Best non Rovers footie experience

[Herbert Anchovy]

Spent some time with my Uncle yesterday and he was reminiscing about his football experiences in the 70's and 80's. Back then he was a football fanatic and would watch any game that he could get to, from FA cup finals to Sunday morning games on the racecourse! Some of the experiences that he had were pretty memorable. For example he was one of a group of around 30 England fans who travelled to Hampden Park in the 70's to watch an England v Scotland game. They were the only England fans in a crowd of over 100,000 supporters, the majority of whom wanted to kick the shit out of them. His most memorable non Rovers footie experience though was when him and a mate went out to Spain for the '82 World Cup. Him and his mate got a bar job in Bilbao serving all the England fans that had gone out there. The bar owner was able to get them cheap tickets for the England games, gave them cheap lodgings and as much ale has they could sup. And they even saved enough to travel to Madrid for England's 2nd round games too (he did say that was the scariest time he'd had watching football but that's a story for another thread!)

So, over to you guys. What's your most memorable non Rovers football experience?

[stuey]

Three spring to mind. Liverpool v  Arsenal last game of season 88/89 season when Arsenal needed to win by two goals to win the league, 1-0 in injury time and Thomas scored that goal.

England v Greece 2006, that Beckham goal, unbelievable drama.

And Man City v QPR Aguerooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Best non-Rovers moment in football for me

[not on facebook]

I have to go for the Germany 1 England 5

Reasons been had to get our match tickets on the black market out in Munich and 30 of us ended in the German right behind the goal and at opposite ends to where thousands of England fans were.

30 English lads can't all of a sudden look and act German so we all sang the English national anthem to let the Germans know where we stood.

All sorts of shit was getting thrown at us as a no mans land appeared round our seats.somd Germans crossed the line and got knocked back.

Then Germany scored first goal very early ,which type of took a lot of attention of us and it all calmed down ,with Germans even going back to their seats where no mans land had opened up.

Then England do the very last thing you expect and draw level ,we all cheer like mad and no stress turn England make it 1-2 > we go madder in celebration and no back lash.

Second half and it's 1-3 ,1-4 and by time 1-5 went some of our  lot had de shirted and it was pissing it down .think the sight of some of our coyote ugly bodies was too much for the Germans as this part of the ground was emptying very fast or it might have been the 1-5 goal that sent untold ofvthdm home with 20 mins to play.

But the most memorable thing that night was when it went to 1-4 many Germans started to leave and no end of them made a point of passing by us to shake our hands .

Not one bit of stress in that game as soon as Germany went 1-0 up.

Sat in a packed  pub after the game and nobody was dancing on tables or singing England etc etc ,infact I have seen better atmospheres in pubs after England defeats across whole of Europe > but on those night we was not shocked into silence .


Who in the football world was expecting a 1-5 that night ( enize - fumpt > sorry fore my bad German )

[keith79]

Liverpool newcastle  4-3.

[Guernsey Exile]

Liverpool v TNS when Liverpool Were made to qualify for the trophy they had just won! Gerrard had turned down Chelsea over the summer. He scored 3 in the away and two here. Still to this day the best support ive seen at a game

[roversdude]

Liverpool champions league final win takes some topping
Was on holiday in France and lost interest when they were getting hammered, nipped out and couldn't believe the turnaround- sat glued to rest of game

[Draytonian III]

Northern Ireland vs Ukraine in Lyon last year was very very memorable

[1879Rovers]

Beating Netherlands 4-1 at Wembley in Euro 96. Absolutely battered a very good team.

[the vicar]

Went to Sheff U v Man U 1971/72 and great game but what stood out was Sheff U fans singing "Georgie Best superstar, carries a handbag and wears a bra!" Also went to the old B&B to watch Lincoln in a second FA replay against Altrincham and I think it still ended up in a draw. Does anyone else remember this game taking place?

