First Ever Match

[Ruud Van Driver]

Very happy memories - As a young lad 44 years ago today (9/1/71) my Dad took me to my first ever game - West Bromwich Albion 0 Nottingham Forest 1 at The Hawthorns.

My only real memory of the day other than walking to the ground is Peter 'Tank' Hindley hoofing the ball up field from close to the corner flag and being amazed at how far he had kicked the ball, legs like tree trunks!

My programme from the game is in storage so I have pinched the image from eBay.

Would be interested to read other members first game memories, apologies if this has been covered before.


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[Pete’s Picture Palace]

Nice topic Ruud!

My first game SHOULD have been Palace v Real Madrid, (18th April 1962), a friendly to open the floodlights for which Real were paid the then-exorbitant sum of £10,000 to feature - but I was 6 years old, it was raining cats & dogs, and it was an evening game and I had school in the morning. So my mum stopped me from going - and my brother got me this superb programme - what a classy cover this is:-


Result Palace 3 Real Madrid 4. Here they are:-


However, the following Saturday we were at home again and no way could my mum stop me from going to that game. Saturday 21st April 1962, aged 6 years and 3 months, Palace v Port Vale.


Result Palace 0 Port Vale 0. I was hooked.

[sharrowblade]

Can't remember, seriously.

The first one I can recall was the final home game of the 1972-3 season, United beat Spurs 3-2, Cyril Knowles put one over the bar from about 2 yards out in the last minute. Nice one Cyril.

Remember Dad saying with 10 minutes to go come on son lets go on the Cricket pavilion one last time.






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A Sheffield United Programme guide

[nozer]

Not to certain if this was actualy my first game has i had been to a few Liverpool home games the 59/60 season Div 2 with a school pal and his pater ( has a 12 year-old) Leeds, Rotheram ......but the one game that dose stand out for me that season was the game v Huddersfield and i can remember how excited my pal an i were in antisipation of seing this new "star" player that everey one was talking about at the time Denis Law.

Unbeknowen to use though Denis had signed for Man City a few days earlyer was in March 1960 ,also recall this game for two other reasons Huddersfield had a wing-half called Bill McGarry i also had an uncle with the same name, and the legandary Billy Liddle taking a peno in the Anfield Rd end and hitting the post he hit the ball with that much force that when it hit post it burst and you could hear the bang all around the ground i wonder how many times that happend back in the day ....not many i would bet.

[theskystrikers]

St Mirren 0 Hearts 1

We lost to a Kenny Black penalty rebound, and I was the mascot...it was freezing cold, a god awful game, and was my first experience of that special brand of Love St moaning...

First as a paying punter? Aston Villa at home, pre season friendly - Paul Chalmers scored after a minute, we won 1-0. It certainly wasn't a pre-cursor to a season of success...

[Jim LFC]

1969 - Liverpool 4 Ipswich 0

I remember most of the day vividly. The drive to the ground, the walk from the car park, queuing to get into the paddock listening to the singing from the Kop.

Years later watching" Fever Pitch" that initial moment of entering a ground for the first time was excellently portrayed and mirrored my own experience. The smells of chewing gum, pies and nicotine, the booming sound of the Kop in full voice and the sight of the green pitch adorned by blue and red shirts.

Coming away from the ground with the noises still ringing in my ears I remember seeing a load of Ipswich fans who may as well been from a different planet!

From that day I was obviously hooked and the actual programme I got is now in poor condition with rips, creases and tea stains. But to me it represents the most valuable item in my collection.

[highlandjambo]

St Johnstone 1 Hearts 4 on the 4/2/64, My dad to me to my first game when I was 10, it was only 70 miles to Perth but on the old A9 took near 2 hours, Edinburgh seemed a thousand miles away in those days. My dad and brother were Rangers supporters. We sat in the main stand full of Saints fans and Jim Richmond scored in 2 minutes for them. When the Hearts equalised I felt like jumping 20 feet in the air but I just sat there like a wee mouse. My first boyhood hero Willie Wallace was playing and the Saints goalie dived at his feet and ended up hurt and got carried of. Jim Irvine and Tommy White scored the goals as Hearts won 4 - 1. Years later I meet Tommy in Blackpool where he lives, great guy and still a Jambo, and we keep in touch to this day.

[PompeyPhil]

Like some posters have already stated I cant actually remember my first game....Dad tells me I visited Fratton Park at the age of 2. My earliest memories are of the 1977-78 Season.....reading Jim's (Liverpool) post made me smile.....I can only add that at the age of nine a night game at Fratton Park was very special back in the 70's.......as a kid I remember the walk from the family home to Fratton Park, seeing the Floodlights soon come into view.... acting as a beacon to thousands (it seemed like thousands!) of Pompey fans, lighting the way to their version of the local Church!! The nearer you got to the ground, the more people joined you and the chatter amongst them all would get louder and louder!! Passing through the old turnstiles (manned back then not like now!) before climbing the North Stand stairs and picking your spot on the Terrace! Always with a crush barrier behind us.....Dad looked after me!! My first school boy hero was Alan Biley.....the rod stewart lookalike!! He was fantastic player, he knew where the goal was and became a terrace legend at Pompey!! I could go on but you get the picture.......I tell my wife its all my dad's fault!! Great Thread!!

