| Do you remember the days 12:28 - Dec 18 with 14242 views | swancity |
When there were just 3000 fans dotted around the Vetch Field?
When Prosser used to wheel up and down the track along the South Stand making funny faces
When away trips to places like Rochdale, Hartlepool, Cambridge and Chesterfield were to be cherished
When you were ankle deep in piss in the North Bank toilets
When you knew at the games you were surrounded by genuine fans of the football club and not people with a passing interest who have jumped onto a bandwagon
Where you could smoke a cigarette if you wanted one
When the pasties were lovely and the tea like hot water
When you could pay cash at a turnstile to go in.
When Robbie James would stride purposefully from the halfway line before unleashing a thunderbolt
When the players were not vastly over paid. Really can any footballer be worth a salary of a cool £1m a month? Or even £1m a year.
Our story has indeed been an incredible one....but there was also something special about supporting our Swans through the bad times as well. The FA cup draw at Oxford brought back some good memories of standing on the terrace behind the goal at Oxford when I think we beat them on pens?
Good old days....
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| Do you remember the days on 08:54 - Dec 19 with 1982 views | bonymine |
Remember one night game and the beer was shit as usual in the plastic I said to my mate on the North Bank 'Do you fancy a bottle of Bud?'.
He said something along the lines of 'What the f*ck are you on about you tw*t?' Whereupon I said 'Leave it to me I'll be back now'.
Down to the steward on the big North Bank gates I said to him 'I've left my asthma pump in the car mate can I go out & get it?'.
'No problem mate' came the reply.
Out I went straight into the Gari ordered 2 bottles of Bud from Philly James then stuffed each partly opened bottle into my jeans pockets covered over with my jacket and back to the North Bank gates.
The steward duly let me back in as promised and the look on my mate's face was a picture when I showed up next to him back on the North Bank with the game in full flow and simply said 'Cheers!'.
Good Old Days 😉 [Post edited 19 Dec 2015 8:55]
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| Do you remember the days on 10:22 - Dec 19 with 1944 views | hydraulicjack |
Best times ever! I will never forget 2 home games in a row 4.0 down to Rotherham and drew 4.4
And 3.0 down to tranmere and won 4.3
Fantastic times and brilliant away days |  |
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| Do you remember the days on 10:32 - Dec 19 with 1931 views | monmouth |
| Do you remember the days on 10:22 - Dec 19 by hydraulicjack |
Best times ever! I will never forget 2 home games in a row 4.0 down to Rotherham and drew 4.4
And 3.0 down to tranmere and won 4.3
Fantastic times and brilliant away days |
4-1 and 3-1 down wasn't it :)
Can't remember last week but I can remember those games. I stood in the enclosure with the Away fans for Tranny as I liked chatting to them.
Would probably get my head pulled off and shoved up my exhaust if I tried that now. Learned my lesson with the christmas Swindon game that year when I nearly did. Luckily Swindon won that game otherwise I might have been hanging from the floodlights. |  |
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| Do you remember the days on 10:36 - Dec 19 with 1924 views | Jackanapes |
Someone mentioned the Tottenham game when Tommy poleaxed Ardiles. That game is etched into my memory. Beautiful August evening. Utter excitement. |  |
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“The stupidest thing she knew was for people to act like they knew all about the things they knew absolutely nothing about.†|
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| Do you remember the days on 10:56 - Dec 19 with 1913 views | TNT |
Remember being in the stand at Onion Park for one of the games when we were banned. I was with my boss' old man (yeah, one of them), who was hard of hearing. As the players lined up for ko, he asked me who The Swansea no. 10 was, and I quietly informed him that it was John Cornforth. He said,'Who?', I said,'John Cornforth'... yeah, you've guessed it... he said 'Who?', I said 'JOHN CORNFORTH'. I'd been rumbled. You can imagine the grief I had for 90 minutes, especially as we were banned and weren't meant to be near the place in the eyes of stewards / old bill. Not so much happy days as let's say memorable days. | |
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| Do you remember the days on 11:19 - Dec 19 with 1908 views | Highjack |
I also used to like the bog rolls being thrown as streamers from the back of the north bank as the players entered the pitch. It was our cheap version of the fireworks they have in galatasaray and Besiktas. |  |
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| Do you remember the days on 22:31 - Jan 23 with 1502 views | bonymine |
| Do you remember the days on 08:54 - Dec 19 by bonymine |
Remember one night game and the beer was shit as usual in the plastic I said to my mate on the North Bank 'Do you fancy a bottle of Bud?'.
