I've just listened to the Jim Rosenthal "worst grounds" anecdote of Barnsley fans throwing coal at a match during the Miners Strike. I was going to mentally file this under "lazy stereotyping" but thought I'd check if this ever occurred. My first game was at the end of the 1985-86 season so I can't really comment.
I have a mate who's a Huddersfield Town supporter.. and he insists that when he was a kid (late 40s now) that he came to a Town match at Oakwell and our lot were chucking coal at em... so maybe.
Now thats when men were men , none of this ponsy paper aeroplane business . Note of warning from the H&S brigade tho , you could get mucky hands if you touch coal .
The old kop and the corner between the Ponty and paddock used to be black shale. This was often chucked in both directions. Remember Blackburn fans in particular lobbing it at us. Maybe this was the coal of which they speak.
I once went to Bradford City Valley Parade and if it hadn't been for a bloke behind me grabbing the hood on my coat and yanking me back. i would have been wearing a half checker ( half a building brick for those that dont know ) it missed my head with the depth of a cig paper ...I couldnt thank the guy enough .....once in the ground they threw anything they could get their hands on at us that afternoon....
I we house brick thrown at our bus when Tracky use to send double deckers to Bradford. It came through the window at the top of the stairs so fortunatly the only injury was to the window. One bloke with long hair jumped off the bus to sort them out and he didn't get back on it. Never saw him again.
I got told something a couple of weeks ago.When we played Liverpool in the FA cup in 85 (0-4) as you all know it was live on ITV and Saint & Greavsie were the studio guests. What I got told was Jimmy Greaves got some stick from Barnsley fans and shouted to them "I hope they shut all your pits down!" I don't know how true all this is however but the main ITV sport anchor that day was none other than Jim Rosenthal.
For people who want to hear the comment: https://www.acast.com/quicklykevin/jimrosenthal-s01e06 Fast forward to around 42 minutes and 20 seconds. For what it's worth, it's a good interview and the podcast series (in general) is brilliant.
No thatll been a copper.. They rarely brought em in to grounds .. apart from the year the coppers and a dog all left ground 5 minutes from end to go outside to wait for Leeds fans ..only for Leeds fans to break down our brand new away end fencing and stormpitch
Think it's just a joke isn't it? Funny too. Thought it was a great interview, thank you for putting me on to it.