THERE’S MUCH TO CELEBRATE
SAFETY FIRST WAS NEVER THE POLICY
IREALLY hope all the leagues and cups can be played out this season – what a celebration Non-League Finals Day at Wembley will be. What strange times we are living in? Longing for my football fix, I’ve been watching old games, from long lost seasons? It took me half an hour to get the DVD player working, and the video even longer. But it has given me a chance to look back on some great matches – ones that I attended and then returned home to watch the highlights on TV. Obviously, the only games that my club, Farnborough Town, were covered in were in the FA Cup but, sadly, this doesn’t involve the first time they reached the first round proper, away at Yeovil in 1980-81.
I was studying for a Drama and Geography General BA, in Liverpool at the time. I was broke. I hitch hiked down, leaving my flat early on the Saturday morning.
I did a lot of hitch hiking in those days, in fact I’ve written a book about it “A Hitch In Time” (available from all good bookshops, and a great read if you are isolating). I arrived at the ground just as the game kicked off. In those days the away end was uncovered. I found my two friends, Peter and Martin Carey, who had come down on the supheeded porters coach, and we stood on this open terrace, and as it was raining, it was just the three of us. Yeovil scored first at the end of the first half. Farnborough attacked the end where we were standing after the break and we would spill down the terraces and shout for more to join us. This must look pretty funny to the Yeovil fans sheltering in the stand at the far end but then, from nowhere, Farnborough equalised. The three of us went crazy. Dancing around the open expanse of concrete oblivious to the rain.
Skinheads
But this was too much for some of the Yeovil fans. I noticed a movement in the stand to our right. Something was moving down the stand towards us like a slow Mexican wave. As they approached I saw that it was about 15 skinheads in green and white scarve, all wearing 18-hole Doc Martens. They were teenagers, but we weren’t going to hang about to see what they wanted. We reached the stand to our left and ran along its sparsely populated lower deck. When we reached the halfway line, our escape was blocked by the wall of the players’ tunnel – and, thankfully, a copper!
Out-numbered
“Hello? Excuse me? Help!” I cried. The policeman looked the other way, feigning he was watching the match.
That was when they reached us. We were older than them but out-numbered. As the blows rained down I did my best to cover us with my hold-all. I threw a few punches in self-defence, but I’m not a fighter, but they got through this meagre defence. Eventually they grew bored, and ran off.
The whole melee took about 20 seconds, but we were very bruised. Martin had come off worst. The policeman finally our shouts and the Yeovil physio suggested someone took Martin to hospital, where they discovered that his nose was broken and he needed stitches in his lip.
As we stood in the physio room under the stand we heard the roar that told us Yeovil had scored the winner. Just our luck!
The game finished and we were ushered up to the boardroom by some very apologetic Yeovil Town officials. The Farnborough chairman came in and listened to our tale. As we had missed the supporters coach because we were waiting for Martin, they let us go back to Farnborough on the team coach! Football was like that in those days, you really didn’t feel safe on the terraces. There was a lot of trouble at games, it was when hooliganism was at its height. I’m so glad those days are gone. Our game is not perfect, but we can thank our lucky stars that those dark days are behind us, hopefully to never return when football resumes. It is great that at NonLeague grounds there is no need for segregation these days, and that fans can gernerally swap ends at half-time, and have a pint pitchside. We should remember how hard it is without the game we all love, and should celebrate together its eventual return!