First time I ever saw the Reds.

Grew up in Doncaster and as my Dad was in charge of the Main Stand he took me to Belle Vue from an early age. I used to sit with a very attractive young lady Mavis Markham who went on to marry our goalkeeper Harry Gregg. Whilst me Dad cashed up Harry and Mavis used to walk me to catch my bus home and my Mum was at the bus stop waiting for me at the other end.
Through Harry I got the autographs of most of the teams that visited Rovers. On some occasions Rovers forward Kit Lawlor would take me into the visitors dressing rooms to meet their players.
I remember 23 rd August 1952 very vividly. There were 19, 662 in the ground to see the Rovers draw 1-1 with Barnsley. The Reds had made a loss of £4,508 on the previous season so they didn't sign any high profile players in the close season.
I remember that Kit introduced me to the legendary Harry Hough and the player who scored the goal Gavin Smith. A tall lad with a mass of hair shook my hand and said " or Reyt young 'un". I didn't realise until the end of the season that I shook hand with the great Tommy Taylor when it was announced that he had gone to Man Utd for £29,999 and Eddie McMorran went to Donny for £10k.
Reds team that day was Hough, Youell, May, Jarman, McNeil, Normanton, Smith, Lumley, McMorran, Taylor
and Kelly. Little did I realise that some thirty four years later I would become of a Reds supporter.

 

what happened 34years later to make you a Barnsley supporter? that wouldha been 1986. You shook hands and spoke with with Tommy Taylor. Well done , Tommy. We all want have legends like Tommy. He'll do me. I mean, we all revere the Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrisons... but Tommy is one of our own..

 

Only just seen your question MN.

In 1987 I applied for a job in Wakefield and relocated from our home in Doncaster. One of my
cousins in Poole Dorset, worked for Max Factor. He got in touch to say they had a promotion
where staff were able to buy a duffel bag full of slightly second cosmetics and asked if I wanted
any for Christmas. I ordered two, one for my wife and one for her Mum at £100 apiece.
Problem was getting them to me. He called me in November ( 1988) to say that AFC Bournemouth
were playing Barnsley at Oakwell on the 26th and he had a mate who was a Cherries fan who would
bring the bags to the game. All I needed to do was meet him in the Oakwell Car Park give him the money
and take the bags from him. That done, the lad said "are you going to the game, Luther Blissett is making
his debut"? I had my son with me. Since re- locating we had been looking for a team to support. We'd already
been to watch Leeds and also had tickets to see Arsenal and Villa at Hillsborough, but my lad had been
underwhelmed at both grounds. Barnsley was different. For a start there weren't a lot at the game, so he
was more comfortable having room to move on the Ponty End and we could hear the players shouting to
each other, to the point of feeling to be part of the action. The game was breathtaking. The Reds mullered
Bournemouth 5-2 and "Hot stuff" David Currie scored four of the goals. At the end of the game, my son looked
at me and said " Dad can we start supporting Barnsley please."? So that's how it happened. We've enjoyed the
highs and lows with the rest of our loyal fan base ever since and we wouldn't have it any other way.