The Large One
Who's Next?
Back in the mid-70s, Dad was a self-employed carpenter, and Saturdays were usually taken up with him doing some work, which sometimes meant going to timber yards or builders' yards (this is before the DIY sheds became popular) near to The Goldstone Ground. Each time I went with him, I asked if we were going to the game, and each time I got this awkward silence that said 'no, not now...'
After a while, I got so fed up of asking, I presumed we were always going to a timber yard. So when we were walking past the Goldstone one Saturday afternoon, he just stopped and said, 'don't tell your mum, but do you want to watch the game instead...?' I was eight, a few days before my ninth birthday - 8th September 1978.
We went into the north west, and from there saw THOUSANDS of people in the North Stand with funny long hair all with their their scarves on wrists, wearing the stripes, all singing 'Seagulls, Seagulls'. It was f***ing magic, and something that will always stay with me. I don't remember a huge amount about the game, but it finished as a 1-0 home win vs Oldham Atheltic. Peter Ward claimed the goal, but it was later debited as an own goal.
I'd always wanted to go to a Brighton game, so when I did eventually get to go, I knew it was the right thing. I was never pushed into it, it was a decision as a six or seven year-old that I'd made on my own. It just felt right and proper that I should become a Brighton fan, and even through the brightest days of 1979 and 1983 to the darkest days of 1996-97, it's a decision I've never regretted taking.
So how clearly do you remember your first Goldstone Ground visit?
After a while, I got so fed up of asking, I presumed we were always going to a timber yard. So when we were walking past the Goldstone one Saturday afternoon, he just stopped and said, 'don't tell your mum, but do you want to watch the game instead...?' I was eight, a few days before my ninth birthday - 8th September 1978.
We went into the north west, and from there saw THOUSANDS of people in the North Stand with funny long hair all with their their scarves on wrists, wearing the stripes, all singing 'Seagulls, Seagulls'. It was f***ing magic, and something that will always stay with me. I don't remember a huge amount about the game, but it finished as a 1-0 home win vs Oldham Atheltic. Peter Ward claimed the goal, but it was later debited as an own goal.
I'd always wanted to go to a Brighton game, so when I did eventually get to go, I knew it was the right thing. I was never pushed into it, it was a decision as a six or seven year-old that I'd made on my own. It just felt right and proper that I should become a Brighton fan, and even through the brightest days of 1979 and 1983 to the darkest days of 1996-97, it's a decision I've never regretted taking.
So how clearly do you remember your first Goldstone Ground visit?
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Do you remember it?!
