Thursday, December 29, 2005
Blackpool again - this time with crocodiles
The second time I went to Bloomfield Road wasn't to watch the Vale at all. I was pretty involved in Trade Union stuff in the Civil Service and it was Annual Conference time, in Blackpool, and just for once, it happened before the season ended. This didn't happen very often., so it was an opportunity too good to miss. It was in the era of inflatables, and a mate had brought a couple of inflatable crocodiles along to the conference just to make things a bit more interesting.
It so happened that Blackpool were at home during the week to Southend and we felt the crocs needed to experience league football - as far as we knew they hadn't been before, so we asked their keeper if we could take them - with a promise that we'd make sure they got home safe afterwards. About half a dozen of us went in the end, including a young lady from Leicester that I rather fancied - wonder what she's doing now - plus another bloke from Leicester who was a good mate and a few others - including a Cambridge United fan (who they ?).
Seeing as how it was obvious that we weren't locals, we thought it would be safer to go in the away end with the Southend fans. After a while, a couple of them came to talk to us, having spotted that we weren't Sarfend fans either - they were really nice - Sarfend had played the Vale the weekend before, they'd lost 2-0 and they were well impressed with them ( well it was the season Vale finally got promoted to Division 2 ) and they were wishing us all the best for the end of the season. Nice time had by all in the true spirit of football supporters.
It was a cracking game - 4-3 the final score was, I think, can't remember who won, but all seven goals were scored in the goal at our end. Well different from when I went to Southend and found out it was 100 miles further away....and saw no goals at all.
Anyway, the crocs enjoyed the match, and they got home safely, and got a mention in one of the newsletters that got printed at conference, but I never got the girl ( seems like that always happens - maybe I was showing off a bit and she didn't like it) That was the only conference when there was a match on.
Used to do quite a bit of travelling as a Union rep, and spent nights away in cheap hotels in advance of meetings - nearly always on my own. On a couple of occasions, to relieve the serious boredom that went with staying in strange hotels in out-of-the-way places, I'd try and find a footy match to go to. This actually was over two consecutive nights, when I was stuck in Plymouth and in Newport ( South Wales) It was League Cup time and there were matches both nights, but Plymouth were away, and Newport didn't have a team any more. Torquay were at home though, against Hereford United, who were still a league club back then, so I drove from Plymouth to Torquay to watch the game. It was dire. I think it ended 0-0, but if it didn't, it should have. All you could say about it was that it beat the hell out of sitting in an empty hotel bar watching crap on the telly - or getting an early night....
The next night, in Newport, Cardiff were at home to Bournemouth, so I went to that one. Can't remember the score, but it wasn't a good game either. Once again, though, passed the time - better than doing nowt, as they say, and it added two grounds to my collection. Haven't been to either of them since.
It so happened that Blackpool were at home during the week to Southend and we felt the crocs needed to experience league football - as far as we knew they hadn't been before, so we asked their keeper if we could take them - with a promise that we'd make sure they got home safe afterwards. About half a dozen of us went in the end, including a young lady from Leicester that I rather fancied - wonder what she's doing now - plus another bloke from Leicester who was a good mate and a few others - including a Cambridge United fan (who they ?).
Seeing as how it was obvious that we weren't locals, we thought it would be safer to go in the away end with the Southend fans. After a while, a couple of them came to talk to us, having spotted that we weren't Sarfend fans either - they were really nice - Sarfend had played the Vale the weekend before, they'd lost 2-0 and they were well impressed with them ( well it was the season Vale finally got promoted to Division 2 ) and they were wishing us all the best for the end of the season. Nice time had by all in the true spirit of football supporters.
It was a cracking game - 4-3 the final score was, I think, can't remember who won, but all seven goals were scored in the goal at our end. Well different from when I went to Southend and found out it was 100 miles further away....and saw no goals at all.
Anyway, the crocs enjoyed the match, and they got home safely, and got a mention in one of the newsletters that got printed at conference, but I never got the girl ( seems like that always happens - maybe I was showing off a bit and she didn't like it) That was the only conference when there was a match on.
Used to do quite a bit of travelling as a Union rep, and spent nights away in cheap hotels in advance of meetings - nearly always on my own. On a couple of occasions, to relieve the serious boredom that went with staying in strange hotels in out-of-the-way places, I'd try and find a footy match to go to. This actually was over two consecutive nights, when I was stuck in Plymouth and in Newport ( South Wales) It was League Cup time and there were matches both nights, but Plymouth were away, and Newport didn't have a team any more. Torquay were at home though, against Hereford United, who were still a league club back then, so I drove from Plymouth to Torquay to watch the game. It was dire. I think it ended 0-0, but if it didn't, it should have. All you could say about it was that it beat the hell out of sitting in an empty hotel bar watching crap on the telly - or getting an early night....
The next night, in Newport, Cardiff were at home to Bournemouth, so I went to that one. Can't remember the score, but it wasn't a good game either. Once again, though, passed the time - better than doing nowt, as they say, and it added two grounds to my collection. Haven't been to either of them since.
