Oldham 35 years on

[bigthinrob]

Exactly this...there was some bad stuff by a minority of people but no way was it as bad as reported...had there not been a half hour break in the game it would have passed over like most incidents did in the eighties, the coppers should have been straight on it & it would have broken up just like a million other times...for some reason they just stood there in a line as if to say come on, throw all that rubbish that's been left around & see if you can hit us, there wasn't hundreds lobbing stuff there was thirty or forty at most, some were getting stuck into theirs down the side & there were other flare ups around the place...I left the game like I'd left many other away games back then only to find on arrival back in Sheffield that I'd attended world war three instead...total over the top reaction & total over the top punishment of the club...still it was fun being at games we shouldn't have been at.

Not so sure about that mate!!  It was obviously a good while ago but i seem to remember it was on a much bigger scale than you suggest!!

[Guest Johnbloodaxe]

I was there with my brother and mates.worst ive ever seen. We couldnt believe what we were seeing like a mass frenzy.stainrod reall did get curran sent off for nothing just a fifty fifty tackle from both stainrod thought it was funny when curran got sent off terrible ref decision.but stainrods united connections just lit the fuse. As a group of wednesday fans were swingingvthe fence back and forward trying to pull it down jack came over to plead with fans to no avail. He was in tears. Fans were pulling up some of the old crumbling terracing too and throwing it over the fence. I think if they could have got hold of stainrod they would have ripped him apart. Very ugly massfremzied scenes. Something ill never forget.

Was bigger than just a few fans as i recall it was bloody awful and wasnt over-reported.

Edited October 10, 2015 by Johnbloodaxe

[Guest mkowl]

The closure of the terraces was meant to be a punishment but as said the Wednesday fans responded and we got bigger crowds than normal paying more than normal.

The FA never repeated the punishment as a result.

[Guest S8Owl]

I remember buying a badge from the Castle Market that said 'Don't blame me, I didn't go to Oldham'. I was 10.

[Guest hirsty9]

That's so true. I'd never seen Owls fans react like that at an away match and I used to go all over in those days. Even looking back at it now I still can't understand why it kicked off so badly

It all flared up cos of Stainrod, ex pig going down as if he was shot every challenge and the poor excuse of a ref falling for his play acting.

[Jennz]

Not so sure about that mate!!  It was obviously a good while ago but i seem to remember it was on a much bigger scale than you suggest!!

 

Actually throwing the rubble & stuff?...not that many doing that as I recall it, lots of chanting, pointing & carrying on but not throwing...I'm not saying the nutters weren't doing bad stuff but, in my opinion, it was over reported & exaggerated & the reason for that was because the game was stopped for too long, no need for it & no need for the police to just stand there like muppets.

 

I went to most away games in the late seventies & early eighties, I've seen some stuff that would make your hair curl but Oldham as bad as it was wasn't even close to some of the stuff I've seen, it was just made to look that way.

 

I remember an away game at Brighton, hundreds of Owls fans were there long after the game because the coach drivers couldn't drive all that way back again without so many hours break, the nutters were smashing up Mercs, BMW's & Jags along one street like they were a mobile wreckers, thousands & thousands of pounds worth of damage...not a single word in the press about it in Sheffield...one time at Villa Park there was serious fighting, not just handbags & people milling about but real violence, some bad injuries, shop windows put through etc etc, again not a word in the papers or on radio, this was 'normal' back then...some of the stuff Owls & Blades have done at Millmoor over the years was worse than Oldham, demolishing walls, running their end all over the place, damge in town....if Oldham is the yardstick then all I'm saying is that clubs should have their stands shut game after game after game, it WAS bad back then but Oldham is nothing out of the ordinary.

[Wolfmanjack]

poor refereeing decision by george tyson as stainrod was rolling around like he had been shot after a 50/50 tackle with curran. i had never seen wednesday fans react like they did behind the goal, it kicked off for about 30/40 mins with the players being took off the pitch and jack charlton trying to appease the fans but all to no avail. wednesday fans were ejected from the ground and went straight on to the home end where it kicked off again.

went to grimsby, derby and bristol rovers but not swansea.

As I remember it, Curran was pulled up for fouling Stainrod, there was a bit of a kerfuffle, which the ref was trying to sort out, when Stainrod went down as though he'd been shot. TC hadn't actually touched him when he went down, but he conned the ref, and the rest is history.

