Dissent from the crowd 52 years ago

I collect Barnsley programmes and have just picked up one from 16 September 1961, when we faced Crystal Palace at home in Division Three. we were third bottom of the league with 3 points from the first 7 games. This was in old money, so that counted as 1 win, 1 draw and 5 defeats. In those days the Supporters Club chairman used to have half a page in the programme and his notes that day show that little changed at Oakwell over the years...

In recent matches we have been hearing quite a lot of slow handclapping from the crowd. Quite frankly this is very bad and I appeal to all our supporters to cut it our straight away.

Admittedly the team is going through a bad spell. But the slow handclap is not going to do anything to help them out of trouble. It can only make things worse.

Our spectators should go along to the game and give the side all the encouragement they can, not to jeer them as some sections have been doing.

I am sure that if the spectators are one hundred per cent behind the team and they let the lads know they are they will get through this lean spell and begin to climb the league table.

A quick look in the history books shows that his rousing words had no help, as Palace won 3-0!

Unfortunately I don't have the next home programme to check whether he gave those spectators another jolly good ticking off, but we did manage to win the next home game 6-2 and did climb the table, finishing 20th in the end, winning 4-2 at home to Torquay in the last match of the season to climb above them and send Torquay down. We had the same points and goal difference as Torquay though, and they scored more goals than us, so I can only imagine that we stayed up on alphabetical order*.

Some things never change, eh?

*it was actually the archaic goal average, whereby goals scored were divided by goals conceded. This basically often rewarded the team who scored fewer goals, yet this rubbish system stayed in place until 1977.

 

Nice read that.

 

Back then it wasn't goal difference, if tied, but some archaic system that only maths graduates could work out, goals average, I think it was called.

 

Duckworth-Lewis?