Half Time at Hereford

[Barry Izbak]

I just read the additional chapters in the newer version of Build a Bonfire by [MENTION=222]Southy[/MENTION]
What an emotional read that is.
I am not posting this in a "pull yourselves together yesterday wasn't so bad in the greater scheme of things" sort of way.
But if you haven't read this extraordinary book, I think you can read the thread here (if I have added the link from Gold successfully)

https://nortr3nixy.nimpr.uk/showthread.php?160-Half-Time-at-Hereford

God Bless Robbie Reinelt

 

[Working class pride]

Even if Brighton ever did get a half decent top flight side one day and say managed to add an FA Cup to our 1910 England Champions Charity Shield then it still wouldn't come close to Hereford away. The worst of times and the best of times.

 

[supaseagull]

Even if Brighton ever did get a half decent top flight side one day and say managed to add an FA Cup to our 1910 England Champions Charity Shield then it still wouldn't come close to Hereford away. The worst of times and the best of times.

Agree it was nothing like I've ever experienced before and whilst some times like buckleys goals v Donny will be fond memories, that game was just different. We had so much riding on the game and in those days relegation to non league would have killed the club.

 

[Working class pride]

Agree it was nothing like I've ever experienced before and whilst some times like buckleys goals v Donny will be fond memories, that game was just different. We had so much riding on the game and in those days relegation to non league would have killed the club.

For me it was what had gone on before rather than what dropping out o the league would have meant. The decline of the club since 1983, the gradual closure of many Albion families traditional terrace (The East terrace), then Archer Stanley and Bellotti, the sale of the Soldstone being broken by our fanzine and then the Argus getting there, all for debts that were nothing compared to the value of the ground. The protests, York City, BISA, fireworks, walk outs, walk ins, Fans United, the Orient game at home, 10 points adrift, the mediation takeover talks and after all that, 1-0 down at half time with Gillingham gorund share playing non league football 45 minutes away. Stevie Grit is a proper Albion legend. Is he on the "Legends Wall" or is he like Charlie Webb strangely missing .

 

[Phat Baz 68]

I was on the verge of spewing and crying my eyes out when Robbie Reinelt scored,
being behind that goal was the most emotional day of my life when that goal went in.
It was eerie as hell for a split micro second, everyones head turned to the linesman to make sure the flag hadn't gone up, and then BOOOOM !!! The loudest noise I have ever heard at a football match.
The only other times i have ever experienced that much emotion at an Albion game was at Highbury during the Semi final V Sheff Weds as a 15 year old in 1983 and at the 1st Final at Wembley.
Seeing my team, little old Brighton from East Sussex walking out onto the hallowed turf, was a schoolboys dream.
On the way there it was incredible seeing locals hanging anything blue and white they could get their hands on out of their windows, signs up in some shops saying good luck Brighton.
The underdog truly caught the imagination that particular year.
One newspaper quoted cant remember which but it said something like " don't be surprised if you see kiss me quick ribbons tied to this cup after 90 minutes on Saturday "
Absolutely incredible all three times and i am proud to say as Brighton fan I was there.

 

[studio150]

The biggest rollercoaster ride of all time from the nadir at half time to the joy at full time. The ecstasy at full time meant that I was still buzzing days later.

If you didnt experience that words dont really fully explain the mood swing.

Im just thankful that we never had to experience the reverse of this as the Hereford fans did.

 

[nicko31]

The 2nd half was expensive had radio Sussex on the. Line to Australia, I couldt sleep afterwards was ecstatic

 

[dejavuatbtn]

It must have been as near to the feeling of dying as the real thing. I have never experienced such a feeling of complete isolation despite being in the middle of the crowd behind the goal. You could have heard a pin drop.

 

[Mackenzie]

I was so envious of you guys in the terrace behind the goal, I was sat in the seats with the Hereford fans, I couldn't really celebrate until I left the ground. Having all that emotion bottled up inside was something else. Looking at what has happened to Hereford since, it makes you wonder where we would be today had Reinelt missed!

 

[jimhigham]

Every now and then I dip into that thread and read it again and I think I know why. It's more than simply nostalgia. That moment when Reinelt tucked home the equaliser is almost certainly the single most condensed episode of joy I have ever experienced. There are all sorts of joyous occasions in life: marriages, births, holidays, shared laughter and so on. All of these take some sort of time to unfold. Reinelt's goal simply happened. One second we were desolate, the next we had been granted our death row reprieve and the next we realised that the reprieve could be rescinded in an instant. Our survival was that fragile. That instant when the net rippled was like a black hole of elation. For an instant, nothing could escape it. Strangers hugged and screamed and cheered and cried together. You simply had to be there to know.

