When was the exact moment you became a Swans fan (if you can remember). Tell us the whole story....especially interested in the International contingent's response.
Plymouth Argyle game, sat in the double decker stand with my sister. Got hooked straight away, been following them ever since and I fcuking loves it.
My First season ticket was in the old double decker ! Two rows from the front and 4 in from the aisle on the right !
The hull game. Went a few times with my uncle when I was younger and once or twice with my mates when I was like 11 or 12. But the season of the hull game (when I was 13) was when I started going a bit more frequently. Even though we were pretty gash I loved it! Went to more or less every game since that season right up to when we hit the prem - now I can't get tickets! In the 10 years I've supported religiously, I've only ever experienced success... Which I'm sure is something most people here can't say we've won 3 promotions, a welsh cup, LDV vans trophy and the league cup. What a wonderful decade.
I used to be a west ham fan as my dad is from east London. And when I visited him every school holiday he would take me to the games, but when I left school and got a job in swansea my colleagues at the time was all going to the last game at the vetch and decided I would go. As from then I fell in love with swansea city and been going as often as I can from then on! Now I really don't care for any other team only Swansea!
I've been on the exact same journey as you Went every now and then with mates age 12-16 but never considered myself as a fan. 21-23 started going much more frequent mainly due to a mate who was particularly fervent. Then I went to Australia for a year and checked in regular on the BBC site to see how the Swans were doing and it was the season of the Hull game. The weeks leading up to the end of the season I started thinking about how much I'd miss not being able to go if we went down and folded...was beating myself up for not going more regular and spending some money in the club shop. Got a mate to buy a Swans top and send it out to Oz for me. The weekend of the Hull game I was stuck on an island off the coast of Australia with no internet available and no mobile phone coverage with a load of yanks and some Geordies...in my Swans top, ****ting myself. I realised I was a Swans fan. I promised myself that if we survived I'd not take Swansea City for granted and I've been a die hard fan ever since. Like you I've only known (since I really cared) year on year improvement. Feels great doesn't it! At the Vetch the only game I didn't watch from the North Bank was the last one. Downstairs in the double decker behind the goal....their keeper didn't have take some **** that day
!961 ish its so far back and thousands of games away that i cant remember exactly who we played. I do remember the arsenal game with 32,000 + at the game as i was with my dad who introduced me to football (we never played football in school it was rugby and cricket only) I ended up a good rugby player for my school,penclawdd, royal navy and combined services, i have played at twickenham for the RN against the RAF and Army but never got to play any international sides which i'm gutted about. The swans became an obsession with me and i started to sell programmes just so i could watch the game for free. During my time in the RN i obviously could not go so much but i always got a programme sent out to me where ever i was in the world. during the latter years i became a season ticket holder and i started to do voluntary work down the vetch and i would do absolutely anything from sweeping the terraces to painting anything that did not move, I did that for a number of years and finished in the first year at the liberty. I still go down from time to time to see the lads and i still have good discussions with huw who is a gentleman and a friend. He likes his pint also.....
First game 60 years ago my dad took me upstairs in the double decker only 9 years old-daunting experience climbing those wooden stairs.When a bit older allowed to go on the North Bank -no cover on the bank ,got a right soaking when it rained!First away game aged about 15 Eastville Bristol Rovers 4 all draw think Lenny Allchurch scored a hat -trick
Swansea v rhyl fa cup round 3 january 71 in the north bank, 6-1 to the swans been a fan ever since, i thought you were asking when i bought my first guitar for a minute
My first visit to the Vetch was the 1966/67 season went with my best mate from School in Neath and we stood at the back of the North Bank (behind the East end tunnel) on the angle iron supports and kicked hell out of the corrugated iron sheets when we scored. Cant recall the first game but loads of memories - brief excursions to the East bank and the top of the Double Decker. I was at the Swans v Arsenal FA cup game in 1968 after queuing for hours for a ticket but didnt see much of the game as it was packed solid over 32,000 in the Vetch and to see anything we sat on the top of the fence behind the floodlights in the North East corner, The one game that stands out in my memory was 2 years later - our away FA cup tie in Jan 1970 to the then mighty Leeds Utd. Dai Gwyther put us 1-0 up and we were more than holding our own but on the hour mark a game changing moment when Mel Nurse got sent off for flattening Allan Clarke and our 10 men couldnt hold out Johnny Giles scored a penalty and Mick Jones got the winner - I was devastated I remember that Leeds has signed Allan Clarke that summer for a British record fee of £165,000 - how times have changed!. The good news was that we got promoted to the 3rd Div that season - onwards and upwards!
