supergeorge
Member
- Sep 7, 2009
- 44
Given that it’s 7 years ago tonight that we beat Dagenham & Redbridge to win promotion it took me back to one of my favourite Albion moments.
No doubt this weekend we will be accused of supporting Chelsea/Tottenham et al by that lot up the road but this is a story I wrote some time ago for a website about the moment my son (he’s 14 now) showed that he really is just Brighton, and thought I’d share it.
Enjoy
Just Brighton
“We are two halves of the same. Together we share the victory and confront the defeat, and together we dream of our tomorrows.”
I saw this quote written on the concourse wall of the West Stand at the Amex Stadium whilst enjoying a post-match pint after our win over Newcastle in the FA Cup last season. That quote struck a chord with me as I read it and looked at my son who was sitting underneath it, big smile on his face down to the aforementioned victory and a famous Amex pie in his hand! I thought how true that statement was in describing the two of us and how my passion for Brighton and Hove Albion has passed down to him and the moment I knew he was really a fan.
If people ask me when I became a Brighton fan or how long I have supported them then the answer has to be all my life. I don’t recall making a conscious decision to support the club, I just always have and I’m sure my son will say the same when he is asked in the years ahead.
My father passed away when I was only five so I never had that father/son relationship where he would take me to a game, teach me all there was to know about the beautiful game, share his stories of following his team Chelsea. I got to see my first ‘real’ game when I was ten years old, Brighton v Charlton for the record, but before that I always considered myself as Brighton through and through, something that has continued without exception to where I am now. Do I still get excited on match days like I did all those years ago, yes I do, do I still launch myself in the air when we score, yes I do, do I still hate Crystal Palace, well of course I do. I had always hoped one day I would have a son, to be able to do the things that my father and I never did. When he came along I only got to a few games a season, as he got older I would go to a few more games but he didn’t like it when I did leave for the match, was it that he wanted to come or was it that he just didn’t want me to go?
At the ripe old age of four and a half, and on a late summer’s afternoon, me and my boy set off for the game, his first. Brighton v Bristol Rovers at Withdean. He loved it, from the bus journey there to the people, the noise, the colour everything. We went back again a few weeks later, the next time not so warm, not so dry; the people that have experienced Withdean will testify that it is not the place to be when the rain is falling. We sat there in the rain, in a sparsely populated and very open, family stand, together as one under a standard issue poncho to divert the incessant rain. It was cold it was wet, we took the lead, we went behind we went ahead again only to succumb to a ninetieth minute equaliser, I was devastated! He still wanted more and this setback did not deter him, we made many visits that season, we experienced numerous defeats from narrow 0-1′s to dreadful 0-4′s, there was the odd victory in there as well but still he kept the faith. We looked certainties for relegation at one point but we managed to pull off the great escape with a narrow 1-0 win over Stockport County, this resulted in our first pitch invasion, joining the many thousands on the pitch in celebration. The following season he wanted to go to every home game and in the end it worked out cheaper get season tickets. His passion for the Albion had spread to his school friends and he was a one man marketing machine for all things Brighton!
During our last season at Withdean there was a moment that has stuck with me ever since. It was an evening match and we were in our usual seats in the Family Stand and sitting next to us was this young boy, about 12 or 13, he started chatting to my son and asked him who else he supported, implying that Brighton couldn’t possibly be his only team and there must be a Premier League team that he followed, the response from my son was a simple, “I don’t support anyone else, I’m just Brighton”.
We went on to win the league that season playing some great football. It took nine years before I witnessed my team win promotion, luckily for my son it happened in only his second full season. The night we clinched promotion was just fantastic, we needed to beat Dagenham & Redbridge at home, it was a midweek game, under the lights at the ‘Theatre of Trees’, the game went one way then the other, one down in a matter of seconds, then two, this wasn’t going to plan but we finally got back in the game and grabbed the winner late on and thus promotion was won. The final whistle went which sparked great celebrations, me and my son stood and applauded our heroes, I looked down at him and there he was, tears streaming down his face, these weren’t sad tears, these were tears of joy. I immediately thought back to that moment earlier in the season and thought to myself, yes son, you are, just Brighton.
