| 50 years on - 16/12/17 07:54 - Dec 12 with 2450 views | EllDale |
Please indulge me for a while but I’m celebrating 50 years of being a “serious” Dale fan this weekend.
I’d been to games with my dad in the early 1960’s like the League Cup run in 1962 and when we had a sniff of promotion in 1964 but he was a Hornets fan and not really interested. I suppose I was a classic young “bandwaggoner”.
Friday afternoon’s at St Wilfrid’s included double French and Colin Smith (as he then was) spent most of the period telling me about how good Dale were and what I was missing out on.
And so I went to Dale versus Newport County on Saturday December 16th 1967 and was instantly hooked!
We won 4-3 after being 3-1 behind at one stage (I think). It was freezing and there were less than 2000 on the ground but it was mint.
But Colin let me down on two counts.
He said that Dale had Division Four’s top scorer in Reg Jenkins but the big feller played at centrehalf that afternoon. In fact that season he struggled to get into double figures in terms of goals and Joe Fletcher finished as leading scorer. I think that two guys called Brian Eastham and Ken Bracewell, both ex Toronto, had been playing in defence but we had been leaking goals and had been dicked big style at Tranmere in the cup the previous week. It must have been the central defence that was the problem because the two fullbacks were pretty good — Vic Cockcroft and Laurie Calloway.
He had also said that Dale had the best goalkeeper in the division in Les Green but he didn’t play and Bob Williamson did. Green wasn’t the biggest but certainly athletic and we sold him to Derby at the end of the season.
Other players I remember are Steve Melledew who was charging around energetically in midfield and Graham Smith who played alongside Reg in the backfour but didn’t look big enough to compete there.
If you had told me that evening that in later years I would see Dale at Wembley and witness three promotions I would have laughed in your face!
Thanks for the memories!
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| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 08:33 - Dec 12 with 2410 views | chalkyncfc |
50 years supporting Dale is something to be proud of,football is like a marriage, once you fall in love you are in it through the good times and the bad,the thick and thin,the heartbreak and the tears with relegations,the joy and tears of promotions and underdog cup wins,here's to the years to come,well done Elldale  | | | |
| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 12:03 - Dec 12 with 2296 views | D_Alien |
Good post EllDale
Like you, my Dale 'career' started with a fixture around Christmas, two years earlier in 1965 (a 5-0 win featuring a Reg thunderbolt) which became a career for life. One promotion in all that time would've been pretty rubbish, till the past ten years! |  |
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| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 12:46 - Dec 12 with 2269 views | mingthemerciless |
Bloody hell, double French ! That'd be my worst nightmare. I hated languages and I'm not much better now.
I started in 1962 I think, we played Crewe on a snow covered pitch and won 2-0. Dale's star men were the No 4 and the No 11, Peter Phoenix was a class act out on the left wing. Shortly after he was sold to Oldham.
I really enjoyed the game and I became a fan although I didn't go to lots of games mainly because I was playing youth football at first and then men's football.
I've seen some really good players at the Dale over the years. Too many to mention here. The 1969 promotion team is still my favourite team although I haven't seen any of the recent sides. They played great passing football and some of my greatest football memories are from that time.
I went the other way from you. I was football daft but a pal of mine dragged me up to the Athletic Grounds to watch a Hornets game. I was instantly hooked. After that I watched both teams for many years especially when Hornets played on Sunday's and I could fit in two matches at the weekends.
I drifted away from regular Dale watching when my wife got a job were she had to work Saturday afternoons and I had to look after the kids. I could still go to the Rugby on Sunday's though.
I never really fell out with the Dale but I must admit I no longer have anything like the enthusiasm for football that I once did.
If you'd have told me even ten years ago that England would be playing on the TV and I couldn't be bothered to turn the TV on or I would no longer watch MOTD I would have thought you were mad ! | | | |
| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 16:30 - Dec 12 with 2133 views | BillyRudd |
| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 12:46 - Dec 12 by mingthemerciless |
Bloody hell, double French ! That'd be my worst nightmare. I hated languages and I'm not much better now.
I started in 1962 I think, we played Crewe on a snow covered pitch and won 2-0. Dale's star men were the No 4 and the No 11, Peter Phoenix was a class act out on the left wing. Shortly after he was sold to Oldham.
I really enjoyed the game and I became a fan although I didn't go to lots of games mainly because I was playing youth football at first and then men's football.
I've seen some really good players at the Dale over the years. Too many to mention here. The 1969 promotion team is still my favourite team although I haven't seen any of the recent sides. They played great passing football and some of my greatest football memories are from that time.
I went the other way from you. I was football daft but a pal of mine dragged me up to the Athletic Grounds to watch a Hornets game. I was instantly hooked. After that I watched both teams for many years especially when Hornets played on Sunday's and I could fit in two matches at the weekends.
