Earning your Stripes

[Superphil]

Arranging holidays or cutting short holidays to get to games. Making a weekend away if it........in Hartlepool!

How have you earnt your stripes?

We did indeed make a weekend of it away at Hartlepool, met up with Lord and Lady B, had a very nice dinner in Hartlepool marina, which I believe was owned at the time as the same firm that owned Brighton marina (Jacksons?). Our B&B had bars on the Windows!

Also made a weekend away of it, watched Lincon v Torquay on the Saturday, and Grimsby v Brighton on the Sunday . Still, at least got to say hello to Helen Chamberlain.

 

[portlock seagull]

Gillingham STH.

The end.

 

[BN9 BHA]

60+ posts on this thread and no mention of a ' super fan '

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Whichever Gillingham games I went to with a broken leg I guess. Or the Doncaster game on the "Love Bus". Beaten up old double decker that kept overheating and a driver who didn't know the way to the point that I became navigator. All for the worst 0-0 ever. Still have the video somewhere.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

That last game of the season away at Grimsby, lunchtime kick off, on a Sunday, we had to win and Stoke had to lose for us to stay up, I think we went 1-0 down and Stoke were 1-0 up within minutes, and I drove there and couldn't have a beer!

 

[dazzer6666]

JCL. No stripes yet....best I can manage is a soaking at the Withdean or the drive to Rotherham (where we lost a shite game).

 

[Phat Baz 68]

The worst thing I ever saw was the 5-0 drubbing we took at Shithurst back in 2002.
Brooker getting sent off that day was the final icing on the cake.
Worst day ever that to be an Albion fan.
Makes my stomach turn even today thinking about it.

 

[Phat Baz 68]

22 of you sleeping on one bench in a bus shelter! My God sir, you have definitely earned your stripes.

Sorry i should rephrase that and punctuate it better. Meaning 22 of us at Carlisle and i slept in a bus shelter with my mate ha ha

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I've done a fair few of the awful games - the away ground I've been to the most is Rochdale (4 times), was there for our 3-0 capitualtion at Walsall under Slade, bleak Halifax terraces, Daz Cameron being awful at Hull, our first ever game (and defeat) at Macclesfield, completely outplayed at MK Dons, 5-0 at Selhurst, and so on.

I just wish I could have had some part of the glory that comes with 'earning' your stripes. Never seen us at Wembley, wasn't at the Donny or Hereford games in 97, no promotion parties ever

I'm like the opposite of a glory-hunter.

 

[Robert Codners Nostrils]

Swansea away Tuesday 19th November 1996. Absolutely horrific time to be following the Albion away, especially long distances midweek. Very few Albion fans there that night. Maybe around 60?

Macclesfield away the following season. Tuesday 27th January. Lost 1-0. We then lost at Darlington on the Saturday. The legendary Paul emblen's last game for us. It was after this game that I seriously questioned my sanity. Would do it all again....probably.

 

[Paskman]

Taking the Seagull Special to Walsall on a cold March day for the return fixture after the famous 7 - 0 drubbing: Hopes high, top of the table, Peter Ward in fine form, 7 - 0, 7 - 0, 7 - 0, 7 - 0............Fellows Park, what a dump, then lost to a last minute Alan Buckley goal and got threatened with arrest by the local Bill for using obsence language, not having realise that 2 of them were standing behind me. The 7 - 0 chants were now ringing somewhat hollow, in answer to the 1 -0, 1 - 0, 1- 0..........Thoroughly enjoyed the trudge back to the train, which was parked in some god forsaken marshalling yard off the east Coast Mainline after that.

 

[Hazwaz]

Plymouth away in the 90s not knowing if game was on due to snow/frost and before mobiles .So we stopped to find phone boxes on the way to ring the clubs.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

What about Cambridge away in the 90s? Listening to the Grand National whilst in the middle of a hailstorm at Half Time. Crumplin scored with his hand if I remember correctly. Also Fulham away in the Mickey Mouse Cup. Think there were about 60 of us - Ray Wilkins was there for some reason. Kingstonian, Sudbury and Canvey Island. Scunthorpe and Halifax away.

