Thread For The Over 40's Only

[Pooter]

That was a great day. In the Scoreboard End and the coaches didn't leave till about midnight.

That's right and we had to walk it back to the city centre after the match as there was only buses in those days and none of them seemed to be running.

 

[Joe Fabulous]

Me and my girlfriend at the time, who's now my wife took a day of work and travelled down to that Palace night match .......50,000ish crowd and could'nt get in and spent the night in the pub with Palace fans who thought we were mad..........ended up sleeping on the floor at this a palace fans house

Did you get your leg ower?

 

[chuckyroll]

Did you get your leg ower?

obviously wont be now

 

[Pooter]

The maggots are not the real enemy to a lot of fans of my generation (talkin' 'bout my generation ), the real enemy is Leeds Utd.

The football now isn't as earthy as it was back in those days, but nowadays I love the fact that you can wear your colours as a sign that you are only interested in the football and get involved in great craic with the opposing fans. All but Leeds fans that is.

Dead right mate and for the reasons you mentioned. I always tell people it's Leeds and not Newcastle that I dislike the most much to their surprise. They can stay in the 3rd Division as far as I am concerned.

 

[Locke's SAFC]

They may be a lot of things but clueless they aint.

On Wear-Tees 'derby' day they repeatedly turn up in Sunderland town centre in numbers. Have Sunderland ever reciprocated at their place in the last 25-30 years? (Rhetorical question).

Middlesbrough have 'form'. By comparison Sunderland are seen as flaky as hell (particularly given their respective support bases).

Aye. 96ish. Main lads got taxis to Darlo and train to Boro. Out of the station and straight in. The majority got rounded up and put on the train - 20-30 had tickets and were taken to the match.

 

[cesirwin]

obviously wont be now

I'm married to her.........28years

 

[Locke's SAFC]

i can honestly say that in all my years of going away ive never been involved in any bother. its never interested me tbh.
i used to travel on the wingate bus and have some great memories. we had a great time going to the away games. used to always stop at a club near doncaster if we'd played in the south.
it was a very well ran branch (thanks to mick and dave). we were usually the first bus at wherever we were playing and would often be booked into a club/pub. just a bunch of lads looking for a good day out on the beer with a match thrown in.

Travelled on that bus a few times. Did you go to Millwall in 92? Chelsea in the quarters?

 

[chuckyroll]

I'm married to her.........28years

thats what i meant

 

[Zimbo]

answered earlier. Barton's of Nottingham

but feel free to start a blog ya owld git

The correct answer is that it was originally Hall Bros of South Shields. I think the colour was brown and cream. They were bought out by Bartons of Nottingham in the mid sixties and the colour changed to maroon and red and the coaches that operated from South Shields for a few years after that had the logo Bartons & Hall Brothers. They then became just Bartons.
We used to try to fill our own bus from Consett to away matches but if we couldn't manage, we used to phone Tennick the day before the match and he would send one up to Consett with sufficient vacant seats for us. On the London trips, they used to leave about midnight and by the time they got to Consett, half of those on board were already pissed. Great days
My first match incidentally was v Leeds on Good Friday 1957. We won 2-0

 

[b1gals]

They were hopelessly under prepared that day at York.

When we got there the queues outside were so bad they started letting people in through the exit by having a row of stewards and coppers just viewing the tickets, no stubs were removed and the tickets were then thrown back outside over the wall for others to use. Stupid thing to do in hindsight but this was pre Hillsbrough.

I was 19 year old and pretty fit and I am 6 foot tall, but I was pretty scared that day. It was absolutely mental and from the end behind the goal we could not see the first 10 yards of the pitch.

I vividly remember a group of fans pressed against the barrier to my Right and screaming at the police to get them out but the coppers just pushed them back.

I also remember the lad who climbed the floodlight pylon at the end and jumped off over the barrier onto the pitch missing the (spiked?) fence by about half an inch. He was lucky not to be killed

Another tradition that has fallen (no pun intended) by the wayside ... the obligitory floodlight pylon climber. Anyone remember them climbing to the top of the Roker End lights (main stand side) in the late 70's, before they were barb-wired off.

 

[Mercia Blackcat]

Dead right mate and for the reasons you mentioned. I always tell people it's Leeds and not Newcastle that I dislike the most much to their surprise. They can stay in the 3rd Division as far as I am concerned.

The hostile rivalry with Leeds began in the early 1960s and we were still fairly friendly with the Mags until around 1968 when the first big Battle in the Fulwell happened.