He said something along the lines of 'What the f*ck are you on about you tw*t?' Whereupon I said 'Leave it to me I'll be back now'.
Down to the steward on the big North Bank gates I said to him 'I've left my asthma pump in the car mate can I go out & get it?'.
'No problem mate' came the reply.
Out I went straight into the Gari ordered 2 bottles of Bud from Philly James then stuffed each partly opened bottle into my jeans pockets covered over with my jacket and back to the North Bank gates.
The steward duly let me back in as promised and the look on my mate's face was a picture when I showed up next to him back on the North Bank with the game in full flow and simply said 'Cheers!'.
Good Old Days 😉 [Post edited 19 Dec 2015 8:55]
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Happy Days lads indeed .....the Gari was awesome under John the Bank and Philly James ....
Never recreate days like that again unfortunately .
STID. Together Stronger 💪💪💪 | |
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| Do you remember the days on 22:52 - Jan 23 with 1453 views | Robbie |
Len Allchurch bombing down the wing in front of the North Bank , crossing to
Herbie Williams who was a real old school centre forward .
Fond memories of upper tier of the Double Decker too . | | | |
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| Do you remember the days on 22:57 - Jan 23 with 1444 views | WarwickHunt |
| Do you remember the days on 22:52 - Jan 23 by Robbie |
Len Allchurch bombing down the wing in front of the North Bank , crossing to
Herbie Williams who was a real old school centre forward .
Fond memories of upper tier of the Double Decker too . |
Herbie wasn't a centre-forward! |  | | |
| Do you remember the days on 23:06 - Jan 23 with 1428 views | headcleaner |
for the first time, I can remember at the liberty walking up the steps to the concourse with the floodlights and getting a bit emotional thinking it wasn't like walking up the slope to MY Spot on the North Bank. We often talk about the times when we gave the lino hell when he ran our side and eyeballing someone in the away end was always a bit of fun. drinking cider in the rain behind the bank and regardless of there being 10 or 100 people in the queue it always took almost all of halftime to get served - pi$$ing by the green wheelie bins then back in for the second half.
It was only the last few years that it was fairly busy there were many times we joked about taking in an inflatable armchair due to it being so sparse. I still sit by the same half a dozen people who stood side by side for several decades and say hello to faces from the old north bank days and away games be it ugo or T.I.T.s or train on an overnight we might not have had as good a team as we've had at times over the last decade but we had a better laugh and it was a day out and a night out.
Corny - Smudger - getting Matthew Rush on load those were the good times as well as seeing players like Coleman and Pascoe going on to bigger things were as good as it got. It was never fun going to Stockport season after season and getting thumped by 5 and wondering what lumbering oaf was going to lead our attack but you did know that those fans were either mental or a bit daft but for every thumping at Hartlepool there was the Bradford away win or the Wigan mud slid - good times indeed |  | | |
| Do you remember the days on 23:12 - Jan 23 with 1415 views | Robbie |
Ok , the memory is not as good as it was , remember David ( Dai ) Gwyther as the
centre forward about then ? | | | |
| Do you remember the days on 23:35 - Jan 23 with 1381 views | WarwickHunt |
| Do you remember the days on 23:12 - Jan 23 by Robbie |
Ok , the memory is not as good as it was , remember David ( Dai ) Gwyther as the
centre forward about then ? |
Yep - he'd have played with Len.
Keith Todd would have been the CF for most of Herbie's career. | | | |
| Do you remember the days on 00:12 - Jan 24 with 1348 views | Al_Bundy |
Wasn't so much about the Vetch, it was the football culture of the late 70's early 80's when music influenced how you dressed and seeing a 100 Chelsea skin heads on the North Bank and a mass brawl start was pretty standard.
There was some really dreadful matches Saturdays afternoons - I remember losing at home to Newport 0-3 and the Kidderminster 1-4 defeat was about the worst ive seen us play ever.