[acko]

I wonder if HERBERT  your uncle was a member of any of the working mens clubs that did the pilgrimage to hampden every 2 years.I myself went with the West End club from bentley.Going on the Friday coming back on the Sunday.He was certainly right about it being hairy scary in those days i am talking mid 60s to mid 70s.Iwas an experiance i would not have missed and the atmosphere was out of this world i went on this outing 3 or 4 times.HAPPY DAYS

[Campsall rover]

Spent some time with my Uncle yesterday and he was reminiscing about his football experiences in the 70's and 80's. Back then he was a football fanatic and would watch any game that he could get to, from FA cup finals to Sunday morning games on the racecourse! Some of the experiences that he had were pretty memorable. For example he was one of a group of around 30 England fans who travelled to Hampden Park in the 70's to watch an England v Scotland game. They were the only England fans in a crowd of over 100,000 supporters, the majority of whom wanted to kick the shit out of them. His most memorable non Rovers footie experience though was when him and a mate went out to Spain for the '82 World Cup. Him and his mate got a bar job in Bilbao serving all the England fans that had gone out there. The bar owner was able to get them cheap tickets for the England games, gave them cheap lodgings and as much ale has they could sup. And they even saved enough to travel to Madrid for England's 2nd round games too (he did say that was the scariest time he'd had watching football but that's a story for another thread!)

So, over to you guys. What's your most memorable non Rovers football experience?

1972 or 1973 can't remember which but I went to Hampden park so might have been same game!
Unbelievable experience 110.000 crowd. Never breathed a word when England scored, probably wouldn't be here today if I had. The other year either 72 or 73 I went to Wembley, again an amazing experience. Seemed like 80.000 Scots in a crowd of 100.000 and another 30.000 outside without tickets. They were carrying crates of beer into the stadium no kidding. A woman in the row in front of me got drenched in beer, remember it well.   Happy days. How things have changed.

[not on facebook]

Went to Sheff U v Man U 1971/72 and great game but what stood out was Sheff U fans singing "Georgie Best superstar, carries a handbag and wears a bra!" Also went to the old B&B to watch Lincoln in a second FA replay against Altrincham and I think it still ended up in a draw. Does anyone else remember this game taking place?

That song about George best takes me right back to my primary school days ,went throu
agony whilst trying to figure out what 'wears a bra ' actually meant.

[not on facebook]

Spent some time with my Uncle yesterday and he was reminiscing about his football experiences in the 70's and 80's. Back then he was a football fanatic and would watch any game that he could get to, from FA cup finals to Sunday morning games on the racecourse! Some of the experiences that he had were pretty memorable. For example he was one of a group of around 30 England fans who travelled to Hampden Park in the 70's to watch an England v Scotland game. They were the only England fans in a crowd of over 100,000 supporters, the majority of whom wanted to kick the shit out of them. His most memorable non Rovers footie experience though was when him and a mate went out to Spain for the '82 World Cup. Him and his mate got a bar job in Bilbao serving all the England fans that had gone out there. The bar owner was able to get them cheap tickets for the England games, gave them cheap lodgings and as much ale has they could sup. And they even saved enough to travel to Madrid for England's 2nd round games too (he did say that was the scariest time he'd had watching football but that's a story for another thread!)

So, over to you guys. What's your most memorable non Rovers football experience?

1972 or 1973 can't remember which but I went to Hampden park so might have been same game!
Unbelievable experience 110.000 crowd. Never breathed a word when England scored, probably wouldn't be here today if I had. The other year either 72 or 73 I went to Wembley, again an amazing experience. Seemed like 80.000 Scots in a crowd of 100.000 and another 30.000 outside without tickets. They were carrying crates of beer into the stadium no kidding. A woman in the row in front of me got drenched in beer, remember it well.   Happy days. How things have changed.

One of the best ever flags I saw at a England v Scotland game was in the late 1970s when untold jocks had yellow flags with jimmy hills mug on it to the words in red ' jimmy hill is a poof '

[DonnyBazR0ver]

The one that stands out for me was Man U v Bayern Munich. Never been a Man U fan but the manner they came back to win was unbelievable. After going crazy, the look on the Bayerns players faces, particularly Lothar Mattheus was priceless!

[IDM]

In terms of games I have been to, I can think of a few.

Ross County vs Inverness CT in the Scottish 4th tier on a rainy cold Tuesday evening.  Got free tickets from a work colleague and watched Inverness win 3-0 in front of over 4500 fans in a league where crowds of 250 were the norm.  Donkey Derek Adams got sent off for County too..

Then before there was the Chelsea vs Leeds match in Div 2 the week immediately after Hillsborough.  Despite the hatred between the teams remaining from the 70s, the minutes silence was impeccably observed.  28 years later it still chokes me thinking about it..