That's what was so sweet about winning the Cup in '73 it was f***ing Leeds.

 

[Archie Blagger]

Is this the thread where old men who were not in 'Nam come to talk about their 'tour of duty' ...

 

[Poledancer]

I must have known him when he was a young lad. I never knew he'd joined the Army.

He didnt, the fat (unt

Ray Fog..game as fuck

 

[rentaghost]

Mel Holden, header? my 2nd ever game at RP - 1st being a 1-1 draw with Derby, goal a pen by Towers 1976 i think.




Some pitch invader also got cythed down by a supporter after running away from the Police along the cinder track - it was like Pitts tackle on Clarke in Cup Final. Iirc Safc had a young Gk in after Siddall got injured or ill before the match.

I remember that clearly being just a bairn. Hales had scored for them and we got a penalty and my legs were shaking with excitement and Towers stuck it in the top corner.

 

[24/02/79]

I think you're right - we had 2 sides of the ground + 1 end (I was on the fence right behind our goal when Rostron & Brown scored our 2 goals)
If you ever get the chance to see the goals from that game again, just look at how mental our fans crammed in behind the goal, went when the 2 goals went in - I still say, that's the most mental crowd and celebrations I've ever been involved in. AWESOME !!

I was just behind the goal as well, to the left. When Alan Brown scored, it is the most mental I have gone at a football match (Bennett v Gillingham, Marco at Man City close behind).

Wasn't far from you as I was to the right of the goal on the fence!

A lot of us on this thread behind the goal that day, eh !?

 

[Hetzkes Ballet Teacher]

The maggots are not the real enemy to a lot of fans of my generation (talkin' 'bout my generation ), the real enemy is Leeds Utd.

The matches between SAFC and Leeds in the 60's were brutal affairs. Leeds twice broke Bobby Kerr's leg and effectively finished the promising career of Willie McPheat. What happened on the pitch got to the fans on the terraces. Leeds Utd is the only football club that I truely despise. In my experience their fans (to this day) are the most ignorant, racist, chip on shoulder arseholes that I have ever encountered. In younger days I was never one for getting involved in "bovver". But there were times at away matches when you just found yourself in a position where you had to protect yourself, but when it came to Leeds I found myself being "pro-active". How sweet it was on May 5th 1973. I got the Charlie Hurley biography amongst my Christmas presents and the SAFC/Leeds "thing" is superbly summed up in the book.

I have a vivid memory of Spurs at Roker Park in the late 70's, arrogant cockney wankers spoiling for a fight and they got one, a right feckin' hammering. As they "ran" like big girls blouses out from the Roker End onto the pitch the police surrounded them like collie dogs and shepherded them out the ground via the the player's tunnel. I was at the match with my wife to be and her Newcastle Poly flatmate. At final whistle on leaving the Roker End all the Spurs fans were waiting out of the back of the Roker End, all hell broke loose. So there's me with 2 lasses to look after in the middle of it all punchin' and kickin' a trail through it all to get the lasses, frightened and in tears, out of the way. What a feckin' hero :roll:.

The football now isn't as earthy as it was back in those days, but nowadays I love the fact that you can wear your colours as a sign that you are only interested in the football and get involved in great craic with the opposing fans. All but Leeds fans that is.

Tremendous post.

 

[TexasSanddancer]

