Best Rovers Festive Memory?

[Mattyblue]

I thought 2000/01 was compulsory, the 2005 cup tie and replay wasn’t, from memory.

Nothing at all occurred in those cup games, well apart from that daft Dingle that ran on the pitch, yet every other game since has been bubble bused.

Edited December 22, 2019 by Mattyblue

[because of boxing day]

My username says it all……. 1977 for me.

[simongarnerisgod]

3 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

I thought 2000/01 was compulsory, the 2005 cup tie and replay wasn’t, from memory.

Nothing at all occurred in those cup games, yet every other game since has been bubble bused.

all about the police getting their overtime in,they have the final say on security and arrangements so they think we`ll milk this one for all it`s worth,i think they do the same for swansea vs cardiff,id`e love to know what would happen if we ever drew the dingles in a cup semi final or final at a neutral ground!!!!would the law insist on giving us an escort all the way down to wembley and would they insist on us setting off the night before?,maybe they`de even call on the armed division to keep us seperated,be some fun at hilton park services as well!!

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, MarkBRFC said:

The beauty of the one in December 2000 was that it was a 4pm KO, and the coaches weren't compulsory.

What on earth happened that day for the over the top rediculous restrictions to be put in place afterwards apart from them lot going into Burnley uptown centre and smashing up woolies etc?

I'm sure it was compulsory and only ST holders allowed to apply for tickets, no ticket no travel as i recall hence why it wasn't sold out.

Remember getting letters through the post with to do's and don'ts for the day, you'd have thought you were going to be entering Belfast at the height of its troubles or something.

Mind you the great unwashed, most of whom hadn't been to the game, lived up to their scum tag in fine style in their own town afterwards.

[MarkBRFC]

Nah the December 2000 game definitely wasnt compulsory for the coaches, although it was advised that you did so. I remember clearly getting the train into Blackburn for around lunchtime that day and there being quite a few there getting the train over to Burnley, quite a police presence too.

You are correct that the tickets weren't allowed to go on general sale though.

The cup game in 05 was compulsory for coaches for the original tie, but wasn't for the replay as I travelled over to the game with a dingle pal of mine, we walked down Cravens Brow before and after the game with many other Rovers/Burnley fans and there wasn't a hint of bother.

[tomphil]

Yeah i remember now there was a big group tried to sneak there on a later train or something but got rounded up and sent back i think.

[47er]

7 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Turf Moor Boxing Day 1963. I was queueing up at the turnstile to get on to watch them play the Red Rats. That's what football mad lads did then. You'd go where ever there was a game. Anyway two Dingles were chatting in front of me in the queue, one said to the other " What about bloody Rovers this morning ? Just bloody won at West Ham 8-2 " . I said " Are you sure ? "

He replied  " Sure I'm sure, it was on the news earlier ".

This was prior to the mass news technology revolution. I didn't even know we'd played that morning, I was expecting our game to kick off at 3-00 pm like all the other games.

Not living in Blackburn anymore these were the days you'd open the morning paper and find out we'd played the night before !

I was listening to the game on BBC radio. Jumping around the room every time another goal went in. Sure we would win the Championship after that!

[Vinjay]

How often did Rovers have live games on radio then? If it kicked off at a different time to everyone else that's another matter but wasn't so typical then. I know Radio Lancashire (formerly Blackburn) didn't open until 1971. Were there any local radio stations (besides hospital radio) covering games before that?

So what's the worst Christmas memory for some? Being robbed at Old Trafford in 1993? That Sunderland boxing day game was awful trying to remember anything worse.

Edited December 22, 2019 by Vinjay

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

17 minutes ago, 47er said:

I was listening to the game on BBC radio. Jumping around the room every time another goal went in. Sure we would win the Championship after that!

And then you went to the return match a couple of days later and came back down to earth. Just reading about the late Martin Peters, he was supposed to be marking Bryan Douglas in the Boxing Day game. Dougie ran him ragged enough for him to be dropped for the return game at Ewood.

There were some other queer results that Xmas, in the game I went to the Dingles won 6-1 against Utd on Boxing Day and then lost their return game at Old Trafford 5-1 I think.

I remember reading the Burnley match report in the old " Last Sports " on the bus on the way home from the West Ham game. Matt Busby had given the Red Rats  team a shake up and played two young wingers I'd never heard of before, Willie Anderson and a lad called George Best. I wonder what happened to them ?

Edited December 22, 2019 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[jim mk2]

1963 sticks in the memory. The shock of the 8-2 win away followed by the horror of the 3-1 defeat. Older West Ham fans chuckle about it too. 

 

Edited December 22, 2019 by jim mk2

[K-Hod]

4 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Wasn’t that in about March?

The 2000 fixture at Turf Moor was this time of year though, 17 years since our last meeting, it was absolutely febrile in the pubs round Ewood waiting for the coaches and then on the ground.

 

My mistake, didn’t see the festive part!

[simongarnerisgod]

33 minutes ago, Vinjay said:

How often did Rovers have live games on radio then? If it kicked off at a different time to everyone else that's another matter but wasn't so typical then. I know Radio Lancashire (formerly Blackburn) didn't open until 1971. Were there any local radio stations (besides hospital radio) covering games before that?