Went to all four of the games we were banned for. Swansea in particular was brilliant. They were opening a new stand, behind the goal, at The Vetch, and there were about eight of us sat on the front row of the upper tier, with (if I remember rightly) not another Wednesday fan in the entire stand.

poor refereeing decision by george tyson as stainrod was rolling around like he had been shot after a 50/50 tackle with curran. i had never seen wednesday fans react like they did behind the goal, it kicked off for about 30/40 mins with the players being took off the pitch and jack charlton trying to appease the fans but all to no avail. wednesday fans were ejected from the ground and went straight on to the home end where it kicked off again.

went to grimsby, derby and bristol rovers but not swansea.

As I remember it, Curran was pulled up for fouling Stainrod, there was a bit of a kerfuffle, which the ref was trying to sort out, when Stainrod went down as though he'd been shot. TC hadn't actually touched him when he went down, but he conned the ref, and the rest is history.

Went to all four of the games we were banned for. Swansea in particular was brilliant. They were opening a new stand, behind the goal, at The Vetch, and there were about eight of us sat on the front row of the upper tier, with (if I remember rightly) not another Wednesday fan in the entire stand.

Edited October 10, 2015 by Wolfmanjack

[Wolfmanjack]

Is that an echo, or did I just repeat myself?

[sage owl]

That villa park scrap was probably the worst one ever seemed to last an hour it was only 10 minutes if anyone timed it.

[NorthAmericanOwl]

nothing good came out of that day it was a disgrace.i was there and saw concrete chunks falling short of hitting the police and hitting our own fans at the front.i saw police dogs getting kicked to death on the pitch and i felt horrible.so i would rethink your post again sunshine.

Police dogs kicked to death? Why you lying?

[bradowl]

That's so true. I'd never seen Owls fans react like that at an away match and I used to go all over in those days. Even looking back at it now I still can't understand why it kicked off so badly

Because our hero Terry Curran had been sent off and Simon Stainrod got off scot free after a set too.

Oldham took lead around same time and Stainrod who we all knew grew up a pig fan could be seen smirking.

I went all over in them days and all though not as bad as this there was trouble at lots of games.

Just that season I remember trouble at Chelsea, Newcastle, Sheff Utd (league cup), Grimsby and Blackburn.

Most of it was outside ground which was big difference.

[james o connor]

Proper tragic ! Nothing more embarrassing than grown men getting wound up at a football match . Whilst we still have plenty who cry when we loose or somebody insults their favourite player, thankfully this sort of idiocy is generally wiped out now.

[Geedee]

Proper tragic ! Nothing more embarrassing than grown men getting wound up at a football match . Whilst we still have plenty who cry when we loose or somebody insults their favourite player, thankfully this sort of idiocy is generally wiped out now.

I am no lover of violence but I miss the atmosphere and culture of the terraces. It made football special and unique.

I still like watching football now but it is such a sterile experience compared to my youth

[Toon Owl]

I was also there that day. We normally went on the coach from the Anglers at wombwell but had gone over in a mates car so we could have a good drink without interference....

We were on the side terrace and yes it was bad. We were our worst enemy at times. Alot of wednesdayites just lost the lot after Curran went.

But having said that, many other incidents involving other clubs fans got less publicity those days.

I actually agree with Sage Owl with the after match festivities outside Villa Park in the league Cup. Now that was frightening. I had 2 policemen hiding behind me hiding behind a hedgerow dodging building bricks.

[Prendo's boots]

I was on the terrace behind the goal and remember concrete being lobbed up onto us from behind the area from outside by a mob of Oldham fans before the Stainrod incident whilst it was kicking off all over the place ...we moved over to the side to get out of the way of it...when Curran got sent off it just became farcical....

[Guest The Claw]

It started on Oldham end, 2 coaches from Burgoyne arms got on kop and went for it just before kick off, they were escorted around pitch. The atmosphere was bubbling, it really went bananas after Curran was sent off, half the away end either went for the fence to get on pitch or ran over the side terrace to get to the Oldham end, I remember the burger van being torn to pieces and thrown into the kop end. The ban never stopped us we bought tickets for those games and still got in. I cant remember who's biography it came from but he looked up behind the Derby goal and commented to Pearson I think 'They will get where water wont'.

