The Diary

02 April 2004: Some Strollers Memories - And The Shay, As Well

?If it?s Wednesday, it must be Sunderland tickets time? ? at least that?s what I told myself as I shuffled onto the 450 bus taking me to The Shrine the other day. I would have been to the ground for those precious bits of card much sooner, but I never saw the announcement on the official website until Tuesday, which was a bit of a bummer. Still, no damage done, as us Dick ?Eds are all AST holders, and as there were oodles of tickets allocated by Sunderland anyway, the likelihood of a scramble was about as remote as that of the Dingles escaping the drop. And, as I approached the counter, a surprise. Stood at the next service point was an old chum of ours, Baz Plant, former GD Stroller, and currently IT teacher at a Langley secondary school. (Shame about the grey hair though, Baz!) The usual greetings exchanged, I then asked my chum if he was sorting those Sunderland tickets out in his lunch-break.

?Naw, I?m waggin? it!? said the lad in his outrageous Black Country twang, grinning wickedly all the while.

?Blimey!? said I, ?What sort of school is it where even the bloody teachers bunk off lessons??

At this point in the narrative, perhaps I should point out to any OFSTED inspectors reading this that Baz genuinely did have a ?free-period? that afternoon, consequently he was visiting the ground in his own time. Ish. The pair of us having been quickly and efficiently sorted out by our respective ticket office staff, on our way out, Baz kindly offered me a lift back to Bearwood ? his school is quite near our place. Even better for me, as I still had to send the final Dick of 2003-04 to our printer special delivery, for which a visit to the Post Office was absolutely essential, so I practically bit his hand off in grateful acceptance!

On our way back, we nattered about this and that, and the conversation turned, eventually, to the Boing website football team, who are currently doing their own bit in furtherance of friendship and goodwill between ourselves and supporters of opposing sides. As Baz quite rightly pointed out, the concept isn?t all that new; during the ?80?s and early 90?s, a similar ambassadorial role fell onto the ample shoulders of what was then the ?GD Strollers?. Based at Moat Road Secondary School for home games, The Strollers made it their business to invite supporters of opposing clubs to play them whenever we were at home to their ?proper? side, and, more often than not, when the return first-team fixture was played at their place, a similar game was arranged with their supporting opposite numbers also. The whole thing first kicked off in 1982, when supporters of Forest invited ours to partake of a game at Nottingham ? and from there, like Topsy, it just grew. Our co-editor, Steve The Miser was a regular from those early days, as well as not a few of the current stewarding staff at The Hawthorns. Plus, later on still, a curious little bloke who rejoiced in the nickname of ?Shifter? ? he had so many kids, I reckon the nursery rhyme about the ?old woman who lived in the shoe? had been specially written for him, his missus and his numerous progeny! Baz, bless his squeaky little stick of chalk, gown and mortar-board, was about third or fourth in a long line of Strollers player-managers.

The great thing about these games, of course, was the tremendous atmosphere of mutual friendship and goodwill in which they were conducted ? unless the opposition happened to be The Dingles, of course, when the native savagery tended to gain the uppermost hand! Come on, what else do you expect? Centre Albion-Wolves activity around a bunch of people busily engaged in a needlepoint embroidery competition and I?d still expect to see an anxious cluster of Baggies on the sidelines passionately urging their favourites on to even greater efforts with their silks and fine needles on the damask cloth. I also have fond memories of The Strollers? matchday transport; what had been an ambulance for sitting patients in better days. With little or no suspension, rickety seats, draughts the size of a Force Nine gale blowing in from outside, and a top-speed of around fifty, max, getting to away games by this rather ancient means of conveyance called for not a little fortitude (and pile-ointment?) on the part of the poor sods inside!

It was quite remarkable where that superannuated ambulance took our heroes ? and sometimes, this column, plus ?Im Indoors, of course. Places like Stoke, Barnsley, Shrewsbury, were but grist to the Strollers mill, not to mention lots of other diverse venues where our first-teamers happened to be playing that week. Oh and Colne, where we were entertained royally by the Burnley lot one year ? their friendly attitude was in astonishingly stark contrast to the Neanderthal behaviour displayed by their less intellectually-endowed peers later on that day. The Strollers even managed to play some games on the sacred turf of a few of our League opponents: both Oldham?s Boundary Park and Preston?s Deepdale reverberated to the noise of pure Black Country vituperation in those distant days, as did Edgar Street, home of Hereford United. They also performed on the training grounds of both Norwich and Derby County. Oh ? and last, but not least, The Shrine itself, several times.