Beating Swindon 5-2 when we hadn't scored a goal in 3 months or something. 1972? Paddy Lowry and Johnny Latham were the heroes.
West Ham and Millwall as others have remembered.
Sammy the Chin.
Chasing Portsmouth into the sea at Roker.
Roker, where all the buses from the pit villages parked.
Brian Little beating us at Aston Villa 2-0. Facing the Zulu Warriors.
Blackpool away, where my mate had a fishknife that looked like a ruler hidden in a flag. The cops examined it on the way in and gave it back. If they'd just pulled it apart...
Same game with us in their end separated by chicken wire from floor to ceiling and bottles hurled against it to shatter over the opposition fans. Man U's game that day had been called off and they came to Blackpool to take us on.
Taking Man U head on at Old Trafford.
Taking the Holgate.
Liverpool away on New Year's day - only about 500 daft enough. Everton's game at Leeds was called off and they came in with us at our game saying they would stand with us against Liverpool and melted away when it kicked off.
Man City at home in the FA Cup - still the best ever. That's when we really believed we could do it and the whole ground knew.
Arrested against the mags on Good Friday. Out in time for Leeds and Man U on the Saturday and Monday. How come we don't get 3 days like that any more?
Seeing the same faces away every couple of weeks from all over the NE - united by a common bond. You didn't work with them, they weren't your friends but they were your SAFC mates. Standing side by side in adversity. I'd still know them now if I saw them and they me.
Nearly dieing in a crush at Hull.
Fighting our way back to the station at Newcastle.
Getting the bus at 1130 on a Friday night in Shields after the pubs closed with carrier bags full of beer to see us all the way to Cardiff or Swansea or Bristol or Wrexham or Portsmouth or whichever town took forever to get there in those days. Arriving at 7 or 8 in the morning and waiting for the supermarkets to open to buy beer to last until the pubs opened.
Windows put out on our bus at Darlington after a stop off on the way home and a battle with their lads, including a lad with a knife - well done our lad with the jacket, btw. Bloody freezing.
Running minibuses from Sheffield when I was at college.
I could go on all bloody night.
One last story to sum up the 70's. Swansea away and another early arrival. Me and two mates decided we wanted to keep out of bother that day so had a look around town and walked out of town to find a quiet boozer. Found one and got playing pool with a couple of canny local lads who insisted we go into town with them for another pint before the match. We got into Swansea town centre and they led us down into this basement pub full of skinheads. They were greeted by their mates saying something like 'Taff, have you seen all the f***ing Geordies here today?'. To which Taff replied, ' Yeah, I've got three of them with me'. Stunned silence for milliseconds then he said 'But they're all right'. Had a great crack on with the locals until a couple of lads stumbled down the stairs with blood all over their shirts. They shouted out they'd just been smacked by Sunderland who had taken the pub over the road. In seconds the whole pub emptied leaving me and my mates alone in the place. We finished our pints and went to the match.

I have some fantastic memories of the 70s and 80s. Winning at Burnley with nine men, after a skinful of Thwaites. Beating WHU at Roker, I remember Pop Robson scored. Away at Wrexham, clambering over the fence to get on the pitch at the end. Away at Cardiff when all the pubs were closed, we took over Cardiff that day, wading through beercans walking down to the game, only to be overcharged to get in.bastards. Arriving in Stoke only to hear on the radio that the game was called off due to snow, then drinking there until the pubs closed. Away at Cambridge United, Sheffield United home and away when Alex Sabella played for them, (game at home we won 6.1 after he scored for them straight from the kickoff).

Was at all of those games. Thanks for reminding me about Burnley. We took 7-9,000 depending on reports and they put us in the Bob Lord stand along one of the sides. Constant battles with their (handy, I might add) fans. We, as fans, were castigated the next day in the national press for the abuse we gave out. Can't remember what it was about now but remember fatha being 'disappointed'.
Which reminds me of Man City away in one of the first games of the 1980 season, a week before I left for the states. Night game. 4-1 to us with John Hawley the hero. Again, in the same end (Kippax) as the home end, thousands of us, and running battles. Had travelled alone and hooked up with a couple of Manc Sunderland fans on the bus from the city centre. They took me into a pub which was completely unfriendly blue and white. Fastest pint I've ever had.
The Sheff United home game was 6-2, btw. Another night game, so not enough to run a bus from Sheffield, so me and a mate decided we'd take the Sheff Utd supporters bus to the match and keep quiet. Got on the bus and there in the front seat was another Sunderland supporter. No bother on the way up but they tried to leave us on the way back. Had to catch the bus up in traffic and bang on the door to be let on. Back in Sheffield and making out way home through the 'Hole in the Road' with our red, white and black scarves just after the pubs closed. Greeted by a bunch of pissed Wednesday fans sing 'Going down, going down...'. Just about to retort with a chant of 'Sunderland' when from one of the alleys that converged there came a group of Sheff United skinheads running shouting 'Don't take that shit from them'. Kept on our merry way as the locals sorted it out.

Blackpool coming to roker circa 1974 and being chased into the sea.

You're right. It was Blackpool, not Portsmouth.

Strange thing is, SAFC don't have much of a rep with the so called hard firms. We are very rarely mentioned in any hooli type books.
Why do you think that is?

I disagree. West Ham have a lot of respect from when they tried to take the Bluebell. Don't have the book at hand to give you a quote.

 

[humbug]

Travelled on that bus a few times. Did you go to Millwall in 92? Chelsea in the quarters?

was it the old den in '92. been there a couple of times on the bus. vaguelly remember being in a club near the ground, no colours or owt like that but we must've stuck out like a sore thumb. found them to be ok tbf. just working class blokes like us.
never went on the wingate bus that year to chelsea. cant remember why, ended up going with a bus from the gamecock at peterlee. had some right loonies on it.
this thread is brilliant by the way. there's some great stuff here:-D

 

[Deleted member 6830]

in the late 60s it was a matter of gettin in the Fulwell early doors for away fans and tackin up a position in the cage either side of the main walkway with very few OB in between

Cant remember this - would you like to elucidate ?

