Who made you fall in love with football?

Pierce was injured at the start of the season, so Bobby Horn took over (Martin New had done the same when Pierce had been unfit during the previous campaign as we won promotion). He did so well that he played in all 42 league games.

 

Ah, thanks for that. I thought we were talking about the promotion team rather than the season after, my mistake.

 

Yes, I was thinking you meant the promotion team where Pierce was first choice till his injury at Fulham where Glynn Riley took over. Best Barnsley team I ever saw that one, managed by a great man. RIP Norman

 

Who made me fall in love with football.
Over the years I’ve thought about this.
IMO it’s not WHO - but WHAT made you fall in love with football.
And that ‘what’ is the ball itself.
The most beautiful game in the world is all down to the beautiful size, shape, weight, flight and movement of the actual ball.
You pick the ball up as a kid and you are immediately hooked.

And because I love the actual nature of the ball - I get as much pleasure out of watching a great pass as I do seeing a great goal.
Probably that’s why my favourite players have always been players like Currie and Hoddle that had the ability to caress the ball.

 

Agree mate. I still remember Rammell, Saville and Cooper as being three of our best ever strikers. They probably weren't. Having said that, Taggart, Fleming, Futcher, Shotton and Currie were all seriously high quality players.

 

Mr. Bates and my Dad. Mr. Bates was my teacher at Agnes Road junior school. My Dad took me to my first game at Oakwell in 1956 (we beat Liverpool). My Dad went to school (Agnes Road) with Harry Tufnell's son. He used to tell me stories about all the great Barnsley players pre & post war like Ces McCormick, Pongo Waring, Earnest Hines, the Robledos, Jonny Kelly and Barnsley's hard man Sid Normanton and how he came off worse with Arsenal's hard man Alex Forbes. The thing was it made me look forward with 'rose tinted specs' and I can honestly say I haven't changed in that I look back with 'rose tinted specs'.

 

I was first taken to Oakwell, so family history says, in November 1951. I was 6 months old so I don't remember much about it. I can remember in my Primary School years where we use to stand on the Old Spoin Cop where we use to meet my Dad's Brother and Family. Some of my cousins from that family group who are in their 70s are still season ticket holders. I don't really remember much detail until my teenage my years. I left School in 66 and going into a job and earning £2 10/- 5d made me feel rich. I had to cough up to my Mum and she gave me 15s. At 15 I didn't get Day release from my Apprenticeship as I had to prove myself first by attending Barnsley Tech on Mon, Tues and Thurs nights. So that 15/- saw me through the week and pay for trips to Oakwell and Bramhall Lane if my money didn't quite stretch to the longer away matches. I went to work for Yorkshire Traction in 68 and one of the perks of the job was free travel to work and half price when you were off duty. 95% of the time the Drivers wouldn't take your half fare, they usually had a good idea of the routes the Inspectors were working. You sat at the front of the bus and if you saw an Inspector waiting at the bus stop you got off and waited 5 minutes for the next bus. My reasons for going to see United play were simple, they were in the First Division and it gave me the chance to see the 66 World Cup Heros play. If Barnsley were away and any of the World Cup players were at the lane I'd go watch them. I'd also do it to see players like Jim Baxter, Law and Best.

The squad which really cemented my passion for the Reds was Ironside, Murphy, Brooks, Bettany, Winstanley, Earnshaw, Howard, Earnshaw, Evans, Thomas, Barton, Hobson, Robson,Taylor, Arblaster, Bradbury, Hamstead, Hewitt, Parker, etc. 1966 -68 were exciting times for a football daft teenager. World cup win and European Cup wins for
Celtic and Man. Utd. I coached the game and played my last competitive game aged about 59. I'm sad to say I no longer have the passion for the game I once had but my 2 Sons and Son in Law are all Reds.

 

I was convinced we threw that game. 3-0 up at half time & cruising. I was only about 12/13 but I'd already got the star letter in Shoot magazine, so pretty clued up.

 

In a parallel universe somewhere, you probably ended up with John Motson's job.

 

My Dad had a great sheepskin coat. I wasn't ready to bear that mantle at the time sadly.

 

Never mind. At least you ended up with the mic.

 

The beauty of the ball can be applied to all the other great sports in th world.
Tennis
Cricket
Golf
All the other sports over the ages died because there was no beauty in the ball.
Only played now in places like small villages in Lincolnshire.

 

For me it was Gordon Owen and Clive Baker which stems from the first game I remember attending as a youngster. It was the 3-0 home win against a promotion bound Oxford when Owen scored a hat-trick and Baker pulled off a brilliant penalty save from John Aldridge.

I was addicted from that night onwards....

 

I was at that game. Think we missed first goal as went in early.

Mick Butler was my first hero.

Had homemade replica shirt as a very young kid. Number 7 I think.

Went down with my dad from age of 3 and been hooked ever since.

 

Don't be so hard on yourself JLWBL, with questions like this we always think about the individuals in the game that we idolised, rather than those that helped us realise our interest. It was my late mum who really got me interested in footy; she was sports mad (PE Teacher), and I inherited my love of sport from her, and I suspect also from Dad, who was also a teacher, and heavily invested in school sports, but who sadly died when I was very young. So I grew up watching the great teams and competitions of the 70s/early 80s on TV. I'd say Kenny Dalgleish and subsequently Zico were the players that really made me fall in love with the game, and the ones that I aspired to be every time I kicked a ball around. Interspersed of course with the great Barnsley team of the very early 80s, though as much as I enjoyed watching him, I can't cite Glavin as the same kind of inspiration as the above.

 

It was my grandad too that introduced me to watching professional football at Oakwell in the mid 1950's. I have no recollection of the first game or indeed of most of that decades matches, with the notable exception of one very high scoring game against Bristol City, iirc it was 7 - 4 to Bristol and the England centre forward John Atyeo scored a bagful.

My boyhood hero and footballing role model - Duncan Sharp. Tough, uncompromising, red faced with effort (or was it rage), a tendency to keep adjusting his socks and affectionally known as 'Tank'. Unfortunately my desires to play like Duncan Sharp fell short, although the red face (embarrassment probably) and sock tugging were worth at least 9 out of 10. Can't recall if he played in the 7 - 4 defeat by Bristol City - if he did then John Atyeo's feat was nothing short of remarkable