The meteoric rise of fanzines in the mid-to-late eighties led to a totally new incarnation for the Strollers, as both editorial staff and readers of these organs were most keen to play games against us. Previously, Baz and chums had ?done their own thing? regarding fund-raising, then our publication took on the mantle of sponsors. How did it all start? As a counter to the plethora of ?anti-football? stories circulating in the media at that time; we genuinely wanted the name of West Bromwich Albion to have positive, not negative, associations for those whose knowledge of the game (and understanding of its followers) was minimal. The concept spread far and wide, so it came as no surprise not long afterwards to discover six-a-side knock-out tournaments being organised like crazy among different publications. Some of the most memorable of these were held at both Stoke and Cardiff. When competing at the latter venue, we actually won ourselves a trophy ? ?The Frog Of Friendship? ? duly presented by the then-secretary of the Welsh FA, Alun Evans. After the ceremony, one of our number somewhat facetiously asked him whether winning that trophy would qualify our club for European competitions! Well, if Kiddy and Hereford could enter for the Welsh Cup in those days and, in theory at least, qualify for Europe should they prove triumphant ? er, why not? If you don?t ask, you don?t get.

Of the ?home? fixtures, I have a memory of a different kind; well do I remember the time one of our then first-team players, Adrian Foster, actually turned up to watch a Strollers home fixture in progress (I still have a photo of the lad sitting smugly among all the ?regulars? for the essential team picture, prior to the start!). All went well until midway through the first half, when one of our more ?robust? lads happened to land a fiercely-driven shot right into the middle of his ?wedding-tackle?. Ouch! Just as well he wasn?t down to play that day, wasn?t it? Around the early nineties, after some gentle persuasion from The Strollers themselves, our favourite football club finally agreed to give the lads some assistance, not to mention plain old-fashioned encouragement, in the form of old Albion kit, mentions in the matchday programme, and on the PA at half-time ? that sort of thing. Official recognition, encouragement and help, albeit minimal, but still very welcome, gave our lads no end of a boost, and made the whole enterprise even more worthwhile for those who took part and organised things.

And, afterwards, of course, there was the social side: invariably, massed wetting of post-match whistles were held at a small pub literally within bedpan-throwing distance of Sandwell Hospital ? The Jolly Nailer. The Strollers held many of their fund-raising functions there, also, memorably, a lively ?do? on our return from the 1993 Wembley play-off final versus Port Vale. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, our coach travel to that game was organised courtesy of The Strollers. Never mind the fact the old charabanc they hired had last seen service around the time of the Dunkirk evacuation, and emitted more exhaust smoke from its rear end than an entire flotilla of wartime destroyers trying to conceal an Arctic convoy ? it was still a great day.

Given all those happy memories I have of the Strollers, I?m more than pleased to hear that the Boing lads are now doing precisely the same sort of thing we did all those years ago ? and more power to their elbow, I say. Perhaps the issue isn?t as contentious now as it was in the eighties, what with the Daily Mail?s seemingly never-ending ?hate? campaign directed against football supporters at the time, even towards those who abided by the law, and the hostility of the media to the game generally. Even now, adverse stories about football supporters are still liable to evoke banner-headline knee-jerk reactions in the tabloids, so it?s nice to know a bit of sanity still exists out there. A shame it never gets the same coverage, though ? I wonder why?

There?s no Albion game tomorrow, of course, but there?s still stuff going on relevant to us Baggies, as Norwich are due to travel to lovely Burnley for their collective sins instead. Although there?s quite a difference between the relative League positions of both clubs, and The Canaries are top of the heap on goal difference at the moment, I?ve a feeling in my water our main rivals won?t find that fixture an easy one at all. Burnley, on their home turf, can be a sod to put away ? just remember the grief they gave us when we went to their place earlier this year. True, they had the benefit of a referee who clearly still had his Nationwide L-plates firmly fastened to the back of his shirt (and didn?t Ternent milk it for all it was worth?), but even if the FA had assigned a more experienced whistler to the game, I still think they?d have given us not a few problems. It?s Burnley?s sheer cussedness - I understand they?ve only lost two League games in 2004 - I?m banking on tomorrow. If they can force their visitors to ship two points, or, even better, three, then I might just be tempted to take back everything I?ve ever muttered under my breath about their side, their manager, and their bloody idiot tendency. What would really put the icing on the cake, of course, is a victory at Ipswich for us the following day. Should we then swap places with ?em, it might just rattle the wurzle-munchers enough to keep us there ? but that?s for the future. Right now, I?ll just settle for something at Portman Road, and worry about what comes later afterwards.