We should have our own board man.

Ok MBH I'll start with my early memories - only go back to 74/5 as my first season. Dave Watson, Billy Hughes & Pop Robson netted in a 3-1 win over Southampton in front of 34,000 at Roker.

In the 2nd home game I saw my first hat-trick (v Bristol Rovers (5-1 - Billy Hughes got the 3) and my first own goal by a bloke called Aitken.

My first of hundreds of away games came in the 1-0 win at York with Vic Halom scoring in the dying minutes (September 14 1974)My first visit to Chelsea was December 75 - lost 1-0 and watched running battles all day behind both goals - we were in the so-called safe "new stand" where some bastard threw a cup of beer at me ma. I still recall (as a 9 year old) watching Sunderland lads get off the train wearing Chelsea colours in order to get them onto the "Shed" terracing - exciting stuff - haha this might get a bit tedious.

What I remember most of all though was dashing and attacking direct football with Hughes, and Kerr providing the width and players like Towers running the midfield and Dave Watson at the back not quite in the Nyron class Pop Robson and Vic Halom - a clever combination of power and touch.

I'm sure I dreamt it all but it was a lot more entertaining than the last few years - and no, it isn't rose-tinted specs, because Reidy's team were even more entertaining than those 70s stars.

More memorable was occasionally travelling in with players (some got the bus) living in the same street or estate as a lot of them (How many people have I spoken to over the years who had Richie Pitt as their PE Teacher?) even the cars would be the same as your dads, except they might have the Ghia version or a black vinyl roof.

In fairness when I take the bairn now he seems to think we're great to watch - probably cos I told him Man U and the likes is all done with trick photography and fancy camera editing.

It was scorching that day and loads of wasps wera about - was in side paddock with my uncle and we played in those class white shirts - great season that despite just missing out on promotion.

Im referring to "Tackin an End" which was the ultimate for Hoolies at the time
There was inded none or little segregation in the Fulwell End.
Like I say it was matter of gettin there early doors
Sheff Wed ( big Winston the coloured lad)and Wolves always came in numbers..yer cud climb ower the walls in them days
OB had the job of "cagin" them
Nothin much went on inside the Fulwell, it was all "one to one" stuff outside and went on for hours sometimes.
Newc had a good go in the very early 70s I think it was a Good friday I remember the sight of 20 odd snooker balls gettin flung to and fro.

There was a designated away area in the Roker starting early 70s and later the Clock Stand

All the Sunlun boys used to gather under Section 17 and would work their way into away fans
You cud have a roll about downstairs in them days no stewards or police in numbers like today.

Newcastle took 2/3 that season 69-70 - 1-1 draw and it was either Good friday or easter saturday.

Leeds got in 1968 for a league cup night game.

Went to Hull with me dad and on the way home windows put In by Leeds supporters on the A1.
Lads off the bus Including me dad went across and sorted the twats out as did a few other buses that stopped behind us It was mental and even got a mention on match of the day.
1975 am pretty sure was the year.

wasn't it by the old Alpine Inn or whatever it was called ??

I qualify for this thread on both the age AND the weight criteria (easily!)....

A couple of memories....

One of my first games at Roker around 67 or 68 saw us playing West Ham. A Geoff Hurst thunderbolt of a shot hit Charlie smack in the face. The trainer ran on wiped his face with the magic sponge, and he played on - 'the soft gets' nowadays would be carted off and knackered for 6 months.

Also the Millwall game 1974, first game of the season - won 4-1, but hell on before during and after match. Also in London that day were Man U, playing their first game in the Second Division. Hell on in Kings Cross area with Man U and Cockneys.

We'd been dropped off by Tennicks at Kings Cross at about 7am, and about 20 of us spent part of the morning in some open air swimming pool in Central London, where we borrowed some cossies. A few years later saw the film 'Catch us if you can' starring the Dave Clark 5 (I know I know....) in which the said swimming pool was seen.

You couldn't make it up........

Anyone else here remember that?

And didnt 'someone' get arrested for spray painting a wall before a game at Fulham ??? :roll:

 

[MalbSouthShields]

Is this the thread where old men who were not in 'Nam come to talk about their 'tour of duty' ...