Podcast Contributions Sought - your first (or favourite) Rovers memory

[Herbie6590]

11 hours ago, Gary C said:

21.3.1987 at Ewood on my eighth birthday my first game against Bradford City. We won but I cant remember who scored. Been a fan ever since

See comment above addressed to Pedro !!!!??

[Wegerleswiggle]

Going to The Den in 1985 with my old man, for my introduction to football at the age of 7. We won 1-0, but the train ride home from Millwall to Bromley was quite possibly the scariest moment of my childhood. 

[Herbie6590]

On 24/07/2018 at 22:22, Paul Oldrieve said:

At a recent North Lancs Rovers gathering I talked through my favourite 11 players and few subs with lots of tenderness and nostalgia thrown in for good measure ! Would be happy to replicate something similar.

See comment above addressed to Pedro !!!!??

[Herbie6590]

Just now, Wegerleswiggle said:

Going to The Den in 1985 with my old man, for my introduction to football at the age of 7. We won 1-0, but the train ride home from Millwall to Bromley was quite possibly the scariest moment of my childhood. 

See comment above addressed to Pedro !!!!??

[Herbie6590]

8 hours ago, Riverside under the drip said:

First memory - Sat on Mum's shoulders at the bottom of the old Nuttall St stand, watching us at some point in the early to mid-80s. The shirt was shiny and it was very exciting.

Favourite memory - Rushing home after my first term away at university, several hours on a train from Swansea just in time to get to Burnley for the 2-0 win, the first derby for 17 years.

See comment above addressed to Pedro !!!!??

[Herbie6590]

8 hours ago, Boz said:

Agree with the Plymouth game, I too have a similar memory. I used to take a collapseable canvas stool which I would place at the front of the Riverside stand which I would stand on, so I could see over the wall, at around the same time whereby previously we'd sit on the wall, as a bobby would saunter along pitchside and tell you to get off the wall. So there I am stood on this canvas stool when our third goal went in, the ground erupted, I jumped up and down on my stool, with the canvass giving way resulting in me ending up in a heap at base of the Riverside wall! 

See comment above addressed to Pedro !!!!??

[Herbie6590]

On 27/07/2018 at 17:51, renrag said:

Some of our dads, didn’t survive WW2 which meant we were introduced to football through relatives, friends and  neighbours, who supported different clubs. As well as Ewood, I was taken to Deepdale, Peel Park and TM, plus Lancashire Combination games. I remember every single detail of my first Ewood game but nothing at all about any of the others and I was well and truly hooked.

Of all the highs and lows, it’s difficult to pick one, but I would go for the 6th round FA Cup game at Burnley, when we came back from 3-0 down with 17 minutes to go, to equalize and then win the replay in extra time at Ewood

See comment above addressed to Pedro !!!!??

[4000Holes]

Far from first memory but one of my favourites.  1969 I think, playing PNE.  Rovers attacking Darren end in first half, George Sharples scores from a header.  I swear he was allowed to run from Shadsworth to score.  Rovers 3 up in first 20 mins.  Won game 4-2?

Was standing on the Riverside with a friend who supported PNE, opposite the 18yd line directly in line with where George made his run.  My friend couldn’t believe it and neither could I.

[J*B]

7 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

See comment above addressed to Pedro !!!!??

As the son of the author of this post, I’m all for him having a regular BRFCS podcast slot.

“The view from the Forest Of Bowland” - I can see the feature now!

[Exiled in Toronto]

The Man City cup tie in 1969 is my first complete memory of a game - put me down for that Herbie

[JBiz]

Not sure how to change the font size I used something else to write, to copy n paste in;

 

My first rovers experiences are difficult to fully decipher, present at games as a young child, though I specifically remember the Middlesbrough home game in the 90/91 season.

Match

Not because of the towering Tony Mowbray playing for Boro at the time, or the quick winger named Stuart Ripley playing on their right wing - but just the colours, sounds, smells and overall feeling of “home” at Ewood for the first time.

 

One aspect I vividly remember from those days was the prospect of moving seats in the lower riverside at half time to sit and our attacking end. Something that I did that day to see Paul Shepstone’s (who?!) only goal for Rovers.

I particularly remember Bobby Mimms (one of my favourites of that time) making some good saves, in a season I couldn’t tell you much about at the time. I started sharing a ST for the 1991/1992 season (year after) and it’s not difficult to see why the following few years got me hooked. 

First away game was early 1992 I think - Notts County away in the FA cup. A team above us a league (lost 2-1) at the time, and I still get the same buzz seeing new away grounds for the first time to this day.

Strangely, still never played Notts Co since - somewhere I’ve vowed to re-visit at some point. Thankfully, that doesn’t look as likely at the current time, bar a cup tie!