[Paul Johnson]

1972-73 Hull city v West Ham Utd FA Cup

[derby1884]

I don't even know if there was a programme for my first match.
Doubt it - it was a Youth International between, possibly, East Germany and Switzerland at Pittodrie circa 1967/68. European Youth Tournament perhaps?

My father, a lifelong Dons fan, took his wee lad to the ground on what he assumed was a quiet day to introduce me to the place. It was - there was hardly anyone there. He got that right - but if he assumed his son would follow the same team as him, he was very much mistaken!
I had more sense
Not that he agrees with me. Even now...

My memories of the day are limited to it being very sunny and the terracing (now the South Stand) being a great place to run around in.

As I say, don't know if there was a programme but perhaps there was a tournament brochure issued?

That would at least confirm the date and the opposition involved....
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[derby1884]

Jim LFC wrote:

that initial moment of entering a ground for the first time was excellently portrayed and mirrored my own experience

Going through the turnstiles, heart pounding, up the steps, and there it is - in a brilliantly sunny day - the Baseball Ground.

At last.

Better than sex, was that
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[robbo]

Blades 3 Spurs 2 1968

me first game, aged 8, taken by me Dad, co-incided with the debut of The Lord Saint God his holiness Tony Currie, who knocked one in just for an added bonus

Sadly i can`t remember owt of this game, and yet another game, Alan Hodgkinson`s testimonial later in the year (v. the unwashed), i can remember more than yesterday ... maybe i were just a bit star gazed the first time and as the year went on i found me football fans feet.

Even tho` i`ve never smoked, due to those early years on the Kop at Beautiful Downtown Bramall Lane, the outdoor smell of a smoked fag always reminds me of that time.

[GreatBarrWolf]

No recollection of the first game I went to, probably at Fellows Park in the early 70's. Went to a lot of games there in the 70's and a fair number of away's as my father is from Walsall. Must have been to around 30 away ground's in those times and have a few memories from those.

I seem to remember a trip to Goodison Park in the early 70's and sitting in what was then a new stand, escalators and all. A trip to Hillsborough with around 8,000 in attendance and the view from the stand made the pitch look like a subbuteo pitch - so far away. My other early memory was a visit to the Victoria Ground, late 60's/early 70's for Stoke v Man Utd. Sat on my dad's shoulders as George Best ran amok - what ever happened to him!!

[bjm]

Have my doubts as to whether there are many members of the Forum who will recall, or want to, my first ever match - Watford v QPR 28 Dec 1946 ! My Uncle was a QPR supporter and as a youngster, though I had never even heard of QPR, he assured me it would be a good day out. On arrival at the ground I was astonished at the attendance and I guess my day was made when Reg Allen, the Rangers keeper, on arrival at the ground, turned out to be a friend of my Uncle, and he not only shook my hand but gave us two complimentary tickets, thus ensuring QPR had a lifelong supporter! For the record Rangers won 2 - 0 but, ironically, I was totally unaware then of such things as programmes and whilst I now have a programme for every profesional match I have watched since (along with many, many more!) the Watford v QPR 46/7 programme has eluded me - though at my age guess it does not really matter.
Apologies if I have gone on too long, but would round off ny saying that my first ever non league match was Southall v Redhill 23 August 1947 (0 - 1) and, yes, I do stlll have the programme.

[VILLAPROGS]

First game for me - Villa 0 Arsenal 0 Sept 1979 aged 5.
The day I saw my first Villa hero Brian Little. Shame that 1979/80 was to be his last! Still got my original programme although every photo of a player in it is adorned with Biro glasses and full beard / moustache combo!

Coincidentally my sons first game - Villa 0 Southampton 0 2014 aged 5.

[Eck]

Rangers 1-1 Hearts 67/68 Alex Ferguson scored for us

[Ruud Van Driver]

Eck wrote:

Rangers 1-1 Hearts 67/68 Alex Ferguson scored for us

In the 106th minute no doubt
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[bigearl79]

Scunthorpe United 0 Scarborough 3, 1st October 1988. I was nine and still I keep going.

[bobholl29]

Mansfield 6 Southport 2. 1962. Ken Wagstaff scored 4 that day. Apart from 3 Championships and Freight Rover victory, been suffering ever since

[kenners46]

Not my first match but my boys was 29th Nov 2003 aged 1 and a half Palace v Coventry, we had to leave at half time as my wife had given birth in the morning. I was at the birth all morning but she said she wanted to sleep and for me to go and get a rest, well I sort of did.