Yet the fact remains that those of us there are relatively tiny in number. Even yards away, on the other side of the Edgar Street outer walls, life went on regardless. Even when my friend and I got back to Brighton that evening, still sober and desperate to party, much of the town seemed nonplussed and happier about our Eurovision win. I crave the opportunity to relive the goal but only a handful of people can ever understand what it meant. Most of them frequent this forum.

I will probably never experience another moment like that again. While I am so thrilled that I had that instant a part of me yearns to have another just like it. The very fact that these moments are once in a lifetime experiences is what makes them so defining. This is why I read the Half Time at Hereford thread again and again. It is my one forum for reliving it and, reading the comments of others, sharing in it one more time.

Cheers to you all. As Atilla said... we were there!

 

[pasty]

I am pretty certain that in all matches I attend until the day I die, nothing, nothing will ever come close to that day. The roller coaster of emotions in the course of 90 minutes was something else. From total and utter despair when Kerry Mayo scored the o.g. to complete unadulterated joyous mental bananas when Robbie equalised. Never experienced anything like it before, and to be honest, I hope I never do again.

Due to a nightmare journey home involving incredible amounts of alcohol, a broken down minibus and a very expensive taxi back to Brighton from Reading services on the M4, I didn't get back to Brighton until something like 7am the next day. Completely shattered yet still willing to celebrate and party.

The greatest, yet at the same time most horrific day an Albion fan could ever imagine.

Please. Please, never again.

 

[catfish]

I saw Geoff Clark at Hereford - I went up to him and asked him if he was still up Archer's arse. He laughed in my face and walked away.

 

[colinz]

Although I have to admit to being a bit of a fair weather Albion fan.

I can remember following (from afar) the 96/97 season and thinking, they must have a terrible team & wondering if the Albion were going to end up a none league team.

But what I find more unbelievable than the great escape act of 96/97 is how did the Albion survive the Gillingham years without, finishing bottom of the league.
Gates of 2,000 with minimal income streams etc. to attract players.

PS anyone know of a site where I can read Build a Bonfire on line.

 

[Rodney Thomas]

It's the only time I have ever cried at a football game and it always brings me close to tears whenever I read about it.

 

[The Albion Roar]

It was the sheer terror of knowing that if we lost, there was a reasonably high probablity of the club closing.

I had no doubt as to the nature of Dick Knight's tenacity to make sure that didn't happen, but it still would have been almost impossible to sustain a Conference club who were going to be playing 75 miles away. I feared too many people would just fall by the wayside. I hoped we would be OK, and I assumed there would be many people prepared to dig in, but it would have been far, far harder than it ultimately was.

I feared less at the end of the next season, even though we were worse. Doncaster Rovers' even bigger mess - and the behaviour of their chairman - saved us, but by then the wheels were in motion for us to get back to Brighton. A momentum was building, and still being in the Football League helped us considerably. Being in the Conference could well have screwed us.

So it's imperative on this generation, especially those who were there, to make sure this story is told to future generations, and never forgotten.

And never repeated.

 

[KNC]

Although I have to admit to being a bit of a fair weather Albion fan.

I can remember following (from afar) the 96/97 season and thinking, they must have a terrible team & wondering if the Albion were going to end up a none league team.

But what I find more unbelievable than the great escape act of 96/97 is how did the Albion survive the Gillingham years without, finishing bottom of the league.
Gates of 2,000 with minimal income streams etc. to attract players.

PS anyone know of a site where I can read Build a Bonfire on line.

http://www.tslr.bigcartel.com/product/build-a-bonfire

Worth every penny

 

[darkwolf666]

It's the only time I have ever cried at a football game and it always brings me close to tears whenever I read about it.

Just watched this on Youtube - sitting in the office with tears welling up in my eyes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwCzfZ7g0ZQ

 

[knocky1]

I got a nice pair of Brooks Cascadia in TK Maxx last week.......

 

[Rodney Thomas]

Just watched this on Youtube - sitting in the office with tears welling up in my eyes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwCzfZ7g0ZQ

I did watched this after reading the thread too. Almost lost it in the office!

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

****ing hell, that game!

I get shivers every time I see Reinelt's goal. Every. Single Time. I've never, and suspect I never will, go quite as mad over a goal as I did that one. My heart's beating faster just thinking about it. It was an excruciating day but I'm so, so glad I was there.