The night matches was very special. I remember we played Mansfield (think it was) when it was almost a sell out think it was L2 when I got to the NB they said it was full,
I went to the Centre Stand and I was offered a ticket really cheap from a bloke outside then got into the ground noticing the ticket was for a Wales v Iceland U21 match but still saw the match. | | | |
| Do you remember the days on 00:18 - Jan 24 with 1348 views | Loyal |
| Do you remember the days on 13:14 - Dec 18 by vetchonian |
ooops meant to say
most of our current so called fans didn't know of SCFC before 2011 |
My brother's son has followed the swans all his life, never ever went to the vetch. only started going when we got in the prem.
Take all sorts I suppose , in fact he loves liquorice all sorts.
And jelly babies.
He is 9. |  |
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The official inventor of the tit w@nk. | | Poll: | Who should be Swansea number 1 |
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| Do you remember the days on 01:35 - Jan 24 with 1327 views | E20Jack |
The Vetch days were far more raw and exciting, no question. The standard of football is irrelevant. If we wanted to watch amazing football then we would stay and home and watch the Premier League big boys (which many did, hence the 3000 attendances). But for those 3000 they were magical days and will never be replicated.
Much of this Premier League era has been largely forgettable in my opinion. Amazing football and great achievements along the way, but I recall matches far easily and vividly from 20 years ago than I do 2 years ago. The feeling of losing these days is bad but I quickly get over it, losing back then and it ruined my week. The intensity was that much more heightened.
That is not being ungrateful, it is just recognising that the chase is often more enjoyable than the prize and the whole part of the fun was getting there. I imagine it to being like the show Long Way Round where Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman went from London to New York on motorcycles, the focus was always on New York - but once they got there, they realised that the amazing part was the hard times getting there than actually getting there. |  |
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| Do you remember the days on 02:06 - Jan 24 with 1321 views | Jack59 |
| Do you remember the days on 15:26 - Dec 18 by pencoedjack |
They might not of been good for you but they were certainly good for me .....
I far more enjoyed my 'whole football experience' in those days than I do now. |
Yes, they certainly were good times down the Vetch, and when we managed to get over 4,000 for a game there could be quite a noise generated. Terracing certainly helps.
But those were times when you could also walk into a pub through a cloud of smoke, and all you'd here is laughter. People at that time, were not in fear of telling a joke, as they have been now for over 20 years.
The music, generally had some semblance of melody, and was still played on musical instruments, it was used in night clubs to lift peoples spirits and create a party atmosphere.
Does the Rap crap do the same for anybody? No wonder night clubs are closing down. | | | |
| Do you remember the days on 08:10 - Jan 24 with 1231 views | builthjack |
I rememver seeing us agwinst Notts County at the vetch , must have been very early seventies. Quite a big crowd it seemed.
what i remember more though is coming out of a cafe on the high street with the rest of my family, i was a kid at the time, and Notts County fans had just come off ghe train and were running down high street smashing everything with the cops chasing them. Hundreds of fans.we tok cover inside a shop. The bad old days. |  |
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| Do you remember the days? on 08:53 - Jan 24 with 1196 views | MoscowJack |
Good thread for us oldies!
The North Bank was different for most. I was from the Mumbles so the North Bank was a bit of a loonie bin filled with people considerable harder and madder than I would ever be. My first games (aged 7 in 1978) were in the Double Decker with my Mum, Dad and neighbour and it was only when I was about 12 or 13 that I went to the North Bank (alone). I'll never, ever forget it.
I couldn't go up the back for many years as that's where all the skinheads, Dr Martins and Harrington jackets (?) were. I'd have been laughed out of there with a slap to take with me. It was pretty intimidating, but I absolutely loved it. I remember one day starting a song off on the North Bank and everyone joining in....my mate and I looked at each other with disbelief and a weird sense of pride. So funny now, thinking back!
Turning up and seeing a part of the metal fence along the North Bank removed for a TV camera meant something special was about to happen. The atmosphere always cranked up a lot when we were on TV, especially for the Welsh Cup FInal against the scum when Ante was sent off for hacking down their striker in a 2-1 win....and returned to the pitch to do a lap of honour! Ante, Ante, Ante.