On a happier note I went to Hannover 96 vs Frieburg in what effectively became a Bundesliga relegation decider, on the final day of the season a couple of years ago.  Regardless of any other results a win for 96 secured their Bundeliga place.  Beer flowing and typical German food, the atmosphere was like a cup final outside and inside the ground - went up a huge level when 96 scored in 2 minutes..  Went 2-0 up and eventually won 2-1, but you would think they had won the champions league!

[Pancho Regan]

I'm assuming we're talking about games we actually attended?

If so, possibly my first trip to Wembley in April 1970 to watch England v Northern Ireland.

It was unforgettable for me because as a young lad I'd never been in a crowd of anywhere near that size and the atmosphere for the night match was brilliant.
Added to that, England still had many of the '66 World Cup winners in the team, it was Bobby Charlton's 100th cap so there was a special presentation to him before kick-off, and George Best played (and scored) for Northern Ireland.
England won 3-1 with goals from Peters, Hurst and......Bobby Charlton!

Very vivid memories of the whole experience.

[sheffield exile1]

Three spring to mind. Liverpool v  Arsenal last game of season 88/89 season when Arsenal needed to win by two goals to win the league, 1-0 in injury time and Thomas scored that goal.

England v Greece 2006, that Beckham goal, unbelievable drama.

And Man City v QPR Aguerooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Best non-Rovers moment in football for me

Spent some time with my Uncle yesterday and he was reminiscing about his football experiences in the 70's and 80's. Back then he was a football fanatic and would watch any game that he could get to, from FA cup finals to Sunday morning games on the racecourse! Some of the experiences that he had were pretty memorable. For example he was one of a group of around 30 England fans who travelled to Hampden Park in the 70's to watch an England v Scotland game. They were the only England fans in a crowd of over 100,000 supporters, the majority of whom wanted to kick the shit out of them. His most memorable non Rovers footie experience though was when him and a mate went out to Spain for the '82 World Cup. Him and his mate got a bar job in Bilbao serving all the England fans that had gone out there. The bar owner was able to get them cheap tickets for the England games, gave them cheap lodgings and as much ale has they could sup. And they even saved enough to travel to Madrid for England's 2nd round games too (he did say that was the scariest time he'd had watching football but that's a story for another thread!)

So, over to you guys. What's your most memorable non Rovers football experience?

I was in Bilbao with my rovers red v necked jersey and England scarf (no replica kits). Agree about scary, met some Blades who had been hit with electric charged batons and had burn marks on their backs, police just running into bars after trouble had broken out and indiscriminately turned on any England fans. Remember French coaches arriving and becoming instantly windowless via a hail of bricks and bottles, so some fans werent entirely blameless. I booked out of the Daily Mirror with a firm called "Altawil Travel". On arrival at Heathrow for the flight to Bordeaux to get the coach it was obvious the party was split down the middle. We had myself, Brentford, Crewe and other smaller team fans who had innocently booked then the organiser was a guy called Bill Gardener, who was the head of West Ham ICF, and was co-organising with the Chelsea Headhunters crew.  We stayed in Zaruz about an hour away. Within a week all fans were barred from every bar and night spot in the town and we had the national guard stationed outside our hotel...deep joy!! Someone took an off duty policemans gun and came into the hotel bar where we could still drink and opened fire on us, luckily we all hit the deck... I kid you not... it was that bad....
Anyway the main good memory was watching Robson score against France after 2 minutes and being smack behind the goal...even though there were only about 200 Englan fans surrounded by French ones in their thousands...we just got given tickets as we got off the coach so i suspect they were less than kocher??

[not on facebook]

In terms of games I have been to, I can think of a few.

Ross County vs Inverness CT in the Scottish 4th tier on a rainy cold Tuesday evening.  Got free tickets from a work colleague and watched Inverness win 3-0 in front of over 4500 fans in a league where crowds of 250 were the norm.  Donkey Derek Adams got sent off for County too..

Then before there was the Chelsea vs Leeds match in Div 2 the week immediately after Hillsborough.  Despite the hatred between the teams remaining from the 70s, the minutes silence was impeccably observed.  28 years later it still chokes me thinking about it..