[bigthinrob]

I am no lover of violence but I miss the atmosphere and culture of the terraces. It made football special and unique.

I still like watching football now but it is such a sterile experience compared to my youth

I think it was a sign of the times. I was involved in most of what went off during those times and at the time it was a real buzz. Personally i prefer the current order that prevails now but with the atmosphere generated like the Carlisle & Wycombe games for example.

 

I can't help feeling there is a revisionist tendency at play when these conversations crop up (as in the recent Preston debate). Where things are judged against what is the norm now as against what they were then. 

 

All the hand wringers saying it was a disgrace and Wednesdays darkest hour are over playing it. As far as i'm concerned the biggest disgrace is how we were allowed to slip into nonentity status over those years.

 

It was what happened in those days. All teams had a 'mob' (it was even before the term 'crew' was instigated) and there was a distinct pecking order amongst clubs 'mobs'.  We didn't particularly have a reputation and this, let's be honest, propelled our 'mob' into the headlines. Before all the hand wringers kick off saying i am glorifying violence. I am telling it like it was.  Then, not now.

 

The particular brand of hooliganism we are talking about (not the organised 'Football Factory' variety) just basically died out. Obviously various legislation contributed to the change, but generally the changes in society in general, changes in technology, changes in habits contributed hugely to its demise. People's life styles changed / improved and the spontaneous mob violence became almost irrelevant. 

 

You can just imagine, 500 Yobbo's turning up outside an away ground nowadays. "Right boys, come on, no one legs it, we stick together, hide the colours, force our way in and take their Kop"

 

Old Bill or Steward, "Can i see you tickets. These are for the wrong end lads, this is the home end",  "Oh sorry constable, my mistake, could you possibly direct me to the correct area".   

[Ibbo48]

Great reading this and seeing people's different personal views of what happened that day. You can start to put together a different perspective on it.

We'd progressed from going by coach to going by car which so weren't in any main group. We were stood on the side opposite the main stand with the building site to the left. There's was no trouble where we were. We really just stood there and watched it all unfold.

If you'd gone on the Oldham end, on the away end or on the terrace in front of the stand you'd obviously see it completely differently.

I said, previously, I didn't understand why it all kicked off like it did and people responded by telling me about the Curran incident which was the catalyst.

What I was trying to say that, I personally have never been to a match where Owls fans had reacted to some incident on the pitch like that.

Come on guys. What other match have you been to where we try to get on the pitch, throw stuff, have the match stopped for over 30 mins and our manager goes to make a plea to the fans? Never.

Yes there was all sorts of aggro at other matches.You could say it was blown out of all proportion. At the end of the day it was still pretty unique.

If an idiot of a ref ridiculously stopped a match for 30 mins today it would go global and you all know it

[0wl4life]

As I remember it, Curran was pulled up for fouling Stainrod, there was a bit of a kerfuffle, which the ref was trying to sort out, when Stainrod went down as though he'd been shot. TC hadn't actually touched him when he went down, but he conned the ref, and the rest is history.

Went to all four of the games we were banned for. Swansea in particular was brilliant. They were opening a new stand, behind the goal, at The Vetch, and there were about eight of us sat on the front row of the upper tier, with (if I remember rightly) not another Wednesday fan in the entire stand.

As I remember it, Curran was pulled up for fouling Stainrod, there was a bit of a kerfuffle, which the ref was trying to sort out, when Stainrod went down as though he'd been shot. TC hadn't actually touched him when he went down, but he conned the ref, and the rest is history.

Went to all four of the games we were banned for. Swansea in particular was brilliant. They were opening a new stand, behind the goal, at The Vetch, and there were about eight of us sat on the front row of the upper tier, with (if I remember rightly) not another Wednesday fan in the entire stand.

Well you don't remember rightly then,,you bloody old fart,,,,,because there were at least 6 more of us in that stand,,,,     :)

[Wolfmanjack]

Well you don't remember rightly then,,you bloody old fart,,,,,because there were at least 6 more of us in that stand,,,,     :)

What a brilliant response. Cheers. Wish I'd realised you were on the top tier, because I would have taught you how silly it was to call people you don't know, silly, childish names. Too old to teach people the error of their ways now, but then I'd have loved to educate you.

We have a good subject matter, with lots of people sharing their memories of the time, and somebody like you, whoever you are, chimes in with childish comments.

Well played that man