I drifted away from regular Dale watching when my wife got a job were she had to work Saturday afternoons and I had to look after the kids. I could still go to the Rugby on Sunday's though.
I never really fell out with the Dale but I must admit I no longer have anything like the enthusiasm for football that I once did.
If you'd have told me even ten years ago that England would be playing on the TV and I couldn't be bothered to turn the TV on or I would no longer watch MOTD I would have thought you were mad ! |
Good post EllDale, enjoyed reading that.
Regarding the MOTD and England comment Ming, I too no longer watch them (other than actual tournament matches) I don,t know if its an age thing as quite a few of my generation, of my acquaintance are the same. Perhaps its the complete lack of characters in the game, which makes all the analytical waffle just so monotonous? Any young ones have a view? | | | |
| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 17:14 - Dec 12 with 2094 views | D_Alien |
| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 16:30 - Dec 12 by BillyRudd |
Good post EllDale, enjoyed reading that.
Regarding the MOTD and England comment Ming, I too no longer watch them (other than actual tournament matches) I don,t know if its an age thing as quite a few of my generation, of my acquaintance are the same. Perhaps its the complete lack of characters in the game, which makes all the analytical waffle just so monotonous? Any young ones have a view? |
Not a young one, but I agree about the waffle and other rubbish that accompanies football on TV. Still watch MOTD but record it and skip through everything apart from the action and a very occasional manager interview if summat's happened worth listening to
Particularly annoying are the 20-30 seconds regularly wasted telling viewers what's coming up next. Just get on with it ffs! | |
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| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 17:39 - Dec 12 with 2068 views | chalkyncfc |
I haven't watched MOTD for years but regularly watch Football On 5 on a Saturday night,how much coverage does Rochdale get in the local media,our local rag is Forest dominated and we could win away 0-4 and the headlines and a four page pullout would be about Forests 0-0 draw at home | | | |
| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 17:39 - Dec 12 with 2068 views | rochdale_ranger |
| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 16:30 - Dec 12 by BillyRudd |
Good post EllDale, enjoyed reading that.
Regarding the MOTD and England comment Ming, I too no longer watch them (other than actual tournament matches) I don,t know if its an age thing as quite a few of my generation, of my acquaintance are the same. Perhaps its the complete lack of characters in the game, which makes all the analytical waffle just so monotonous? Any young ones have a view? |
Pretty much of the same opinion. Far too much hype in the build up to games. Sundays Derby day on Sky sports was billed as something that was going to be explosive and exciting, the reality was they showed two tight and dull games. I'll never understand my Utd, City and Liverpool supporting mates who get so wound up and passionate with each other when arguing about their respective teams it's not as though they even go to the games. |  | | |
| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 07:50 - Dec 14 with 1774 views | EllDale |
I agree entirely with all your comments.
I don't watch England play these days on the television because half of them don't look interested.
I have to laugh every Saturday night as well just before the news on BBC1 when Lineker comes on the plug "Match of the Day".
There's a bad game is there? The bloke must have the biggest stock of superlatives in the world.
Call me a reactionary dinosaur who looks through rose tinted glasses but football seemed more honest 50 years ago.
I know that, human nature being what it is, that there must have been rogues and scoundrels about, both on and off the pitch, but the footballers of that era reflected the working class community. | | | |
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| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 09:07 - Dec 14 with 1750 views | mingthemerciless |
| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 07:50 - Dec 14 by EllDale |
I agree entirely with all your comments.
I don't watch England play these days on the television because half of them don't look interested.
I have to laugh every Saturday night as well just before the news on BBC1 when Lineker comes on the plug "Match of the Day".
There's a bad game is there? The bloke must have the biggest stock of superlatives in the world.
Call me a reactionary dinosaur who looks through rose tinted glasses but football seemed more honest 50 years ago.
I know that, human nature being what it is, that there must have been rogues and scoundrels about, both on and off the pitch, but the footballers of that era reflected the working class community. |
I heard a story not long ago about Roger Byrne the Man Utd and England captain and full back who sadly died in the Munich air crash. He was getting on a very busy bus to go to Old Trafford one day. It was in the days of 5 standing down stairs only. He was the 6 th so the conductor asked him to get off the bus. So he did.
Can you imagine that today ? | | | |
| 50 years on - 16/12/17 on 17:22 - Dec 14 with 1664 views | EllDale |
At one time Colin Parry regularly used to get the bus to training from Stockport.
He was over the moon when we signed Alf Arrowsmith and his mini so that he could cadge a lift.
Mind you, there wouldn't have been much room for anyone else in the car with those two in it. | | | |
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