The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Biddulph Victoria dated 26th November 2005.
This week’s edition provides a little trip down memory lane for those of us to remember how things used to be at football matches in the years BP (“Before the Premiership”) and, for any youngsters out there, an opportunity to have a good laugh at the no so golden olden days.
Things you don’t see at football any more #1. Do you remember half time scoreboards in the days before the modern day electronic versions came to dazzle us? Purchasing a programme was a must in order to discover that “A” represented Arsenal v. Burnley, “B” was for Chelsea against Huddersfield Town and so on. Then at half-time, a man, normally resplendent in a white coat and cloth cap, would come out with a big bag of metal numbers and proceed to hang them on protruding nails next to the letters. Eyes would be squinting towards the corner of the ground containing the scoreboard as the man would pull out a “2” and walk along searching for the correct letter. Had Spurs got 2 before half-time away at Leeds? Had Derby eased their way into an early lead at home to Leicester? Oh the suspense! Remember that these were the days before Clubs had television sets providing kick by kick updates of every senior match in Britain and supporters reasonably-sized battery operated radios were available to most supporters. Walkman? Yet to be invented young man! This was our only chance for an insight into the goings on around the country until we got back to the car to tune into Sports Report!
Things you don’t see at football any more #2. Do you remember when all League fixtures were played on a Saturday afternoon at 3 O’Clock? Indeed, if I talk about “League fixtures” now many readers won’t be totally sure what I am talking about. Do I mean the Coca-Cola League or the Premier League or both? Back in the 1970’s there was no such thing as a televised game other than the FA Cup Final or the annual England v. Scotland clash. If you wanted to see a whole match you had to be there in person. Football on the TV consisted of Match of the Day on a Saturday night, almost like now except that it covered only two or three games and occasionally dipped into League Division Two or even Three. Sunday afternoon comprised ITV’s regional football programme and this tended to show highlights of matches involving clubs reasonably near to you (although ironically your local rivals always seemed to get better coverage than your own team). But what seems unbelievable now, in an age where games are played on Friday night, Saturday lunchtime, Saturday night and kick offs at all times on a Sunday (including sadly 11:15AM as was the case for a recent Manchester City game), all fixtures were played at the same time! Much better now in my view in that there’s always something worth watching on Sky on a wet Sunday afternoon.
Things you don’t see at football any more #3. Do you remember a time when England fans carried the Union Jack? It was as if the Cross of St George hadn’t been invented! You never saw one at a football match. I have photographs of myself in Mexico at the World Cup in 1986 and all the flags on display were Union Jacks. Were we confused Englishmen? Not really. I think that the underlying sentiment was that the Union Jack was the flag of England. Nobody had opened our minds to the possibility that there was a more appropriate banner. Today the Cross of St George has become the only flag that can be carried by any self-respecting Englishman, you simply won’t see a Union Jack at an England game. I’m really rather pleased about that myself since the Union Jack did seem to have nationalist political connotations which don’t seem to have attached themselves to the Cross.
Things you don’t see at football any more #4. Do you recall a time when you could tell which linesman was the more senior official by the colour of his flag. If I remember rightly, the more senior of the two had a red (or fluorescent orange) flag whilst the junior linesman had a yellow one. Yellow and red quartered flags were still a twinkle in FIFA’s eye in England right up until the 1980’s. Is there such a thing as a senior linesman these days? I’m not sure and you certainly can’t tell by the flags that they carry. Perhaps there are some readers out there who are even wondering what a linesman is? I’m talking about the “Referee’s Assistant” of course to use more modern parlance. Thankfully this is one piece of re-branding that has pretty well failed to catch on with players, officials and supporters. A “lino” is a lino after all! Perhaps the shortened term “Ref’s Ass” may yet catch on?
If you think I’ve missed one of your old favourites that you don’t see any more, drop me a line or buy me a beer in the clubhouse and I’ll think about including it in a future issue.
Keep the faith!
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