I was at the Rovers v Villa 3 rd round FA cup game on Saturday the 7 th of January 1961 and Iâve just been looking at the programme for the game which cost 3 d ( just over 1 p in todayâs money ) Iâm a Stoke City supporter and me and my Dad ( a Rovers fan ) got vouchers for the cup game when we attended the Rovers v Stoke game at Eastville when we were both in the old 2 nd division. Your team that day according to the programme was Radford , Hillard , Frowen , Sykes , Pyle , Mabbutt , Petherbridge , Biggs , Bradford , Ward and Hooper. As a 13 year old footy fan I was keen to to see the Villa side which had Gerry Hitchens the England centre forward and Peter McParland the Northern Ireland left winger. I think that the game ended as a 1 â 1 draw and that you lost the replay at Villa Park. Your programme contained adverts for William Cowlin ( builders ) , Georgeâs glucose stout , Holmes Bros ( builders ) , P R Mitchell and sons ( coal merchants and general hauliers ) , Brains pies , Wems coaches , and Wyldâs Bristol Milk Sherry and Embassy Port. British Railways were also advertising a return fare of 35 shilling ( 1 pound 75 p ) for your forthcoming game at Ipswich. Good luck in your game against Villa and best wishes to you Gassers from a cold , snowy and windy north coast of Scotland.
wow this brought back some memories, excuse the invasion, doug hillard went on to run a sports shop, in eastville and then in fishponds, geoff bradford was the only rovers player to be capped by england whilst playing for rovers. dai ward was a great player, did he ever play for wales. alfie biggs was a great frequenter of pubs around the flower and veg market behind corn st. georgie petherbridge was not very tall but a great player. i of course remember mabbutt, anyone remember his 1st name. he was a big set guy who took no prisoners. and who can forget the great peter hooper who sadly died this summer. all in all a great team and thanks for the memories. i could murder a george's glucose stout right now
Not old enough for this conversation im afraid but I do know that side was a great side full of quality (if only we could have said the same since!) AJ, you sure you're not a gashead? You seem to have many a fond memories of us
after 10 years of watching gas and city you do tend to follow their ups and downs and results. by ups and downs i do not necessarily mean promo etc. it also helped that the late great bert tann was a neighbour, and colleague on various local committees in frenchay. he and i would have a bit of banter when the shrews were at eastville, but i can assure you i am not a gashead. there must be some of you out there who have memories of this great side in rhe early sixties. how nice of someone to write from the very top of scotland in snowbound dunnet and to provide these memories for those old enough to rememember the golden age of the gas. after saturday is another golden age upon us. i suspect the swindon game may provide a pointer i suppose i write more about gas than city, but i also have great memories of john atyeo, etheridge, derrick, etc.and the big names associated with the running of the city, harry dolman, robert hobbs etc. it was probably living the rovers side of bristol that gave gas the edge over city, but once a shrew always a shrew! now then chris cas they beat they swindon on saturday, we are back to the routine away at shots. i am still smarting from that plum home tie you got against villa and we have to follow michael palin halfway round the world to some godforsaken part of north east england. anyway we look forward to the 4th and 5th rounds. good luck on saturday and even more luck against the villa, better ensure your lads keep the pitch well sprinklered!!. remember in the cup no club is a tinpot especially the gas
Nice article Dunnet Head Moonraker, was way before my time but I know about all the players you have mentioned from books. Back in those days it was common for locals to go to both Eastville and Ashton Gate on alternate weekends but still have a loyaity to one or other of the clubs. My own Grandfather, a staunch Rovers supporter, was a regular back in those days and was probably at the very game you mention. I'm sure Wizered will remember it well too as he most likely took his grandchildren to that game
I'm sure the Mabbutt mentioned would have been "Ray" - the father of Gary and .... the other one who player for the reds (soz forgot his name!) He was a small fellow tho if I remember rightly - only just over 5 foot tall, stocky with dark hair. I was only about 4 and a half when this game was played so it was a bit before my time - I think my first game would have been around 65/66 season - Ray Mabbutt was still around then as I recall.
Kevin Mabbutt Just as Liverpool and Leeds fans can rattle off their teams of the great eras, that is team which Rovers fans of a certain vintage recall without pausing.
