Well today marks the 10th anniversary of myself being a Gills fan. 10 years ago on this day, my dad took me to my first ever football match. As an 8 year old you can imagine at how excited I was, to be able to watch an actual team play. It was not just an ordinary match either, on the 25th of January 2003 we had an FA Cup 4th Round tie at home against Leeds United, a team that still contained many of their stars that played in their Champions League Semi Final team only two seasons previously. My Dad had managed to get the tickets from a mate of his and as my Dad is a Leeds fan, it posed him his first opportunity to see them so locally. By the time we arrived at the ground my excitement was through the roof, topped even further by my Dad buying me my first Gills hat, scarf and programme from the club shop. Fast forward we're in the ground sat down in our seats. Middle Block, Rainham End. One of the best views in the ground, I quickly engrossed myself in the programme trying to learn every player's name as possible. As the crowds grew larger and larger and the players were warming up I was just in sheer amazment. I had never seen so many people in one place before. I had seen football on the tele and had been to theatres, but never to the extent to be huddled up amongst 11,000 people. The atmosphere in the ground was amazing, I was starting to feel that I wanted to do this again and again and again. The match was played out, I can't remember much of it. I remember Alan Smith scoring an amazing free kick and being baffled as to why Erik Bakke kissed him on the cheek in the celebration (remember I was eight). I remember Steve Bennett being the referee and giving a red card to Mark Viduka after had elbowed Hessy in the face. When Big Mama Sidibe scored the equaliser two minutes later, the crowd went absolutely electric. This feeling of sheer jubilation I had never felt before, I was shouting as loud as I could and had probably never jumped up and down so much in my short life until then. That goal sparked a new love. My love for Gillingham FC. From then on, I would spend every day after school watching Sky Sports News to see where we were in the table or if there was any news on the club. (Much of which I still do now ) A couple of years further in the championship with me attending more games and my addiction just grew and grew. The day we got relegated from the championship I was around a member of the family's house for their birthday. As soon as I found out we were relegated I cried. Few more years of desperation and another relegation saw further disappointment for myself until the glorious Wembley day. Taking over Leicester and Trafalgar Square and also being hugged by complete strangers just for the fact we had beaten Shrewsbury was a strange but brilliant experience. I lost my voice that day. Couple of years later and here we are, me rambling on about being a Gills fan for ten years . The love for this football club that was created that day will never die. Here's to the next 10 years
TheGillsPegLeg Well done for sticking with it ! I am sure that you are aware that in 'your' first season we ended up in our highest ever league position ( 11th in the Championship ) - after that it has been too much downhill for my liking. The pity for you is that we probably had our best 10 years in the time before you started to watch the Gills - with league success and cup wins against Premier league clubs. ( is our downfall your fault ? )
Like you I cried when we got relegated as that was the first full season that I got into supporting the gills.
My greatest despair was talking my (then) 9 yr old son to his first ever Gills match. ...........V Man City at Wembley. We both cried!
