[Albion] Brighton v Chelsea highlights 1973

[cheshunt seagull]

Nice to see Spider in a Man City shirt later in the programme.

 

[BLOCK F]

Our floodlights were terrible and we missed out on tv coverage for a few night games. Didn’t we buy second hand ones off Stoke or something

Were they really that bad?
Perhaps I just got used to them.

 

[kevo]

Didn’t we buy second hand ones off Stoke or something

Without checking, I think they were from some Scottish club. The system was called 'drench lighting'.

 

[Eeyore]

Without checking, I think they were from some Scottish club. The system was called 'drench lighting'.

I'm sure I heard that. Brechin or somewhere. It used to be said they were more the Scottish style. That's because they were.

 

[AZ Gull]

Our floodlights were terrible and we missed out on tv coverage for a few night games. Didn’t we buy second hand ones off Stoke or something

Without checking, I think they were from some Scottish club. The system was called 'drench lighting'.

I'm sure I heard that. Brechin or somewhere. It used to be said they were more the Scottish style. That's because they were.

Our "drenchliting" system wasn't secondhand - but it was installed by Scottish firm Miller & Stables Ltd from Edinburgh.

The drenchliting system (in which the head of the pylon is angled towards the ground) was also used at the likes of Newcastle United, Motherwell, Hibernian, Celtic and Windsor Park (Belfast). At the time of the Goldstone's demise, Albion's were the only surviving example south of the border, with just one set in Scotland (at Queen of the South).

Some little factoids:

* The first Albion team to play under lights was the reserves, at the Pilot Field, in a friendly against Hastings United on November 7 1951.
* On March 16 1953 they played a Football Combination Cup game under lights at Highbury against Arsenal.
* The first football league match under lights was Portsmouth v Newcastle United in February 1956.
* Withdean Stadium had floodlights before the Goldstone Ground did, and Albion considered playing some friendly matches there, but the club couldn't reach a satisfactory financial arrangement with Brighton Corporation.
* Drenchliting was eventually installed at the Goldstone Ground and the lights were opened with a friendly against Danish club Frem on April 10 1961.

 

[Questions]

Jimmy Hill kept calling one of ours Sullivan.

Got it now