On a happier note I went to Hannover 96 vs Frieburg in what effectively became a Bundesliga relegation decider, on the final day of the season a couple of years ago.  Regardless of any other results a win for 96 secured their Bundeliga place.  Beer flowing and typical German food, the atmosphere was like a cup final outside and inside the ground - went up a huge level when 96 scored in 2 minutes..  Went 2-0 up and eventually won 2-1, but you would think they had won the champions league!

I was at that Chelsea v Leeds game  that day sat in gate 13

[gillinghamrover]

Wales v NI last year in Paris, great atmosphere before, during and after.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[selby]

November 28th 1956 dad takes me to my first international match as a 9yr old to Wembley England v Yugoslavia.
  The train from Doncaster was full of service men in the uniforms of all thee services.
  I had never been so excited standing in the carriage which was so full.
  All the indoor arenas were still in place from the 1948 Olympics around the stadium, making it  more imposing to a youngster,and dad took me to see the brass plaque with all the famous gold medalists names on it.
   Ditchburn ,Mathews,Byrne,Dickinson,Brooks,Finney,the very unlucky Hall who had died of polio by the start of the next world cup and with the Busby babes missed it.
   Tommy Taylor,one of the unfortunates came on as a substitute for Haynes and scored two goals as Mathews and Finney murdered the full backs.
  Vladimir Beara (the so called black flash)an ex ballet dancer in goal kept it to only three goals.
 What a day,what a time to be a young boy,it will live with me forever.

[Herbert Anchovy]

Some absolutely cracking tales here folks. Thanks for sharing them!

[Herbert Anchovy]

I wonder if HERBERT  your uncle was a member of any of the working mens clubs that did the pilgrimage to hampden every 2 years.I myself went with the West End club from bentley.Going on the Friday coming back on the Sunday.He was certainly right about it being hairy scary in those days i am talking mid 60s to mid 70s.Iwas an experiance i would not have missed and the atmosphere was out of this world i went on this outing 3 or 4 times.HAPPY DAYS

He was working on building sites in London in the 70's Acko. The trip was arranged by a bloke he was working with who was a Charlton Athletic fan and used to regularly travel abroad watching England in those days. This particular trip was made up of blokes he worked with and mates of mates. He was the only Rovers fan in the party and apparently took loads of stick from his cockney mates who followed the London clubs. England lost the game and after the match they had some trouble finding their coach as the driver had taken off to park somewhere a bit quieter and less chance of the bus getting wrecked.  Walking the streets around Hampden was pretty hairy back then and it was just a case of heads down and keep quiet!

[Herbert Anchovy]

Three spring to mind. Liverpool v  Arsenal last game of season 88/89 season when Arsenal needed to win by two goals to win the league, 1-0 in injury time and Thomas scored that goal.

England v Greece 2006, that Beckham goal, unbelievable drama.

And Man City v QPR Aguerooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Best non-Rovers moment in football for me

Spent some time with my Uncle yesterday and he was reminiscing about his football experiences in the 70's and 80's. Back then he was a football fanatic and would watch any game that he could get to, from FA cup finals to Sunday morning games on the racecourse! Some of the experiences that he had were pretty memorable. For example he was one of a group of around 30 England fans who travelled to Hampden Park in the 70's to watch an England v Scotland game. They were the only England fans in a crowd of over 100,000 supporters, the majority of whom wanted to kick the shit out of them. His most memorable non Rovers footie experience though was when him and a mate went out to Spain for the '82 World Cup. Him and his mate got a bar job in Bilbao serving all the England fans that had gone out there. The bar owner was able to get them cheap tickets for the England games, gave them cheap lodgings and as much ale has they could sup. And they even saved enough to travel to Madrid for England's 2nd round games too (he did say that was the scariest time he'd had watching football but that's a story for another thread!)

So, over to you guys. What's your most memorable non Rovers football experience?

