The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Studley on 21st January 2006.
This week’s edition provides another instalment for those of us who remember how things used to be at football matches in the years BP (“Before the Premiership”) and, for any youngsters out there, another opportunity to have a good laugh at the no so golden olden days.
Things you don’t see at football any more #13. The WM formation. You’ve heard of 4-4-2, the Christmas Tree, the midfield diamond, overlapping fullbacks and five across the middle but how many of you can remember the WM formation? Innovated by the legendary Herbert Chapman, the WM formation was so-called because of the points on the letters “WM” i.e. a formation of 3-2-2-3. It dates back to a period 15 years either side of the Second World War when direct, long-ball tactics were in vogue (and you thought that they were invented by Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang or Cambridge United’s John Beck didn’t you?). Up front, teams would employ five forwards: a centre forward with an inside right and left plus for good measure right and left wing-halves. These days, five up front tends to be seen only towards the end of must-win games when a team is behind and therefore willing to try anything to get back into a match. Can you imagine the Warwick equivalent of WM? Up-front we would employ Jermaine, James Wood, Ben Mackey, Ollie and Paul White all at the same time! Terrifying!
Things you don’t see at football any more #14. Toilet rolls on the pitch. This seems to be something that we left behind in the 1970’s. A visit to the loo at a pub near a football ground on match day in those days would often leave you having to improvise when it came to “doing the paperwork”. The paper in question had been purloined for the express purpose of launching towards the pitch at the first opportunity. In-flight it would unroll rather satisfyingly and would often lead to the opposition keeper having to clear the offending paper from his penalty area before he could take the next goal kick. An interesting question is why has this sight disappeared? My theory is that advances in “bum comfort” have led to modern paper being too soft to be an effective projectile - old-fashioned “John Wayne”-style paper (“rough, tough and don’t take no sh*t”) has fallen out of fashion in favour of the kind brought to us by lovable puppies.
Perhaps toilet rolls at matches died out following the ticker-tape displays made by the fans at the Argentina World Cup in 1978? I can recall ripping newspapers into tiny little pieces before matches in the late 70’s and early 80’s in preparation for the arrival of the teams upon which we’d chuck it all up in the air to create a paper snowstorm reminiscent of Buenos Aries. The problem, of course, was the mess that we made! If it was windy then the paper would usually end up on the pitch in which case “the best team on paper” would usually win (arf arf!). Pity the poor ground staff after such matches!
Things you don’t see at football any more #15. Tackles from behind. Watching the game today one is frequently left wincing as another scything tackle goes in leaving both players sprawling on the floor. The trainer arrives, the referee reaches for the cards in his pocket and somebody behind you complains that “it’s a man’s game”. It’s hard to imagine that the version of the game that we are watching these days has been seriously cleaned up since days of yore. One wonders how the likes of Ron “Chopper” Harris and Norman “Bites yer Legs” Hunter would have fared under the game’s current rules and regulations. In the 60’s and 70’s, stars such as George Best, Pele and Eusabio had to accept some very rough treatment as part and parcel of the game. Shielding the ball and with their back to a defender it was not unusual to see the defender going “through” their opponent to get the ball. This often led to a free kick but try telling the forward hobbling off the field that justice had been done. Today’s regulations demand an instant red card for such an offence.
Things you don’t see at football any more #16. Plastic Pitches. Hailed as a potentially huge generator of income for all football clubs when they were first introduced, so-called plastic pitches seemed to disappear within a decade of their arrival. The theory was that, since they do not wear out like a traditional grass surface, artificial surfaces would allow clubs to sell their training grounds and train instead on their own pitch whilst also renting it out for community use during the week. Such pitches never got water logged, were not prone to freezing and thereby guaranteed clubs a home game even in the depths of winter. QPR, Luton Town, Oldham Athletic and Preston North End all took the plunge with plastic but by the early 90’s they had all been replaced by the “Green, green grass of home”. Whilst the theory was good, in practice plastic pitches had a number of drawbacks. Firstly their bounce wasn’t “true” – how we loved shouting “boing, boing, boing” en masse as we watched the ball shoot up into the air at QPR in the early 80’s – they tried putting water on it before matches and resorted to putting tons of sand underneath it to deaden the surface further but it was never quite right. Secondly they seemed to produce more injuries – in addition to friction burns (never try a sliding tackle on such a surface!), many players complained about increased problems with their knees and ankles if exposed to regular plastic pitch appearances. However, 20 years after the disappearance of the first generation of such pitches, a new generation is beginning to stir: in Scotland, Dunfermline have taken advantage of improved technology surrounding such surfaces to install a new pitch – the football world watches with interest!
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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