A few pages from the 1946-47 handbook.

[RoversDave]

[glosterred]

Nice to see season tickets for Ladies are cheaper that mens - they must have smaller bums or summat

COYR

[Dagenham Rover]

And the kit red and white hooped shirts and White Knickers   

[newyankee]

The most interesting thing for me is the attendances at these games. I know we won the League, but unless the away team brings a lot of support, we can no longer fill our 15,000 capacity ground.

 The fact is that there are far more things to do with leisure time these days than there was in the forties, just after the war.

 In those days it was religion to get a season ticket and to go to EVERY game. That is not the case today, season tickets mean a commitment and honestly people are not able to make that sort of commitment.  Therefore they pay, in many cases, by the game and pick and choose when to go, along with all the other things they now do.

 The football authorities need to do a survey and find out how the smaller clubs can be helped, as the likes of Liverpool, Man U etc will always have more people wanting to watch than seats available.

 Football has to be made more attractive, but the clubs themselves do not have the resources to do this. Unless we want many clubs to go to the wall, money must be used to improve the situation.

[idler]

The most interesting thing for me is the attendances at these games. I know we won the League, but unless the away team brings a lot of support, we can no longer fill our 15,000 capacity ground.

 The fact is that there are far more things to do with leisure time these days than there was in the forties, just after the war.

 In those days it was religion to get a season ticket and to go to EVERY game. That is not the case today, season tickets mean a commitment and honestly people are not able to make that sort of commitment.  Therefore they pay, in many cases, by the game and pick and choose when to go, along with all the other things they now do.

 The football authorities need to do a survey and find out how the smaller clubs can be helped, as the likes of Liverpool, Man U etc will always have more people wanting to watch than seats available.

 Football has to be made more attractive, but the clubs themselves do not have the resources to do this. Unless we want many clubs to go to the wall, money must be used to improve the situation.

I think you would be surprised at how few fans had season tickets then.
Why buy a season ticket when you could pay on the day and always get in.
Fans then just didn't have the money.
I bought my first season ticket in 1982, I would still have comfortably got into any game that I chose.
To my mind the importance of season tickets is a modern fixation.

[bobjimwilly]

to budget for the season ahead wasn't as important I'd imagine - with the smaller wages players were on and the large, steady fanbase wages & other costs were easily covered

[idler]

Also players were on about half or two thirds pay in the close season meaning that they had jobs outside football for three months.
Now a player is on x amount per week 52 weeks a year.

[newyankee]

If you are able to think back, in those days fella's got paid on Friday and gave the wife some to run the house, the rest of the money was his, and boy did most men spend it. That was why Family Allowance came into being to give the women money on Tuesday's to buy food for the kids for the rest of the week, otherwise they went hungry.  Not like most households now where the wife holds the purse strings.

[BobG]

What happened on March 13th? Beat Barow 8 nowt yet almost no bugger was there to see it. Why not? Apart from the very first match of the season that Barrow match was a digit short of any other attendance.

BobG

[newyankee]

Sammy,  That was Alex Murphy at St Helens referring to Tom Van Vollenhoven. Tom's wife told Alex he was getting paid in the close season.

Alex asked the Chairman to pay him, the Chairman replied when your as good as Tom we will. That's when Alex said he was good in the close season.

He was also quoted when he went back to Coach Leigh that he was on pay only, no expenses.  Alex took his phone bill to the Board meeting wanting it to be paid. The Chairman said the club was not paying expenses, Alex said that he had to phone to Australia and New Zealand to speak to players, so the Chairman said  he would see to it himself.

 At the next meeting Alex took in his electric bill. Asked why they should pay it, Alex's reply was, "you don't want me answering the phone in the dark do you?"

[not on facebook]

I still have a letter in Its envelope from DRFC addressed to me old man
About season Ticket application from 1973 season

Its shocking how cheap it was back then looking at the  price set for
Mainland seats ,terrace,cowshed etc etc

[idler]

Tommy Docherty always claimed that it was him referring to Tom Finney.
I knew a sports physio in Bradford who originally came from Blackburn and her father was a rugby league director that knew Alex Murphy well.
When he was starting out Alex used to walk her dad's greyhounds for extra money. One day he gave Alex some money to put a long odds bet on for him.
The bet came in but on his return Alex said I'm sorry but couldn't get the bet on in time. He gave him the stake back but was flush with cash for a while.
The end of the friendship.
She knew a lot of stories from that neck of the woods, mind you she'd be in her70s now.

[RoversDave]

What happened on March 13th? Beat Barow 8 nowt yet almost no bugger was there to see it. Why not? Apart from the very first match of the season that Barrow match was a digit short of any other attendance.

BobG

It was a rearranged game on a Thursday afternoon, everyone at school or work.

 and there was still plenty of this about

[newyankee]

Good one Idler, I can top that.

      When I worked at Huddersfield RLFC with Alex, he and the club ( check with D Parker), owned a couple of racehorses. They were trained near Barnsley. Anyway one of them was coming back off a long injury and was to run in  a bumpers race at Bangor.  A club volunteer called Gerald  asked
Alex to put a one pound bet on the horse when he got to the course. ( The race was to give the horse a run).

  Well, Alex got to the course and the horse was 66 to 1, so he pocketed the pound. The horse won, Alex didn't have a bet himself and he had to pay Gerald 66 pounds, plus give him his pound back.

[Iberian Red]

I have a photo with a great story to it (one for the 'zine) from the team photo of the following season. The photo came to me indirectly from Clarrie Jordan.

[idler]

It seems like it wasn't an isolated incident then.He did always seem a larger than life character.
When Kath had her practice in Bradford she would treat lots of sportsmen from local clubs, god only knows some of the stories that she couldn't repeat.
Colin Kaye was also physio for most local teams at some stage including YCCC. He had lots of old team photos up and could tell you about some of the stars that he had worked on over the years.

[roversdude]

Played Xmas day and Boxing Day proper mesters

[newyankee]

Talking of the two Christmas games, anyone remember Harry Greegg and Brian Clough.  They had been fighting at Middlesbro on the Christmas Day and in the return at Belle Vue, a cross came into the Rovers area. Greggy went up and caught the ball in one hand and at the same time laid out Cloughie with the other?

[johnh104]

March 13th was my first visit to belle view, The reason for the low attendance was that was avery cold winter, the game was played on a thursday afternoon and there had been snow overnight, we werer stood on packed snow on the terraces, 

[VivaRovers]

Its shocking how cheap it was back then looking at the  price set for
Mainland seats, terrace, cowshed etc etc

I suspect the offshore seats were an even better price, but you'd not have seen much

[BobG]

Thank you Dave and thank you Johnh. I hadn't the wit to work that out. Or even imagine something of that nature.

BobG

[newyankee]

I always thought that the off shore  seats were available during the reign of the Bridlington Bag man.

[no eyed deer]

Carrie borrowed me his scrap book from his playing days, lots a paper clippings from that year . He has a dinner menu from a meal at the mansion house signed by  that title winning team

[andysly]

Even back then we were a better side away from home.