[MENTION=21557]ian[/MENTION]burkebha
No doubt this weekend we will be accused of supporting Chelsea/Tottenham et al by that lot up the road but this is a story I wrote some time ago for a website about the moment my son (he’s 14 now) showed that he really is just Brighton, and thought I’d share it.
Enjoy
Just Brighton
“We are two halves of the same. Together we share the victory and confront the defeat, and together we dream of our tomorrows.”
I saw this quote written on the concourse wall of the West Stand at the Amex Stadium whilst enjoying a post-match pint after our win over Newcastle in the FA Cup last season. That quote struck a chord with me as I read it and looked at my son who was sitting underneath it, big smile on his face down to the aforementioned victory and a famous Amex pie in his hand! I thought how true that statement was in describing the two of us and how my passion for Brighton and Hove Albion has passed down to him and the moment I knew he was really a fan.
If people ask me when I became a Brighton fan or how long I have supported them then the answer has to be all my life. I don’t recall making a conscious decision to support the club, I just always have and I’m sure my son will say the same when he is asked in the years ahead.
My father passed away when I was only five so I never had that father/son relationship where he would take me to a game, teach me all there was to know about the beautiful game, share his stories of following his team Chelsea. I got to see my first ‘real’ game when I was ten years old, Brighton v Charlton for the record, but before that I always considered myself as Brighton through and through, something that has continued without exception to where I am now. Do I still get excited on match days like I did all those years ago, yes I do, do I still launch myself in the air when we score, yes I do, do I still hate Crystal Palace, well of course I do. I had always hoped one day I would have a son, to be able to do the things that my father and I never did. When he came along I only got to a few games a season, as he got older I would go to a few more games but he didn’t like it when I did leave for the match, was it that he wanted to come or was it that he just didn’t want me to go?
At the ripe old age of four and a half, and on a late summer’s afternoon, me and my boy set off for the game, his first. Brighton v Bristol Rovers at Withdean. He loved it, from the bus journey there to the people, the noise, the colour everything. We went back again a few weeks later, the next time not so warm, not so dry; the people that have experienced Withdean will testify that it is not the place to be when the rain is falling. We sat there in the rain, in a sparsely populated and very open, family stand, together as one under a standard issue poncho to divert the incessant rain. It was cold it was wet, we took the lead, we went behind we went ahead again only to succumb to a ninetieth minute equaliser, I was devastated! He still wanted more and this setback did not deter him, we made many visits that season, we experienced numerous defeats from narrow 0-1′s to dreadful 0-4′s, there was the odd victory in there as well but still he kept the faith. We looked certainties for relegation at one point but we managed to pull off the great escape with a narrow 1-0 win over Stockport County, this resulted in our first pitch invasion, joining the many thousands on the pitch in celebration. The following season he wanted to go to every home game and in the end it worked out cheaper get season tickets. His passion for the Albion had spread to his school friends and he was a one man marketing machine for all things Brighton!
During our last season at Withdean there was a moment that has stuck with me ever since. It was an evening match and we were in our usual seats in the Family Stand and sitting next to us was this young boy, about 12 or 13, he started chatting to my son and asked him who else he supported, implying that Brighton couldn’t possibly be his only team and there must be a Premier League team that he followed, the response from my son was a simple, “I don’t support anyone else, I’m just Brighton”.
We went on to win the league that season playing some great football. It took nine years before I witnessed my team win promotion, luckily for my son it happened in only his second full season. The night we clinched promotion was just fantastic, we needed to beat Dagenham & Redbridge at home, it was a midweek game, under the lights at the ‘Theatre of Trees’, the game went one way then the other, one down in a matter of seconds, then two, this wasn’t going to plan but we finally got back in the game and grabbed the winner late on and thus promotion was won. The final whistle went which sparked great celebrations, me and my son stood and applauded our heroes, I looked down at him and there he was, tears streaming down his face, these weren’t sad tears, these were tears of joy. I immediately thought back to that moment earlier in the season and thought to myself, yes son, you are, just Brighton.
[MENTION=21557]ian[/MENTION]burkebha