30th December 1978 Division 3. Downstairs in the double decker v Blackpool. We won 1-0 and I missed the goal as I was blowing into my hands to warm them as a wee 8 year old.
On Xmas leave with my (then mate) On the North bank with the game under lights, magical 1974 .boxing day v Shrewsbury , lost 1-4 ? but I've backed a winner ever since .
I was originally taken to see the Swans by my father, a Swansea Lad from Pentre-chwyth, his house of birth, had it been standing today, would have had a grand view of the Liberty Stadium, but the reason he first took me to the Vetch was to see Ivor Allchurch, all I remember are the wooden steps and seats of the South Stand, it was 1964/65 and I don't remember much as a lad of the games, being just 9 year old, but I do remember the large crowds the muddy pitch, and it wasn't until the mid 1970's that I started to go as a teenager with some mates on a regular basis, they were tough times for our team, propping up the old third division, I think we got relegated in 1973 to the old fourth Division, it all was a very negative and frustrating time, and we were always selling our best players, but then in 1978 John Toshack came and lifted our spirits, and he got us on the move up the League, and boy what a journey he took us on, in 1979 I got married, and continued watching the Swans with my father in-law, and Brother in-law, many away trips, most notably the Preston North end away game in 1981, where we beat PNE 3-1 to go up to the old 1st Division, by this time it was like a magical dream, away trips to all the famous grounds, Old Traford watching Alan Curtis do his stuff, and Bob Latchford, couldn't get into the Liverpool game, because of the poor allocation of tickets, so we sneaked into the Kop end, and mixed it with the skinhead scousers of the day, keeping our traps shut when Swansea scored, remember being chased out of Blackpool, by gangs of Sunderland supporters, who'd come down looking for trouble, when we played pool. I could also go on about the Kairdiff lot in the welsh cups, when they would come down and smash up Oxford street, man the police really had their job cut out with those idiots. Before games always remember trying to get a pint in the Singleton just before going into the North bank. Would I trade those days for today, well it's a difficult one, but I don't think I would, because what we have today, is built on a firmer foundation, and the club is run the right way, how different that is to previous administrations of our club though. I cannot begin to express the joy I've had since moving into the Liberty stadium, taking my oldest week after week, year after year, it's been so magical, and the rise so solid, that at last we have a club, we can rightly be proud and confident of, and surely we want to treasure this for future generations, long may the Swans stay at the forefront of the beautiful game, as they truly deserve it now. Sorry for rambling on!...................
Lived around the corner from the Vetch and as a kid used to hang around outside the gates - stewards used to let me and my bro in toward the end of the second half (couldn't afford to buy a ticket as our pocket money wouldn't stretch that far - Mum would have bought tickets for us, but being a one parent family we would never ask as we knew she couldn't really afford it - and not fishing for sympathy, we had a brilliant childhood, but knew how to live within our means!) Can't remember the first game we watched in its entirety, but remember the thrill at being able to buy a ticket and watch a game from the start! When the Vetch was replaced by the Liberty we used to buy tickets in different parts of the ground before deciding the West stand wasn't for us (too quiet) but used to enjoy purchasing tickets for different seats each game - invested in our first season tickets 6 years ago and have never looked back - brilliant seats just to the left of halfway! Have to say that a season ticket for the Swans is the best value entertainment - would happily pay double the £400+ for a season watching the quality sport that has been served up to us the last few years! Favourite game? The Nottingham Forest play off semi final - the Liberty was absolutely rocking, best atmosphere I have ever experienced and the east stand was bouncing - when Pratley's half way shot went in I thought the stadium was gonna explode!!!
Thakyou all for sharing. It reminds me so much of my own way into supporting FC København, Watching games as a child in the early 1980's, living away from my hometown, and by coincidence suddenly being propelled back... My friends and I were big Mcihael Laudrup Fans --> during his last professional year in Ajax, I lived in Utrecht near Amsterdam and actually saw ML play quite a few matches: He'd play the LW position cutting inside like you see fx Eden Hazard do. I was following his managerial career too, taught myself to read a bit of spanish on Getafe/Mallorcas net - didn't read Russian though ... I had heard of Swansea before because of Mølbys (not very successful?) time here, but in reality looking at the map and finding out where Swansea actually was --> after beating QPR in the opening game last season. Did my research, wiki, lost boyos blogs, youtube and some of scotswans writings too. Was admittedly facinated. Somehow I Got hooked to this forum during the Winter some time. And now off to my FIRST Swansea game on thursday!
