Deleted member 37369
Well-known member
- Aug 21, 2018
- 1,994
Well… where do I start given the interesting welcome that [MENTION=38017]SeagullNoob[/MENTION] received!
My story is different but also similar in some ways. I was born in Bournemouth in 1961. My first admission… I was brought up as a Liverpool fan!! Oh FFS I hear people screaming - given some of the posts I’ve read on NSC. The reason being, my dad was from Liverpool. I have been putting my family tree together recently and have so far gone back to my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather in the late 1600’s - and all my relatives on my dad’s side lived in the same area of Liverpool. My dad moved to Christchurch in the 1950’s to do his National Service - which is where he met my mum… and that’s where he stayed. Hence the Liverpool connection!
I started going to watch Bournemouth in 1971 - including a 3-0 thrashing of Aston Villa. The attendance was over 20,000 - this was the old third division! That season, Villa won the league, Brighton were second and Bournemouth third - of course in those days only the top 2 teams went up!. Over the years I saw Bournemouth many times and I had a season ticket in the 1980’s before I moved in 1991 to work in Hove. Over those years I still ‘supported’ Liverpool - but Bournemouth were my local team (those days their paths never crossed)!
For the first 7 months I ‘lived’ in a hotel in Hove while my wife was back home in Dorset - pregnant with our second son while we tried to sell our house. It was at this time I made my first visits to The Goldstone - seeing matches against Port Vale and West Ham. I also went to the play-off final against Notts County
When we eventually moved down proper, family and work meant I had little opportunity to go to football, but I did get to a few Brighton games over the years at The Goldstone and Withdean. I also went to a number of Championship games at The Amex on an ad-hoc basis.
Eventually things fell into place (including being made redundant and retiring early!!) that enabled me to go to games more often. This coincided with Brighton getting into the Premier League … so I could easily be accused of being one of those new ‘plastic’ fans… and I accept that! When I started going, I didn’t know what to expect or how many games I would go to. BUT… I got the bug!!! I just love the whole match day experience at The Amex. I went to most home games last season and have only missed one this season (Everton). I went to the pre-season friendly against Nantes, Everton away and I’ll be at the Leicester game tomorrow evening. Along with many, I have obviously missed out on the trip to the New Den!
I’m on the season ticket waiting list - started at over 7,000+ and I’m now just over 4,000… so a bit longer to wait, I guess. My lads come with me now and again when work allows (they both work most Saturdays) … in which case I try and get our seats together. If it’s just me I always get the same seat in W3F. I found a really nice bunch of people around me when I first got the seat and so always try for it. It’s almost like having a season ticket
Anyway, I’ve rambled on far too long (many will no doubt have given up after the first couple of paragraphs)… I’ve been thinking of putting up an introductory post for a while, but didn’t know how to approach it given my support of other teams over the years. I guess that it was [MENTION=38017]SeagullNoob[/MENTION]’s post that prodded me to do so… but also I wanted to tell a story of how football allegiances can come about and even change!
Thanks for reading….
My story is different but also similar in some ways. I was born in Bournemouth in 1961. My first admission… I was brought up as a Liverpool fan!! Oh FFS I hear people screaming - given some of the posts I’ve read on NSC. The reason being, my dad was from Liverpool. I have been putting my family tree together recently and have so far gone back to my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather in the late 1600’s - and all my relatives on my dad’s side lived in the same area of Liverpool. My dad moved to Christchurch in the 1950’s to do his National Service - which is where he met my mum… and that’s where he stayed. Hence the Liverpool connection!
I started going to watch Bournemouth in 1971 - including a 3-0 thrashing of Aston Villa. The attendance was over 20,000 - this was the old third division! That season, Villa won the league, Brighton were second and Bournemouth third - of course in those days only the top 2 teams went up!. Over the years I saw Bournemouth many times and I had a season ticket in the 1980’s before I moved in 1991 to work in Hove. Over those years I still ‘supported’ Liverpool - but Bournemouth were my local team (those days their paths never crossed)!
For the first 7 months I ‘lived’ in a hotel in Hove while my wife was back home in Dorset - pregnant with our second son while we tried to sell our house. It was at this time I made my first visits to The Goldstone - seeing matches against Port Vale and West Ham. I also went to the play-off final against Notts County
When we eventually moved down proper, family and work meant I had little opportunity to go to football, but I did get to a few Brighton games over the years at The Goldstone and Withdean. I also went to a number of Championship games at The Amex on an ad-hoc basis.
Eventually things fell into place (including being made redundant and retiring early!!) that enabled me to go to games more often. This coincided with Brighton getting into the Premier League … so I could easily be accused of being one of those new ‘plastic’ fans… and I accept that! When I started going, I didn’t know what to expect or how many games I would go to. BUT… I got the bug!!! I just love the whole match day experience at The Amex. I went to most home games last season and have only missed one this season (Everton). I went to the pre-season friendly against Nantes, Everton away and I’ll be at the Leicester game tomorrow evening. Along with many, I have obviously missed out on the trip to the New Den!
I’m on the season ticket waiting list - started at over 7,000+ and I’m now just over 4,000… so a bit longer to wait, I guess. My lads come with me now and again when work allows (they both work most Saturdays) … in which case I try and get our seats together. If it’s just me I always get the same seat in W3F. I found a really nice bunch of people around me when I first got the seat and so always try for it. It’s almost like having a season ticket
Anyway, I’ve rambled on far too long (many will no doubt have given up after the first couple of paragraphs)… I’ve been thinking of putting up an introductory post for a while, but didn’t know how to approach it given my support of other teams over the years. I guess that it was [MENTION=38017]SeagullNoob[/MENTION]’s post that prodded me to do so… but also I wanted to tell a story of how football allegiances can come about and even change!
Thanks for reading….