Edited December 18, 2019 by Harry The Bass

[Mattyblue]

I was in the Riverside in that era and I’m sure there used to be a lady with a tea trolly and urn at the corner with the Darwen End. I distinctly remember queueing up for a brew/wagon wheel in the 91/92 promotion season as I had a close up view of Brighton’s away kit that was a pink and white patterned number. All very early 90s

Also, remember when you had pie sellers wandering around the stands with that blue pie box fastened to them (or have I dreamt that too?).

[JBiz]

17 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

I was in the Riverside in that era and I’m sure there used to be a lady with a tea trolly and urn at the corner with the Darwen End. I distinctly remember queueing up for a brew/wagon wheel in the 91/92 promotion season as I had a close up view of Brighton’s away kit that was a pink and white patterned number. All very early 90s

Also, remember when you had pie sellers wandering around the stands with that blue pie box fastened to them (or have I dreamt that too?).

No I remember that - I seem to recall them handing out free pies in certain games post HT.

 

[Herbie6590]

On 17/12/2019 at 22:15, Exiled in Toronto said:

The Man City cup tie in 1969 is my first complete memory of a game - put me down for that Herbie

DM me please ??

[Herbie6590]

17 hours ago, Harry The Bass said:

Not sure how to change the font size I used something else to write, to copy n paste in;

 

My first rovers experiences are difficult to fully decipher, present at games as a young child, though I specifically remember the Middlesbrough home game in the 90/91 season.

Match

Not because of the towering Tony Mowbray playing for Boro at the time, or the quick winger named Stuart Ripley playing on their right wing - but just the colours, sounds, smells and overall feeling of “home” at Ewood for the first time.

 

One aspect I vividly remember from those days was the prospect of moving seats in the lower riverside at half time to sit and our attacking end. Something that I did that day to see Paul Shepstone’s (who?!) only goal for Rovers.

I particularly remember Bobby Mimms (one of my favourites of that time) making some good saves, in a season I couldn’t tell you much about at the time. I started sharing a ST for the 1991/1992 season (year after) and it’s not difficult to see why the following few years got me hooked. 

First away game was early 1992 I think - Notts County away in the FA cup. A team above us a league (lost 2-1) at the time, and I still get the same buzz seeing new away grounds for the first time to this day.

Strangely, still never played Notts Co since - somewhere I’ve vowed to re-visit at some point. Thankfully, that doesn’t look as likely at the current time, bar a cup tie!

DM me please ??

[MarkBRFC]

Sorry this ended up being longer than I thought!

My Grandad was a huge Rovers fan, and my mum was/is a huge Rovers fan too, she was a bit of a tomboy growing up, she went on Ewood all through the 70's and early 80's up to giving birth to me, she tells me all her friends used to joke that she would actually give birth to me on the Nuttal Street stand, what a sight that would have been!

Due to a marriage breakup when I was a baby, and relocating us Cheshire where my grandparents had moved to she had a few years off going to Ewood when I was born, and started up again around 1988 taking me on infrequent visits as a very uninterested 5/6 year old. 

She tells me my first game was a home game against Oldham at the start of the 88-89 season, followed by an away game against Stoke shortly afterwards as that was only a 15 minute train journey for us. I literally have no memory of either game, or the other games we attended during that and the following season, I was more interested In running around and playing at the front of the stand apparently with some other children.

My first real interest in Football was during Italia 90, something seemed to click there as a 7 year old, I was hooked and watched every bit of the tournament I could, started using all my spare time kicking a ball around in our back garden. I started taking an interest in club football the following season, wasn't particularly bothered about Rovers as they were 60 miles away and you got very little coverage of clubs like that back then, my mum took me to a few more games early on in 90-91 season, I vaguely recall actually watching a bit more of the matches but still wasn't too fussed, I was actually a bit more interested in Liverpool as I think literally everyone supported them in my school back then, with the odd Man Utd/Stoke fan knocking about too.

Everything changed in January 1991 just after Christmas, my mum got us tickets to the Rovers/Liverpool FA Cup tie, with the carrot of watching Liverpool and being the envy of all my school pals I was itching to go, and this is where my first real memory of Rovers comes in, I had my old Rovers Perspex shirt on despite only really being excited to see Liverpool, I would say that changed within 5 minutes of getting into Ewood, I couldn't believe how full it was and the atmosphere was rocking. Simon Garner scored and the place erupted and sounded much louder than my other visits to Ewood, I was genuinely hooked and actually cried when Mark Atkins scored that last minute own goal, despite my tears my mum and grandad were absolutely beaming, they knew that they achieved the goal of making me a fully fledged Rovers fan.

From then on I have been an absolute Rovers fanatic, constantly asking them when the next match we could go was, and my mum from then on took me every home game she could, which for a single parent, who didn't drive was some dedication, because the trains were not very frequent to our town back then we used to leave at 9am and get back at around 8pm most games. We got season tickets after promotion in 1992, and with the exception of the Coyle season I have had them ever since.

Other great memories growing up are going down to Plymouth with my mum and grandad for the weekend on bostocks coaches for the game in 1992, getting the train to Wembley for the play off final in the same year, and going to Oldham in 1993/94 with my grandad which turned out to be his last ever away game, and moaning at him the whole way on the mammoth walk from the old Oldham Mumps station to the ground and back again.

