One of the highlight I remember so clearly from the Sports Mail was that column, which was always a series of bullet points, I think down the right side of the back page, with slightly cryptic questions based on current topics. I would give examples, but they'd be cheap shots at the moment. Anyone remember this? Have I got the title right? Would it be a good thread title?
Will Terry be Manager of HCAFC at the start of Pre-Season. If he is, does this mean he’s achieved what currently looks an impossible task & kept HCAFC in the Championship
When I moved away I had a subscription. It was the only way to get my fix of City news in those pre internet days.
I used to write some of them along with Mally Richardson. Example; Will British Rail be running a football special to ( insert name) next week to meet the exceptional demand ?
The Green Sports Mail was a wonderful thing. When my Dad used to take me to FER ARK after the game he'd send me off the bus to pick one up from the corner shop and nine times out of ten it was already in. Dad didn't read too well so I'd read it for him. **** that's an emotional memory.
I used to stand outside the wooden prefab shops on Wawne rd every week for it Usually arrives just around 6pm
Mam always used to complain, you've just been to the game, why do you have to read about it? I suppose she had a point but, you know... She didn't get football
I used to be down at the newsagent in Anlaby village at 6 o'clock every Saturday waiting for the Green Mail to arrive. Always excited to read Brian Taylor's match report even when I'd been at the match. Lots of good reading and local amateur results and reports. I also enjoyed the what you are wondering section.
They were there late 60's, very early 70's at the latest - as you went to the top of Honiton Road they were on your left, at the far side of Wawne Road; can't remember when they pulled them down though.
When I was a lad I used to do a paper round from Anlaby Common up to First Lane. On a Saturday I would do the normal newspaper deliveries, having got back sharpish from watch City if they were at home, then back to the shop and wait for the green mail to arrive and then take them out. Always loved reading it, and taking one home to read the match reports.
My Uncle Charlie Forrest started taking me to watch the Tigers in the late 40s. He was a type-setter at the HDM and like my Mum and I lived in Beverley. We'd travel to the games in his friend Jeff Ringrose's butchers van with me sitting in the back enjoying the meat smells. After getting back to Beverley, or if I hadn't been to the match, I'd wait outside the Green Dragon pub in the market place for the van with the Green Mail to arrive, usually by 6.30 (?) and run back to New Walk with it. Loved that paper. After I emigrated to Canada In 1963 I kept a subscription for many years. It usually arrived weeks after the game had been played, in a tight green roll, usually quite battered. I saved them for many years...an important link to Hull and home. Now I have hundreds of match programs back to the late 40's instead to remind me of those magic times.
A very similar story to yours CT, and also with John ex Aberdeen's. My maternal grandparents lived in Anlaby Common ( we lived in Hessle) and grandad started taking me to City in the mid '50s. It was a bloody long walk to B.P. for a 10 year old, but a couple of mates of grandad off Spring Gardens used to walk there & back with us, which made it a hell of a laugh 'cos they had some great stories. Dad used to take me in the sidecar of his old Norton to grans for lunch at their place. Exciting day out in all. It was my job (at around 6:00 to go to the corner newsagents to wait for the Green Sports Mail to be delivered) and bring a copy back to grandad. I'd get to read it at about 8pm after granddad had nipped out to the pub. Loved the publication - very detailed account of the action in City's game (less detail of the second half - I suppose lack of time to write too much in order to meet the tight print deadline). The coverage of the local amateur football scene was incredibly comprehensive too. Can't believe how many leagues existed in the '50's and '60's. They'd publish all the match results and updated tables of dozens of divisions/leagues. My sister's school pal's father, who lived opposite us on Beverley Road in Hessle, was the HDM official Hull City match photographer. Jack Davis if I recall correctly. His name was always published under his photos in the Green Mail . Often chatted to him to get "insider" knowledge about City as he saw the players during the week at training sessions etc. As I got older, and City were playing away, I pop over the road to the recreation ground to watch local teams Hessle Old Boys & Kingburn Athletic. My best mate (later to be my best man in Canada) played rugby for Hessle RUFC. The clubhouse at the time was Darley's pub at the roundabout on Boothferry Rd /Beverley Road junction in Hessle. It was very convenient to drop into Darley's for a couple of pints with my mate & his teammates after their rugby match. Pick up a Green Sports Mail on the way back home - hoping to avoid my mother as I was drinking underage at the time. Happy days. Edit: The above mentioned "best man" mate was round watching City at my place early yesterday morning. He looked very downhearted as he got into his car after the dissapointing result. Like you CT, when I emigrated to Canada in 72, my father collected maybe 5 or 6 Green mails & posted them to Canada in the tight rolls you mention. Indeed, often slightly shredded on arrival, but you could read between the lines. Somewhere in the house, I have a copy of the Hull City Old Boys football team, which at the time included Geoff Barmby. The mascot of the team, probably5 0r 6 at the time, was prominantly positioned sitting on the grass in front of the whole team... one Nick Barmby.
Great memories. As a kid, I read and reread it. Coverage of amateur sport was fantastic, to the point star players of locall amateur football, cricket and rugby teams were heroes in the eyes of a sport obsessed kid!
I think it would be very fitting for you to start a separate thread, and give us a few current examples Urika, was it 'what are you (or we ?) wondering?
Me too until the arrival of internet in the 90's. Used to come Tues/Wed and was the best source of City news available.
