The First Time

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No, not that ‘first time’ – it’s your mind, not mine! This is my latest attempt at writing something for John Holton’s Writer’s Workshop. As you will see if you follow that link, John has given us his usual selection of themes from which to choose, and I’m going with #5 and writing about the first time that I went to a sporting event.

As this was more than sixty years ago my memory may be a little imperfect. My fantastic Dad was a great believer in introducing his kids to things they might enjoy, and for me that meant quite a few days out with him at cricket matches, and at the local saloon car racing and go-karting sites. The one which remains most in my memory, which I think was in all probability the first, was the time Dad took me to the football and began a love of the game which has lasted to this day. His efforts were made all the more special by the fact that he didn’t follow the sports that closely and knew little of them, but it was the thing Dads did for their sons, wasn’t it?

Try as I might I can’t find any records of that time which would confirm when this took place, but the game was between my local team Dover FC, as they were at that time, and Burton Albion. I have been able to confirm that both teams became members of the Southern League Division One in 1960, and I’m pretty sure that this would have been in their first season in the league, when I’d have been seven. I don’t really recall anything of the game itself but it has left one lasting impression on me: when we were walking back to catch the bus home we passed a chap working in his garden, who asked if we had been to the game and how it went. I have a very vivid memory of answering “we won 2-0” before poor Dad could even open his mouth, so excited was I for what I had just experienced.

This is the venue, Crabble Athletic Ground, which is still the team’s home:

That is a much later photo, as in the days I first went there the stand at the bottom left of the photo hadn’t been built, but you get the idea. It was a multi-purpose site: the football pitch was on the top level, and lower down were both rugby and cricket pitches, and there was even a mini golf course built on the hill beside the two levels: I once took thirteen on one of the holes, which involved a lot of walking up and down the hill due to constant overshooting of the green!

We went in through turnstiles which then led to the path up to the pitch. This is how they look now, but I recall them as being much less grand back in the day!

You’ll see from that photo that the club is now known as Dover Athletic, which has been the name since 1983, when the original club folded and were reborn under the current owner, who has devoted the time since then – and much investment – into making it the best it could be. We have enjoyed promotions and endured relegations since then, and twice even managed to make the play offs for promotion to the Football League, but in all honesty we were punching well above our weight and last season’s latest relegation has probably returned us to our true level.

I found an older photo, of a clip from the local paper, which brought back memories of a similar result:

We also played Dartford in the Kent Senior Cup in, I think, 1967, and beat them 2-1 after extra time on a dank Tuesday night. By then I was going with Ian, my best friend, though both sets of parents queried the wisdom of allowing that when we got home later than expected – explaining the concept of extra time making us miss our bus took some doing!

I have added other teams to my support list since then – namely Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient – but your first love never leaves you. Once I reached the age of being trusted to go on my own or with friends I hardly ever missed a match until we moved away, even including the weakened team that played in the Kent Floodlight League on a Tuesday night, as this gave us the perfect opportunity to hurl insults at one of our PE teachers, who played for that team, knowing he could do nothing about it!

Writing this has been a real trip down Memory Lane for me, thinking not just of the football but of all the things I loved about my Dad, who sadly left us eighteen months ago at the age of 95. As I said, he didn’t know an awful lot about the game, but he did once referee a match. One Sunday morning he, my sister and I took our dog for a walk around the village playing field, which was also the home of Whitfield FC, who played in the local Sunday League. They were delighted to see us, as the referee for their match hadn’t turned up, and they pleaded with Dad to referee for them to avoid having to cancel the game. He pointed out that he knew few of the rules, but they promised to be on their best behaviour and he would only have to adjudicate on things like the ball going out of play and keeping time. All seemed to be going well until the team captain came over at some point in the second half to ask how much time was left. Dad looked at his wrist and I could see the realisation dawning on his face: his watch had stopped! I had to run home, pick up a spare watch and announce to the teams that they had actually played a 75 minute second half instead of the regulation 45. Some knackered and relieved footballers saw the funny side of it, fortunately. He had one job…

As well as attending countless football matches over the years – of all three teams, plus Norwich City in uni days and even a visit to Wembley to watch England – I played the game a lot as I was growing up. Kickabouts with Dad in the garden, with friends on the village field, and then for school and Sunday League teams: that first trip to a game has led to a lifetime love affair. I don’t think I was ever this obsessive, though:

The accents are a little thick but I’m sure you got the drift. That was Robin Hall and Jimmy MacGregor with their song Football Crazy, which was released in 1960: perfect timing to complement my memory! Life is full of these moments, isn’t it?

43 thoughts on “The First Time”

  1. Pingback: So Long, July | Take It Easy

  2. Great memories, Clive. I don’t follow football at all, but I remember my parents taking me to my first concert. We saw Frank Sinatra in London, but can’t quite remember where. Mum complained that he talked and smoked too much instead of singing.