As you might have guessed, we?ll be heading for a game tomorrow; no prizes for guessing which one. Yep, that?s right, we?re going to Halifax Town, where The Shaymen will be entertaining Graham Turner?s Hereford. Well, when we realised there was going to be a huge Saturday gap in our lives (right after Sky clapped their greasy little mitts on the Ipswich game, basically), it was down to a stark choice between spending tomorrow afternoon doing things to our bomb-site of a garden ? or going to a game. This question arose because our favourite football team have played so many Saturday games this term, the last time we got the chance to see The Bulls in action was last Christmas ? and given the way things are currently panning out for us, our remaining opportunities to watch them will be severely restricted as well. Result? No contest! What might have been a dilemma for us isn?t any more ? well, to tell the truth, it was me that persuaded ?Im Indoors horticulture wasn?t his Saturday afternoon bag, really. In any case, given the two options on offer, who the hell wants to play Percy Thrower on Saturday, anyway?

Returning to The Shay will bring back quite a few memories for me, one of which was our unexpected FA Cup Round One defeat there in November 1993. Remember that one, anyone? The final score was Halifax 2, Albion 1, the game was shown ?live? on Sky, I believe, and we were not amused. Not least because we were due to fly to Italy very early the following day to see our Anglo-Italian fixture versus Fiorentina, scheduled for later that week. As I recall, so brassed off was I by that pusillanimous performance, the following day, when we turned up at Heathrow and discovered our flight to be the same one as that of our players and officials (they were checking-in at the same time as us), when the lady at the desk spotted my Albion sweatshirt and asked me, (quite reasonably, in retrospect), ?Are you with that party?? my snarled ?NO!? must have come as quite a shock to her delicate nervous system!

Quite an interesting news item on the official site this morning; our favourite football club have announced they are laying on 40 coaches to enable some of our followers to travel to Sunderland for absolute zilch. It?s conditional upon producing a match ticket when you book, of course, but the move should certainly guarantee a tremendous following for that one, despite the game being televised on Sky. Having such numbers supplying the necessary lung-power might just be enough to swing it for us should anything still be hanging on the result. A nice way of rewarding those who have followed the side everywhere throughout the season (well, that?s the official line), or a handy emollient for those disappointed by the recent cancellation of our Player Of The Year Night? Yer pays yer money, and yer takes yer choice.

Anyway, whatever prompted this burst of altruism on the part of our favourite football club, it didn?t take us all that long (about 10 seconds, really!) to realise that given this offer being up for grabs, going there courtesy of the Dickmobile was lunacy, so what we?re going to do before venturing to The Shay is make a diversion to the Ticket Office and grab four seat reservations for us travelling Dick ?Eds. Should be a very welcome break from routine for ?Im Indoors, who is our normal ?chauffeur? for these away trips. The fact the long journey will also provide The Noise with a captive audience for his vocal talents is neither here nor there.

And finally (and talking of which)?. The latest medical bulletin on The Noise? To grab a chunk of that oft-sung chant for a moment, ?Hello, hello, tonsils are back, tonsils are back!? The scoop is, I rang the Lewis household to enquire of the ?patient? earlier tonight. The good news is that our little soldier is now getting over the worst of the symptoms, but the bad is that his poor missus, Jayne, has now got it instead! Dearie, dearie me, whatever is the matter with that household? Time for a chain of garlic bulbs to be placed around the entrance to their place, and a red cross daubed helpfully on the door, I wonder? Anyway, it won?t interfere with him going to Ipswich on Sunday ? come hell or high water, he?s travelling, end of story, so our tympanic membranes could be in for one hell of a bashing en-route. It might well be we?ll all be frantically pleading for industrial ear-plugs by the time we get to the other end, so anyone that can offer us those in quantity will be much appreciated, I?m sure!

 - Glynis Wright

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