Walking in and seeing the away end packed full of scum ALWAYS gave me butterflies. It scared me a bit when I was so young, but I knew the North Bank always had my back. Maybe that's why my parents let me go alone when I was so young.
The parties and Bovril have been mentioned - but they were lucky dips! The Bovril would have melted concrete, if you'd dared to spill it, and the pasties were usually like hot lava on the outside and eskimo's nuts on the inside.....unless you bought it from the guys who served them leaning over the North Bank fencing and then they were always cold. I preferred them cold anyway, although it would mean that you spent the second half trying to get whatever was inside the pasties off your palate!
Yes, we do remember the Vetch with rose-tinted glass but mainly because those years shaped us as fans in the same way other times shape other fans too. Anything else and everything better than being an absolute mess on the pitch was a bonus. Toshack days were unforgettable, Yorath days full of unfulfilled hope, Frankie Burrows days were wonderful just for the belief that our squad was good enough to get to the Championship, Hollins days were up and down but we felt close to those players and close as fans. After that it all changed, and probably for the better in the most.
The Liberty experience shouldn't be compared. It's a different world and it's better for some, worse for others. For a start, there isn't that fat woman standing outside shouting "E'ing Porst....Spor'in' Porst" ! | |
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| Do you remember the days on 09:43 - Jan 24 with 1142 views | DafyddHuw |
| Do you remember the days on 15:32 - Dec 18 by dgt73 |
What - watching lower league football in a dump of a stadium, with one man and his dog watching. |
Just found this thread.
You just don't get it, do you? |  | | |
| Do you remember the days on 10:01 - Jan 24 with 1134 views | STID2017 |
| Do you remember the days on 09:43 - Jan 24 by DafyddHuw |
Just found this thread.
You just don't get it, do you? |
Many people long for the days of the old neighbourhoods when everyone looked after each other and you could leave your doors open, not like today when we're all too busy and nobody knows their neighbours (a sweeping statement I know)
However, doesn't mean those same people would actually want to go back to living in poor housing, often with outside loos, lean-to kitchens, overcrowded houses, etc.
The atmosphere at the Vetch was sometimes great, but for the majority of games over the last 30 years of it's existence it was a half-empty run down ground that seems better through rose tinted glasses.
On a good day though, the atmosphere beat anything the Liberty has produced |  |
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| Do you remember the days on 10:03 - Jan 24 with 1133 views | Fireboy2 |
| Do you remember the days on 09:43 - Jan 24 by DafyddHuw |
Just found this thread.
You just don't get it, do you? |
Unbelievable isnt it dafydd,hes obviously a plastic
Will be gone next season if we are in the championship
Btw the NB will forever be etched in my mind
One of the biggest reasons i love and will always love the swans [Post edited 24 Jan 2018 10:05]
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| Do you remember the days on 10:07 - Jan 24 with 1128 views | STID2017 |
| Do you remember the days on 10:03 - Jan 24 by Fireboy2 |
Unbelievable isnt it dafydd,hes obviously a plastic
Will be gone next season if we are in the championship
Btw the NB will forever be etched in my mind
One of the biggest reasons i love and will always love the swans [Post edited 24 Jan 2018 10:05]
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BTW in case you think I'm a plastic too because I don't buy all the romanticism about the Vetch, I renewed in December | |
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| Do you remember the days on 10:08 - Jan 24 with 1126 views | awayjack |
| Do you remember the days on 00:12 - Jan 24 by Al_Bundy |
Wasn't so much about the Vetch, it was the football culture of the late 70's early 80's when music influenced how you dressed and seeing a 100 Chelsea skin heads on the North Bank and a mass brawl start was pretty standard.
There was some really dreadful matches Saturdays afternoons - I remember losing at home to Newport 0-3 and the Kidderminster 1-4 defeat was about the worst ive seen us play ever.
The night matches was very special. I remember we played Mansfield (think it was) when it was almost a sell out think it was L2 when I got to the NB they said it was full,
I went to the Centre Stand and I was offered a ticket really cheap from a bloke outside then got into the ground noticing the ticket was for a Wales v Iceland U21 match but still saw the match. |
Agree is was overall match day / culture not just the vetch. I remember the Chelsea match. Couln't get into pubs so went to ground early, which was interesting with that Chelsea lot on NB early. |  | | |
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