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  5. a wonderful trip down memory lane. How nice of your dad to take you to events he perhaps wasn’t as keen on as you. When was the last time you went to a Dover match? And a 13 on one hole?! We stop counting at six 🙂

    Funny story about your dad’s reffing experience as well!

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    • Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Dad was fantastic, as you may recall from the tribute post I did for him last year, but I think he was relieved when I was old enough to go on my own!

      The last time I saw Dover at a live game, as opposed to TV, was about 12 years ago. They were in the same league as Harlow Town, near where I live, and an old schoolfriend came up to watch the game with me. We won 4-1, we got promoted that season and they were relegated. After all this time we are now back in that same league, but no Harlow this time.

      That 13 was with a group of school mates. We were all in hysterics by the time I finally sank it. One of them was the son of the head ground keeper for Dover, so at least I hadn’t had to pay to provide all that entertainment!

      That story about Dad being a ref got a lot of retelling in the family 😊

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      • I’m sure your dad enjoyed the father-son time together, even if the event itself wasn’t his cup of tea.

        Glad you could laugh about the 13. It was tough watching some of the pros at the Open last week; conditions were quite challenging at times.

        Have a great weekend!

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      • I think so too – we had a lot of good times together.

        I don’t really follow golf but I did see that the scores were high last weekend for a major. That’s what comes of playing in Scotland in the ‘summer’ 🤣

        You have a great weekend too 😊

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  7. Great post! I still remember the excitment of going to my first football match – seeing the stands and the huge pitch, and the smell of cigarettes and something dubious frying on a griddle. It was an evening game too, so the floodlights were on. It was Dunfermline Vs Dundee Utd, so perhaps a little bigger than Dover but still not Wembley… Amazing how it stays with you though.

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    • Thank you, I’m glad you liked it. Those were all part of the mix, weren’t they. Dunfermline is definitely a bigger team than Dover, but back then, with no football on TV, going to a game was the only way to see it and Dover regularly got crowds of 1500 to 2000. They are lucky to manage 600 these days! I think the feeling is always there, once the bug has bitten you.

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  8. Awh! What fun memories to share. So glad you have them and that you shared them with us. LOL about your dad’s watch.
    Saying how your dad didn’t know much about football reminded me of my brother and brought back a fun memory that his friend shared with us, after he died. My brother was one to always lend a helping hand. One day his buddy told him that he needed help broadcasting a college basketball game. My brother told him he would help and they jumped in the car to go. He picked up the basketball rule book that was laying in the seat and started reading it. His buddy asked what he was doing, and he said, “I figured if I was going to be talking about basketball I better know something about it!” Needless to say he wasn’t much help to his friend with the broadcast, though he did bring a lot of laughter.

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  9. That’s a great story. I’m eagerly waiting for the new football season to start and watch my local team. Truro City losst the lease of their ground four years ago and had to play all their ‘home’ games at Torquay and Plymouth during those years. I won’t go into the long story about administration etc. But now, with a brand new ground in Truro bought by Canadian owners, it’ll be all systems go in August. I already have my ticket for the home game against Dartford.

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  10. I liked reading about your memory and you’re right about your first love never leaving you. Of course over here ‘football’ is ‘soccer’ and considering the global popularity of real football, I always thought it arrogant of us to continue to disregard that. I don’t think the game translates well to TV, but in person, football/soccer is amazingly exciting.

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    • Thank you, Michael, I’m pleased you enjoyed it. Maybe the game hasn’t translated to TV there as well, but I think that reflects football in general: it’s massive everywhere else! Perhaps American audiences can’t cope with 45 minute periods when your other sports are geared to having advertising breaks every few minutes?

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      • You could be right on that. Our ‘football’ is a 75 minute game (including the 15 minutes halftime break) that lasts just over 180 minutes. But that’s not altogether fair because the clock stops for various reasons from time to time so it’s not all commercials. But it’s a LOT of commercials. Soccer on the other hand is basically non-stop action with tension that builds with each minute. And when your team scores… madness!

        It’s weird to me because our local soccer (I use ‘soccer’ not out of disrespect, but just because it’s simpler to use the local word) team is called “Minnesota United FC”, but no one ever says “Football Club” when talking about the team. Why did they even add it to the name? Maybe just to look European and more “official”?

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      • It seems logical from here!

        Odd that they use that name, but it could well be an attempt at authenticity, as you say. Many teams here have FC as part of their full name but no one ever uses it!

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  11. Those are some very thick accents, but I understood them. I think.

    Dad died before he had a chance to take us to any sporting events. Probably just as well, because the Chicago teams were pretty awful in those days… You father was a good sport to take you, even if he wasn’t always sure about what he was seeing…

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    • The rest of the UK has trouble with some Scottish accents, so you did well!

      Dad enjoyed the car racing and cricket, it was just football he didn’t really get. But I’m forever grateful to him for supporting me with it. Sorry to hear you didn’t have that – even if the teams were bad it would still have been good experience for you.

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