KivoOwl Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Particularly interested in hearing from the older ones. I'd love to get an idea of what it used to be like going to Hillsborough in years past - how did you get there, who with, what were your thoughts on the experience? What did you see and smell? What was the ground like? My first memory of going to a game was my dad letting me go to the toilet on my own during one game in the early 90's. I got lost and my dad had to pick me up from the police room. I was 5. My mum still doesn't know about it. I can also recall going on the Kop to the last home game of the 92/93 season - the last stand. I can remember sitting on a brush barrier while my dad had his arms around me. Got my first season ticket in 99 but it was in the Grandstand which felt sanitised and not really as though you were at a football game. I was always slightly intimidated by the thought of going on the Kop - that was for big boys and hooligans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coe_22 Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 I remember going to a lot of reserve matches at Hillsborough first before being allowed to go to a league match. Seeing Hirsty and Klas Ingesson in the premier league. I also remember it was extortionate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scram Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Went with my Dad in his Ford Cortina - we parked on wasteland and from memory i'm sure it was somewhere near The Travellers I remember being really frightened being in a crowd of people for the first time - and that was just walking to the ground. We went on The North and i almost wet myself with excitement as we walked on the concourse past a gangway and i got my first glimpse of the pitch and Kop end goal It wasn't a particularly big crowd and i'm not 100% sure who we played - might have been Hull? Sure we lost and definitely didn't score By the end of that game i had 11 new heroes and i was utterly hooked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingOwl Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 I'm 19 so not gonna give the answers you're looking for, but I'll answer anyway because even though I wasn't around to see an all standing Kop or the glory days in the 90's...I still hold my childhood Wednesday experiences dear. My first match was the 02/03 season home game vs United, Owusu's debut. But I can barely remember it...all I remember was sitting quite near to the front of The Kop. The following season I got my first season ticket. My stepdad went to all home games with his mates and I just tagged along. I remember feeling very grown up when I got a bit older and as soon as we got through the turnstiles I was allowed to run off up to my seat whilst everyone else had a drink & put a bet on. I also remember absolutely idolising a certain Adam Proudlock and feeling quite confused when people told me he was crap. I went extra mental anytime he scored just to make a point...was in my element when he scored twice against Barnsley(?) I can remember getting into a habit of going to the toilet on the 72nd minute, we just had a habit of scoring when I went to the toilet at that time. The steward on our gangway soon caught on and always said 'you're gonna miss a goal', and duly ribbed me if we did score. I think habit/superstition came into play when we played Grimsby at home in a cup. Think we were losing 1-0 when I went to the toilet, came back and it was 1-1. We won on penalties...Pressman had a worldy of a shoot out. I also remember being absolutely devastated when Blackpool knocked us out of the LDV Vans trophy area final, I genuinely cried...I thought it was a massive deal...the idea of my team being in a 'proper cup final' was so special to an eight year old me. I owe a lot to my stepdad and his mates to be honest. One, for putting up with me...even letting me come to a few away matches. And two for making sure I stuck with Wednesday & didn't float off to a Premiership team. May not be as exciting as any of your stories, but they're personal & special to me....it's the foundations of my love for this club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darra Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 (edited) first game was in '73 IIRC can't remember who against possibly Blackpool. I'd been when I was about 10 with my mum and dad but this was with my mates. Used to walk with my mate from pitsmoor over shirecliffe hill and down Herries Road have a pint in the 40 foot and go on the kop. Been in S6 with crowds of over 40k and as low as 8k.Been many highs and lows in my time at the old lady Edited April 20, 2014 by darra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glynnb Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Went with my Dad in his Ford Cortina - we parked on wasteland and from memory i'm sure it was somewhere near The Travellers I remember being really frightened being in a crowd of people for the first time - and that was just walking to the ground. We went on The North and i almost wet myself with excitement as we walked on the concourse past a gangway and i got my first glimpse of the pitch and Kop end goal It wasn't a particularly big crowd and i'm not 100% sure who we played - might have been Hull? Sure we lost and definitely didn't score By the end of that game i had 11 new heroes and i was utterly hooked What year would that have been Scram? - just interested like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bladeshater Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 It were different Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulva Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 I remember the smell. A mixture of cigs, bovril and pies. And the gangway that ran beneath the South Stand lower (terrace) and South Stand upper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewtheowl Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Early to mid nineties. Driving down herries road and seeing the old lady from between the arches. As a kid it was captivating. In the ground nothing has really changed apart from grandstand and plastic seating instead of wooden in the north and west. Back as a kid I remember the kop being a lot louder than it is