I was in Bilbao with my rovers red v necked jersey and England scarf (no replica kits). Agree about scary, met some Blades who had been hit with electric charged batons and had burn marks on their backs, police just running into bars after trouble had broken out and indiscriminately turned on any England fans. Remember French coaches arriving and becoming instantly windowless via a hail of bricks and bottles, so some fans werent entirely blameless. I booked out of the Daily Mirror with a firm called "Altawil Travel". On arrival at Heathrow for the flight to Bordeaux to get the coach it was obvious the party was split down the middle. We had myself, Brentford, Crewe and other smaller team fans who had innocently booked then the organiser was a guy called Bill Gardener, who was the head of West Ham ICF, and was co-organising with the Chelsea Headhunters crew.  We stayed in Zaruz about an hour away. Within a week all fans were barred from every bar and night spot in the town and we had the national guard stationed outside our hotel...deep joy!! Someone took an off duty policemans gun and came into the hotel bar where we could still drink and opened fire on us, luckily we all hit the deck... I kid you not... it was that bad....
Anyway the main good memory was watching Robson score against France after 2 minutes and being smack behind the goal...even though there were only about 200 Englan fans surrounded by French ones in their thousands...we just got given tickets as we got off the coach so i suspect they were less than kocher??

My uncle was behind the opposite goal to the one in which Robson scores Sheffield. Funnily enough, when you watch the game on you tube you can see the small congregation of England supporters behind the goal clearly! Apparently there was a Union Jack flag at all the games with 'Doncaster Rovers' written across the middle but he never saw who it belonged to. In Madrid him and his pal were given a bit of a hiding by the Spanish police who were on a mission to belt as many England supporters as they could and the locals were also seeking out England fans to attack. It was a very scary few days for them! As you say though, a lot of the England fans didn't do themselves many favours either.

[graingrover]

My best memories are of playing on the green in Dunscroft with my mates . Coats and sweaters to mark the goalposts .. 15 aside , no offside , throw ins only if the ball ran into the road .. kick off a 6pm in school summer holidays and match ended only when it was too dark to see the coats ! Endless subs as lads came and went and shirts soaked with endeavour and a thirst strong enough to drain the cold tap in the kitchen as soon as you got home!
 

[drfchound]

Grange, I played in loads of games like that.
Great days.

On the watching theme, there have been loads of great times but one right up there was Croatia v England in Lisbon in the 2004 Euro's.
 Four of us went out to the Algarve for a weeks golf and football.
We went to the Russia v Greece match in Faro in our England shirts and found ourselves in with the Russian fans.
TBH they were great and we escaped unhurt (maybe because they won).
A few days later we drove up to Lisbon for our game and spent the day in the city.
Rossi Square was packed with supporters of both teams and we made friends with some good Croatian lads.
On to the game and of course we won 4-2 in a great atmosphere.
Sat with us in the ground were Stan Collymore and Sir Geoff Hurst who were great and Stan in particular was just like any other fan, singing with us.
A fantastic week.

[Al4475]

Bizarrely I was in Australia for the 2004 world cup qualifying series - had great fun watching Vanuatu, tahiti and the Solomon Isles pitting their wits against Australia and new Zealand!

Also many moons ago watched the guy who would eventually be my best man lino at accrington Stanley -  that was good too - bout 2quid a ticket and similar for a great pie, chips, peas and gravy combo!

Good times - with no added stress of watching Rovers blow it or come good! Lol!

[BobG]

FA Cup, Orient v Chelsea. Twice. 1978. Peter Kitchen was still a God.

BobG

PS Ended up in Hammersmith hospital after the second one..... Too much ale and too many feet trying to replicate God's dribbling.

[ctay]

I went to the Dortmund v Madrid game which finished 2-2. Excellent game and ended up in hospitality sat next to the Madrid representatives. That took some beating.

In terms of atmosphere, Man U v Leeds was good. Schalke v Munich same.

Game which atmosphere was disappointing, Sheffield derby United v Wednesday.

[Donnywolf]

FA Cup, Orient v Chelsea. Twice. 1978. Peter Kitchen was still a God.

BobG

PS Ended up in Hammersmith hospital after the second one..... Too much ale and too many feet trying to replicate God's dribbling.

Catching Autographed Football at Stamford Bridge before Orient Semi Final Game in that same Season. They kicked 11 or more into their Crowds end all signed. I like to think I got PK's one.

I was featured in DFP (when it was worth reading - and when everybody did) with Ball and later after that I got a package from PK delivered to my house containing Progs Photos and other stuff which I still have but sadly I did not take care of the Ball and I really rue not doing so !

[Highland Rover]

 Bundesliga for me , early 1970's Hertha Berlin v Bayern Munich  in the Olympic Stadium in front of over 80,000 , and the whole crowd ( or so it seemed ) booing when Willy Brandt was introduced as a VIP guest !!!