So what's the worst Christmas memory for some? Being robbed at Old Trafford in 1993? That Sunderland boxing day game was awful trying to remember anything worse.

i think it was christmas 1990 we lost to bristol city just before christmas,notts county on boxing day and oxford on the 28th,the oxford game was so bad the blackburn end got   fed up,changed alliegence and started to cheer the oxford lads there was a  sit down protest against bill fox after the final whistle as well,rumour has it that after  this was the game that jack walker started to get involved,strangely enough we had liverpool in the fa cup the week after and played them off the park,only for atkins to score that tragic own goal?,when garner smashed that volley in,i started off at the top of the blackburn end and finished halfway down the terrace pinned to a crush barrier!!!!absolute mayhem

[Vinjay]

There were protests against Fox just before previous manager was sacked as well. Bit pathetic in comparison to the Walker Family Influenced Trust. Were most people involved then rather than attacking the protesters as with Kean/Venkys?

Still it wasn't a surprise for some when Jack took over. I can remember some people saying they knew about it months beforehand. If he had taken over officially at Christmas 1990 (17th January when it did) what a present that would have been.

Edited December 22, 2019 by Vinjay

[47er]

36 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

1963 sticks in the memory. The shock of the 8-2 win away followed by the horror of the 3-1 defeat. Older West Ham fans chuckle about it too. 

 

Apparently Rovers players were promised a pay rise if the results justified it at Christmas. But the Directors refused and the players revolted.

There certainly was no spirit shown in that game  and much of it was played in an eerie silence before 29000 fans, who were collectively wondering WTF was going on.

Pickering sold not long after that and we never recovered. Not the first time the players and fans were sold down the river by a Board that was really better suited to running a corner shop.

[47er]

1 hour ago, Vinjay said:

How often did Rovers have live games on radio then? If it kicked off at a different time to everyone else that's another matter but wasn't so typical then. I know Radio Lancashire (formerly Blackburn) didn't open until 1971. Were there any local radio stations (besides hospital radio) covering games before that?

So what's the worst Christmas memory for some? Being robbed at Old Trafford in 1993? That Sunderland boxing day game was awful trying to remember anything worse.

There was no live commentary, there were up-dates as the goals poured in, as best I can remember. It was an 11am KO, quite common then at Christmas/New Year/Easter.

And I'm pretty sure it was the only game played at that time of day but still no live commentary!!

[Vinjay]

Just now, 47er said:

There was no live commentary, there were up-dates as the goals poured in, as best I can remember. It was an 11am KO, quite common then at Christmas/New Year/Easter.

And I'm pretty sure it was the only game played at that time of day but still no live commentary!!

Well you did say it as if it was live.

[47er]

53 minutes ago, Vinjay said:

Well you did say it as if it was live.

Oh dear me! Sorry! I promise to be more careful in future!  

[philipl]

There were live national radio commentaries in those days for the second half of one chosen game.

I remember my first experience of Rovers live was the second half of that infamous Cup tie at Oxford in the early '60s.

[oldjamfan1]

Obviously nothing will ever top 1977 but coming back from 2-0 down at Boundary Park to win 3-2 in about 1972 was pretty special for a wee boy like me at the time as well. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

11 hours ago, 47er said:

There was no live commentary, there were up-dates as the goals poured in, as best I can remember. It was an 11am KO, quite common then at Christmas/New Year/Easter.

And I'm pretty sure it was the only game played at that time of day but still no live commentary!!

It was the only game kicking off at 11.00 am that day. Why that was I don't know. Rovers must have travelled down on Xmas day. As I said I didn't find out that we'd even played whilst after the game.

Co incidentally it's our wedding anniversary today and as a present Mrs Shoelaces has bought me a copy of " Football History Through Newspaper Headlines - Blackburn Rovers " and I was just reading the " Daily Mirror " report about that game. Of course there's no mention of the game at Ewood were we played like we'd been celebrating since Boxing Day.

Returning to Willie Anderson and George Best playing against the Dingles. Anderson was 16 yrs old, making his debut  and Best was 17 and making his 2nd start. Apparently Best ran Alex Elder, a really classy left back, ragged. They must be the all time youngest pair of wingers to feature in top flight football. Then you read people saying Big Ben is only a kid.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

8 hours ago, philipl said:

There were live national radio commentaries in those days for the second half of one chosen game.

I remember my first experience of Rovers live was the second half of that infamous Cup tie at Oxford in the early '60s.

Boo Hoo.

I'd been playing earlier that day and we were in town watching the scores come in on the old teleprinter in a TV rental shop window. Reading that sentence back brings home how much technology has changed our lives. No mobile phones then. Anyway now and again they'd get the scores wrong right after the game and subsequently it would be corrected. When Oxford Utd 3 - Blackburn Rovers 1 came through I said to one of my team mates " They've got that one the wrong way around ! " Oh no they hadn't !

[philipl]

I will tempt fate- the last three games if 2019!

[Exiled in Toronto]

2 hours ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Obviously nothing will ever top 1977 but coming back from 2-0 down at Boundary Park to win 3-2 in about 1972 was pretty special for a wee boy like me at the time as well. 

Good call. Last minute winner by Kit Napier if I remember correctly.

[oldjamfan1]

Just now, Exiled in Toronto said:

Good call. Last minute winner by Kit Napier if I remember correctly.

It was - that was my first Rovers away win and it felt bloody good!!!

[speeeeeeedie]

I have a couple. I'm a bit rusty on the years though.

Wigan away on NYE 2005 ish. Pederson and Reid with wonder goals.

Liverpool at home on Boxing day 2009 - I may be way off on this one though - it was a full house, the last Ewood has seen?