My dad starting taking me down to games as a kid...I'm still not speaking to him for that.
My mum took me down to a game once when I was about 2 or 3 years old in 1981 as dad was away driving a Shearings coach. Possibly if you don't know what I'm like this won't mak eyou laugh but my mum mentioned this at mum and dads anniversary party a while back. She was absolutely f**king startled that I could tell her we beat Trowbridge Town 4-0, that Leo Skeete scored and that we sat on the grass bank!!
I think that's correct, it's what I remember anyway.
My da took me to first Vics ALty game in 1983 with his mate Pete who is a Vics fan from Sale. We won 2-1 Davison pen and Graham Bennett who was my first hero. Just about caught all the good 1986 stuff. SHouldn't every father take his son to Wembley to watch his local team once in their life?
Became a ballboy when Ray Armstrong was going around asking for ballboys (there's a man who has put service into our club). Did it for years after that, spent most tuesday nights in the late 80's getting cup of tea from Keith Daveys snack bar for Jeff Wealands while he did sit ups in the rain whilst we attacked down the other (Golf Road) end. Had a close up view of some great goals, really remember how the ground used to smell, vimto, those sort of Candy bars from the snack bar, those weird balls with little blue umbro patterns on them, the fact that we always seemd to play 'Sweet Little Lies' by Fleetwood Mac on the tannoy.
Just got so many memories, the 1991 title winning season seale dit for most people. Virtually all my mates now, Ecky, Joe, Hughesy etc I've met through ALty but we've done so much following them that I can't remember not knowing them.
Had an awesome season in 94-95 when we hired a minibus and driver to every away game, real bond with those players, Andy Reid, Bomber HArris and co.
Like Ecky, done my share of painting and one thing I'll always remember is climbing into teh ground one night, I think we were going bust the next day, think it was me Exky, Pete and Lem, we just sat in an empty ground talking about everything we'd seen. Sad really I guess, but I always think of that and smile ruefully when some tool goes "yeh, but who do you really support?
Sorry lads, if you know, you know. If you don't, you don't matter.
Sorry for waffling on, the point I was going to make before I got carried away was the women/relationship thing. With lasses a relationship doesn't just come about, you don't automatically make each other happy. There has to be an 'us' element about it, shared ideals, hopes, dreams, investing together, making your home your own, sacrificing yourself to love so that in time you become one. It takes years of shared experiences and commitment and sacrifice ot make each other happy and even then it's no guarantee....
....Then there is Alty, forget all the above, if our collection of wankers can get that ball into the net once, just once more than some tossbag village outfit that your missus has never heard of that's it. That's it, I'm as high as a kite for about 4 days . No wonder women hate it, or at least my ex did, when they see it and how hyper you are. Don't want to go all luvvie on people but go and watch Fever Pitch, it's uncanny.
Anyway, point being that this is the best club in the entire f**king world by about a million miles. ANd although we're all weirdoes, and lets face it we're all absolutely barmy, I wouldn't swop it for the world. AS some of us said the other week. Let's not kid ourselves that we'll grow up or grow out of it and start doing something more constructive with our lives etc.