The best one though is obviously Anfield in 95, we didn't get tickets for it to which we were genuinely gutted about, but a couple of my mums friends were Liverpool season ticket holders, and obviously knowing my mum was a lifelong Rovers fan, single parent etc, they very kindly gave us there season tickets for the day so we could attend the game, my mum surprised me with them on the morning of the game, and never mind favourite Rovers memory I think this is my favourite memory of my entire childhood, they even drove us to the game and went to watch it in a local boozer, an incredible gesture that I have never forgotten, and one I would like to think I would repay to someone if there was ever a similar situation.

[old darwen blue]

Your mum is an absolute star!

?

[K-Hod]

VE Day ‘95. My birthday as well. 
A top 11th birthday present it was.

[Sparks Rover]

NOEL. FA CUP. CHELSEA. 25YD CRACKER. 84

[Herbie6590]

12 hours ago, MarkBRFC said:

Sorry this ended up being longer than I thought!

My Grandad was a huge Rovers fan, and my mum was/is a huge Rovers fan too, she was a bit of a tomboy growing up, she went on Ewood all through the 70's and early 80's up to giving birth to me, she tells me all her friends used to joke that she would actually give birth to me on the Nuttal Street stand, what a sight that would have been!

Due to a marriage breakup when I was a baby, and relocating us Cheshire where my grandparents had moved to she had a few years off going to Ewood when I was born, and started up again around 1988 taking me on infrequent visits as a very uninterested 5/6 year old. 

She tells me my first game was a home game against Oldham at the start of the 88-89 season, followed by an away game against Stoke shortly afterwards as that was only a 15 minute train journey for us. I literally have no memory of either game, or the other games we attended during that and the following season, I was more interested In running around and playing at the front of the stand apparently with some other children.

My first real interest in Football was during Italia 90, something seemed to click there as a 7 year old, I was hooked and watched every bit of the tournament I could, started using all my spare time kicking a ball around in our back garden. I started taking an interest in club football the following season, wasn't particularly bothered about Rovers as they were 60 miles away and you got very little coverage of clubs like that back then, my mum took me to a few more games early on in 90-91 season, I vaguely recall actually watching a bit more of the matches but still wasn't too fussed, I was actually a bit more interested in Liverpool as I think literally everyone supported them in my school back then, with the odd Man Utd/Stoke fan knocking about too.

Everything changed in January 1991 just after Christmas, my mum got us tickets to the Rovers/Liverpool FA Cup tie, with the carrot of watching Liverpool and being the envy of all my school pals I was itching to go, and this is where my first real memory of Rovers comes in, I had my old Rovers Perspex shirt on despite only really being excited to see Liverpool, I would say that changed within 5 minutes of getting into Ewood, I couldn't believe how full it was and the atmosphere was rocking. Simon Garner scored and the place erupted and sounded much louder than my other visits to Ewood, I was genuinely hooked and actually cried when Mark Atkins scored that last minute own goal, despite my tears my mum and grandad were absolutely beaming, they knew that they achieved the goal of making me a fully fledged Rovers fan.

From then on I have been an absolute Rovers fanatic, constantly asking them when the next match we could go was, and my mum from then on took me every home game she could, which for a single parent, who didn't drive was some dedication, because the trains were not very frequent to our town back then we used to leave at 9am and get back at around 8pm most games. We got season tickets after promotion in 1992, and with the exception of the Coyle season I have had them ever since.

Other great memories growing up are going down to Plymouth with my mum and grandad for the weekend on bostocks coaches for the game in 1992, getting the train to Wembley for the play off final in the same year, and going to Oldham in 1993/94 with my grandad which turned out to be his last ever away game, and moaning at him the whole way on the mammoth walk from the old Oldham Mumps station to the ground and back again.

The best one though is obviously Anfield in 95, we didn't get tickets for it to which we were genuinely gutted about, but a couple of my mums friends were Liverpool season ticket holders, and obviously knowing my mum was a lifelong Rovers fan, single parent etc, they very kindly gave us there season tickets for the day so we could attend the game, my mum surprised me with them on the morning of the game, and never mind favourite Rovers memory I think this is my favourite memory of my entire childhood, they even drove us to the game and went to watch it in a local boozer, an incredible gesture that I have never forgotten, and one I would like to think I would repay to someone if there was ever a similar situation.

DM me please Mark - I’d like to use this ??

[Boz]

Just a brief comment on the pie sellers. My mate used to do this, either walking round the perimeter or even in one of the pie outlets. On one such occasion, late 70s, Rovers were playing Chelsea in a cup match I think, now Chelsea back then had quite a following with a rough element looking to cause trouble. My mate and another vendor were in the Darwen End food shack, when the Chelsea lot decided to cause trouble and storm the hut, said pal fearing for his life had to make a sharp exit, via the emergency hatch onto the roof!