At times I am thankful I don't have the time to go to away games any more!

 

[Mancgull]

The only outright mental thing i can recall was deciding to go to Blackpool midweek in the middle of a petrol strike in a ford cortina mk2 , as a postman for whatever reason we were deemed essential workers so could fill up opposite the sussex county with petrol , made it there ok no worries , think we got back on the thursday afternoon , ahhhhhh the impetuosity of youth .

I remember that one. Great Gary Hart goal to make it 2-0. Had to get the train back to Manchester as ran so low on petrol.

 

[big nuts]

In no particular order

- Attended 20 out of 23 away games in the 96/97 season, missing the only win 3-2 away at Hartlepool
- Swansea on a Friday night - Ross Johnson scoring his only two ever goals for the Albion in a 2-2 draw
- Hull away on a Tuesday and Friday
- Losing 0-3 to Rochdale 96/97 but at least we stopped Bellotti getting onto the team coach
- Arriving at Halifax midweek to be told the game was off an hour before kick off on a Tuesday night
- Scunthorpe midweek and lost under Micky Adams
- Seen a few mentions of the Darlington game when Ormerod was in goal. A friend of mine chartered a helicopter for that game so that sticks in the memory
- Blackpool away Tuesday night during the fuel shortage
- Carlisle away twice - Remember Warren Aspinall scoring in a 1-0 victory
- Enjoyed several visits to Focus DIY stores en route to away games. Loved filling up a trolly with loads of fiddly screws etc and when payment was asked I was produce a home made Focus Dis-Loyalty card
- Finally I've been to Mellor twice to visit Archer. First time Wigan away but the second one was when 3 of us went to Blackburn Vs Leicester on a Sunday, Emile Heskey scored a hatrick in a 4-4 draw and afterwards we went to his house. We went to a local pub only to be moved on by the police

 

[supergeorge]

My son can now say "Hull away on a Tuesday night" probably one if the better 0-0 draws he is likely to see though.

 

[kevo]

I haven't lived locally for 35 years, yet have been to probably 80-90% of home games and been a season ticket holder for most of that time.

I currently live in London and work nights. So for most afternoon home games this means I only get about two hours kip after an 8-hour graveyard shift (it can be bloody hard to force yourself to get up after just two hours sleep and get on a train, believe me!)

Other than that, in terms of games I went to Macclesfield away which we found out was postponed only after arriving at the ground. Generally though, I think anyone who sat in the open stands at Withdean in the pouring rain or travelled regularly to Gillingham, has earnt their stripes!

In terms of 'the Archer and Bellotti years', among other stuff, I came up with the suggestion for the Mansfield boycott.

 

[Gazwag]

- Finally I've been to Mellor twice to visit Archer. First time Wigan away but the second one was when 3 of us went to Blackburn Vs Leicester on a Sunday, Emile Heskey scored a hatrick in a 4-4 draw and afterwards we went to his house. We went to a local pub only to be moved on by the police

You went to Heskey's house, wow

 

[The Orange Seagull]

What about Cambridge away in the 90s? Listening to the Grand National whilst in the middle of a hailstorm at Half Time. Crumplin scored with his hand if I remember correctly. Also Fulham away in the Mickey Mouse Cup. Think there were about 60 of us - Ray Wilkins was there for some reason. Kingstonian, Sudbury and Canvey Island. Scunthorpe and Halifax away.

At times I am thankful I don't have the time to go to away games any more!

I think i may have been one of the 60 at that Fulham game. Was it around the early/ mid nineties and the game where we got beat 4-1 and it p*issed it down with rain the whole game? Thoroughly miserable experience! I was also at the Canvey Island game - freezing cold and played on a pitch resembling a windswept local dogwalkers/playing field, in the middle of nowhere, and as for the Kingstonian one the only highlight of that day was visiting the nearby Robert Peel strip pub for a pre-match drink.