a big fan of safe standing areas in the Scottish game. I think they add so much to the experience and atmosphere.
It brings back fond memories of my childhood. I still thoroughly enjoy my football, but all the buzz comes from going along to support your team. As a league representative and a neutral it’s not quite the same. I still enjoy watching football, but it’s a wholly different experience now.