It takes a big man to be so honest about his emotions like that. There's been an amount of coverage and support (and rightly so) for the Bradford fans caught up in the disaster, but I've heard far less about the Lincoln fans. I dread to think of how I'd feel about being there in an unfamiliar place and being unable to help no matter how willing. You sound like a credit to a good father. I once heard a talk by a psychiatrist that dealt with people who had been involved in major tragic incidents. One point he made was that those directly involved tend to be offered help, but there are many, many more 'bystanders' and he gave the example of the people traveling the opposite way during the M4 fire, that carry on with their lives with the baggage still packed up.
Imps, I take my hat off to you for having the courage to make that post. I am so glad that you have found some support from the others on this board. And thanks for posting the links to the video clips. I'm pretty sure I was watching the Bradford fire in 1985 as it happened on TV and I can perfectly understand how traumatic it must have been to be there. Hillsborough 4 years later was like deja vu, again I was watching it live on TV and I can remember thinking "Oh dear God not again". The last time I watched Saints live was the FA Cup semifinal against Liverpool at White Hart Lane in 1986. The overcrowded terraces that day scared me to death. For various reasons I haven't managed to get to a game since then but this thread has made me realise that behind all the excuses, I have simply been too scared to go. I know things are completely different safety-wise these days but it isn't the rational part of your brain that decides these things for you somehow. Phew, that took some getting out! I can only thank Imps and you other wonderful Saints fans for this fantastic thread. Oh, and one other thing. Imps, cherish every moment you can spend with your Dad. I lost mine in 1987 and I still miss him. Apart from everything else he did for me, he got me supporting the Saints.
Again thanks for the comments and glad it helps. To Chilco; I can quite understand that. I may use the distance/finance excuse quite a lot however the reality may well be that Saints are a big team and that means a lot of people I have never been to St Mary's but I have been to the Dell since both the Bradford and Hillsborough disasters. Those visits along with a tiny few sell outs at Sincil Bank were quite un-nerving but I got through them unscathed. I can remember one of my first experiences of Saints. I was quite young and in those days only the 'posh' kids parents bought replica shirts however I had a normal white cotton t-shirt with printed red pinstripes and a red/black printed saints crest. Not the shiny print it was almost a 'soak in' print. It was from the Dell Club shop and a relative had bought it for me. It was my pride and joy and I wore it every day I could until my Mum would wrestle it off my body to wash it. lol The game was at Sincil Bank. It was 1988 (had to research that) and I was now 13. The Danny Wallace / Colin Clarke era I was on the long concrete open terrace alongside the Sincil Drain with my mates. The only Saints shirt in the home section but I didn't get any bother. This was the year before Hillsborough and there was still a perimeter fence around the ground and crush barriers up the terracing. Not the full on rock solid fence like at Hillsborough. More like a slightly more rigid version of the stuff they link up around building sites etc. A few times I had my face squashed up against that but though nothing of it. I remember seeing Bananas being thrown over that fence at Danny Wallace but hadn't been exposed to Racism so I didn't know the sinister reason behind that action, just thought it was like throwing roses onto a theatre stage or something. Sheltered life and all that Picture of the terrace I was on here. Can't embed it. Think it's bee protected by java or something. http://www.redimps.co.uk/javaImages/d6/5e/0,,10440~3301078,00.jpg The ground was already in the process of demolishing the wooden stands on the opposing 3 sides to the one I was on which was the last to be done being concrete. A game I mention quite a lot on this forum was at home on the last day of the 1997-8 season. The Imps clinched promotion to the 3rd tier against of all teams Brighton. got to love the irony there. lol. We got into our usual seats (I had a season ticket for a few seasons) and when the game started the whole ground was completely chocca quite literally. All seat sat on, people were sat along the walkway at the front, people were sat up the steps. It must've been at least 1000 over capacity and this in the modern all seater era!!!!. The official attendance figures were laughable at circa 8500 as the capacity of the ground was inthe region of 12000 then. It's been reduced these days to 10000 or so however the long stand, the same one as I had watched from as an open terrace held 5700 on it's own and this was way over that. Quite scary even at the time even without knowing what I know now. A couple of other bits of research: There was a man called Martin Fletcher that at 12 years old was the only survivor from 5 of his family at the Bradford fire. He lost relatives from 3 generations - his 11 year old brother, his Dad, His Uncle and his Grandfather. He didn't find out until 2 days later when their bodies were identified. The Newspapers hounded himfor 5 years with the 'Bravest Boy in Britain' headline. That's bad enough but he was also a Forest fan and yes. He went to the fateful Hillsborough semi and witnessed that too. Not only did he go through hell once but he had to relive that hell 4 years later!!! His Guardian interview: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2005/may/11/bradford During this obsessive research which I will end after today I have also had the displeasure of reading posts on forums scum that think they are human beings and suggest to others they are football fans spitting vitriol over these events. Liverpool fans arguing with Bradford fans over which disaster was the worst, Man Utd fans saying they cheered because it made up for the Liverpool insults over Munich and such like. What all of these idiots fail to see is that they are scum and do not belong in the football community. Banter is one thing but to treat disasters as a competition or to say you did this so we can do that is absolutely disgusting. I haven't read any more comments on Youtube now because I know tht will be even worse. That makes it a joy to see that the comments in this thread (even with my opening request) are from 'real' human football fans. My Dad doesn't know yet thatI know what happened (My Mum will not stir up the past) and I plan to go up to Bradford sometime. Maybe if we meet them (one of us has to go up or down. lol) if not then just to visit the ground and I may invite my Dad. He may brush it off or he may decide to make the journey with me. And I defintely want to take the kids to Saint Marys. Next time we go down to visit the family in Winchester (My mum and Dad are the only ones that moved up Narf) I shall try and make it a football weekend too Both kids support Saints (only 5 and 6 so they may change yet) despite me buying them Lincoln Shirts and saying that they should support their local team. They saw me watching a stream late last season and said 'Daddy it's Lincoln' to which I besmirched 'Lincoln? Thats the mighty Saints and they are winning again.' They both said (in their own way) We want to support the same team as you Daddy'. They still wear their Lincoln shirts. I took them to see Lincoln v Celtic last pre season (20 months ago) but I want to buy them Saints ones. My eldest want 7-Lambert cos he's the top goalscorer, the youngest wants 20-Lallana because thats Daddy's favourite player. lol I can see some busy and expensive times coming up over the next year or 2. lol
This is very true, football is one of the most communal activities around. 25,000 people in St Mary's every game jumping around and cheering for the same thing, the same group of guys kicking a ball around a field, shows what a communal activity it is, everyone in there represents Southampton Football Club. If in doubt then just think... whenever somebody talks about the game, do they say "They played well today"? No, it's always "We played well today". The word "we" says a lot. This is one of the most thought provoking threads I've seen, good job Imps.
I did read this last night (honest) but as a wee nipper I wasn't around when this all happened and don't know much about it. All I can say is that if there was a poster of the month award, we would all be wondering if ImpsSaints would be struck by the dreaded curse.
lol. poster of the month? Ranter of the month nearly all the time is mine already Wouldn't mind poster(boy) of the month but Harley St is very expensive. lol