now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewtheowl Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 (edited) Chuffing duplicate post from my phone!! Edited April 20, 2014 by stewtheowl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torres Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 I started going on the mid 80's with my Dad. I was about 5 or 6. My first memories are of the smell of cigars and cigarettes. I was fascinated by the crowd more than the match. Old men seeming angry for no reason used to make me laugh. My first hero was Lee Chapman. My first shirt was the grey and purple one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eaton_Swfc Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Di Canio & Carbone, roughly 1997. I thought we'd be like that forever, how wrong I was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradowl Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 (edited) Early 70s... Number 2 football special from Wincobank, always full of cigarette smoke on journey home. Silk scarfs were thing to wear, one around neck fastened like a tie and another either on wrist or wrapped around waist belt. Edited April 20, 2014 by bradowl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan140177 Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 I started going on the mid 80's with my Dad. I was about 5 or 6. My first memories are of the smell of cigars and cigarettes. I was fascinated by the crowd more than the match. Old men seeming angry for no reason used to make me laugh. My first hero was Lee Chapman. My first shirt was the grey and purple one. you're around my age by the sound of it, my first match in 1985 v west ham. My mate had same away shirt but i opted for home shirt which cost £10.99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belfast Owl 2 Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 I didn't get over to my first game till 2005 , convinced my dad to come as well. I may have been 20 but I was like a kid full of excitement. I remember being on the tram and seeng HIllsborough in the distance if or the first time. I got chatting to some random fan who told me plenty of stories about games. I then remember trekking up the hill towards horse and Jockey where I met a few owlstalkers. Essix blue was really sound and I said hello to a few others like kate, Big Malc, Mitchell. It was a warm day and I remember grandad drove past in his car and everyone took the wee wee. The match was v tranmere btw. I won't forget walking down the steps and seeing the ground for the first time. Absolute magic. I walked down to the front to get a picture taken at half time and got strange looks. We lost 2-1 and had arnalde sent off. I was pleased our goal scorer was Brunt though. my record at Hillsborough is awful but I love every trip over. Roll on next season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scram Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 What year would that have been Scram? - just interested like. First game would have been late 60's Went regularly from early 70's on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glynnb Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Mid 60's all the way from deepest Derbyshire in the back of my uncles Hillman Hunter. We always called at a cafe in town I think it was called La Gondola then parked on the verge by the Wednesdayite car park. Season ticket at the top of the West stand still the best view in the ground. You can see me, my uncle and grandad sihouetted in any photographs taken from the Kop looking back particularly when we just about had the stand to ourselves in the 70's. Happy days will never see the likes again when football was a working class game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Droog Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 First game in the late '60s as a seven year old. The 70's were, in terms of a match day experience, exhilarating and terrifying in equal measures, and Wednesday were mostly terrible. The Kop had a real madness about it at times, blokes peeing in the middle of the crowd, Millwall running on throwing snooker balls nicked from Faulkners in town etc. The Ossie Owl club used to empty about 5 mind from kick off and all our Pie Munchers would get stuck in if Away fans had got on. The Plod mainly let it go, and never stopped opposition from going on, so usually more interesting than the footie Not just a different era, it seems like a different world now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogbad Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 My dad started taking me to reserve matches to start with in the late 50's. We used to stand on the old terraced area in front of the south stand. At first we got the bus from Hackenthorpe to town then another bus (Football Special) to Hillsborough. First match I have any real recollection of Wednesday reserves won somewhere in the region of 14-0, not sure of the opposition but Barnsley rings a bell. From the early sixties I started going to 1st team matches always with my dad & quite often with my brother, now & again mum would tag along. Main difference then was no segregation between home & away fans. There was generally loads of good natured banter between rival supporters, you'd "boo" & berate each other but you'd be having a laugh & after the match you could walk out together & talk about the match. First recollection of being aware of any crowd trouble was my dad holding me close when a group of opposing fans walked past us outside the ground. They were relatively new to the old first division & had earned themselves a reputation of causing trouble at away matches. Surprise, surprise it was Liverpool. Later on the Man Utd fans gained themselves a bit of a reputation. This was before Leeds & Chelsea took over the mantle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scram Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Traveling away in the 70's and especially 80's was like a military operation - plotting where it might be safe to stop on the motorway - or which tube lines/stations to try to avoid etc The sheer volume of violence going to/from matches - and at the grounds - was incredible You really had to have your wits about you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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