80s away days

[Stuntman_Mike]

Whilst I wasn't around in the 80's , I can only imagine how much the match day experience has changed. 

 

It's staggering enough thinking back to my first away game and that was only 2004. 

[smudger63]

2 hours ago, dayday said:

In them days we had a saying be on your toes all the time and be very wary of the ambush.

 

I found Man City , Middlesbrough( did anybody go there when we beat them and stopped them going up)?, Millwall and Leeds as very dodgy places, there was others but it’s remembering them.

 

In the ground having coins fizzed at you, not pleasant at all.

I was there, kept us in for ages after the game, while the Boro fans decided to show the local coppers how pissed off they were!!

 

[Footballwipe]

My dad was a white working class pipe fitter, he went to the majority of away games in the 1970s with his mates, but he pretty much gave it up in the 1980s (though he did always tell me about Fulham in 1983. He always cited how horrendous the experience got. He wasn't into bashing people's heads in and going around with the knuckle draggers.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure plenty of people went not for a weekend scrap to try and validate their empty lives, but like many others it just wasn't for him.

[smudger63]

28 minutes ago, Burgh foxes 01 said:

I remember going to Bristol rovers away 3rd round f a cup at east I’ll 86 ,snowed all day stood in open end got beat 3-1,a day to forget .

Yep, i was there too. The BS arrived late as i remember, then it all cracked off big time in the car park after the game. 

[Paninistickers]

14 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

My dad was a white working class pipe fitter, he went to the majority of away games in the 1970s with his mates, but he pretty much gave it up in the 1980s (though he did always tell me about Fulham in 1983. He always cited how horrendous the experience got. He wasn't into bashing people's heads in and going around with the knuckle draggers.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure plenty of people went not for a weekend scrap to try and validate their empty lives, but like many others it just wasn't for him.

City Crowds dipped to around 11k for top flight football in the mid eighties.

 

Midweek away followings could be down to as low as 150-200.

 

So, I assume many felt the same as your Dad. It was a dark period for sure, but as many have said on this thread, had its own charm.too!

[Izzy]

For those who like a bit of nostalgia, there's a great group on Facebook with over 5,000 members called "ive been to filbert street n stood on the kop those were the days my friend"

 

Lots of great photo's and stories of old away days 

 

 

[Paninistickers]

21 minutes ago, smudger63 said:

I was there, kept us in for ages after the game, while the Boro fans decided to show the local coppers how pissed off they were!!

 

Is that a brief view of Anna Soubry at the end of that clip.

 

Central East's finest export!

 

I used to fancy her a bit on Friday nights, rocking up home in.my teens after closing time and pop central.weekend on for rowdy boozy debate

[smudger63]

Just now, Paninistickers said:

Is that a brief view of Anna Soubry at the end of that clip.

 

Central East's finest export!

 

I used to fancy her a bit on Friday nights, rocking up home in.my teens after closing time and pop central.weekend on for rowdy boozy debate

Yes it is, but don`t get me started on her or politics !!!  

[49er]

Scariest away trip - FA Cup replay away at Millwall in the mid eighties. I was a student in London at the time. Travelled by tube/overground train from North London, with my LCFC scarf safely tucked in. I was one of the first City fans into the ground. We should have won the game, but ended up losing 2-0. At the end, there was a sense of relief, thinking that the Millwall fans would be happy with a victory and would forget about a confrontation. Instead, they invaded the pitch and headed towards our end. Fortunately, we had a big fence separating us. In the next round, they played Luton away and totally ravaged the place.

 

 

Edited 8 April 2019 by 49er

[49er]

Was anyone else at the FA Cup tie at the Baseball Ground vs Burton?

 

[49er]

21 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

 

 

I used to fancy her a bit on Friday nights, rocking up home in.my teens after closing time and pop central.weekend on for rowdy boozy debate

 

[sylofox]

Getting smashed up at the time seemed so much fun. But looking back now how many could have died for the game. 

 

Not sure some of you youngsters realise how bad it was at times. 

[sylofox]

12 minutes ago, 49er said:

Was anyone else at the FA Cup tie at the Baseball Ground vs Burton?

 

That was not even a bad one. 

[Hollyfox]

3 hours ago, dayday said:

In them days we had a saying be on your toes all the time and be very wary of the ambush.

 

I found Man City , Middlesbrough( did anybody go there when we beat them and stopped them going up)?, Millwall and Leeds as very dodgy places, there was others but it’s remembering them.

 

In the ground having coins fizzed at you, not pleasant at all.

Yep. 

Was with a big load of Boro and had to watch the game in the Holgate (I think) end. 

[TrentFox]

I can remember going to Upton Park to see a 3-1 defeat in the early 80’s. It was a grim place to go. You got to the away fans’ entrance and went ‘phew’ as you got off the streets. Unfortunately, as soon as you went in, you realised there was no segregation and all you’d done was identify yourself as an away fan! Spent thirty seconds watching the game and 90 minutes watching my back, as fights erupted everywhere. Still the only ground where I took one in the face. My reflexes improved significantly after that day ! 

[sylofox]

All the London sides Leeds sheff weds both Liverpool sides the mancs and Newcastle Sunderland as well. 

[dayday]

There is a YouTube video of Leicester v Millwall 1991, it’s amazing how many faces you know, even me old mate Lee Carter is on there (rip). 

[CosbehFox]

1 hour ago, Footballwipe said:

My dad was a white working class pipe fitter, he went to the majority of away games in the 1970s with his mates, but he pretty much gave it up in the 1980s (though he did always tell me about Fulham in 1983. He always cited how horrendous the experience got. He wasn't into bashing people's heads in and going around with the knuckle draggers.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure plenty of people went not for a weekend scrap to try and validate their empty lives, but like many others it just wasn't for him.

My dad was pretty much the same. He always cites Rangers visiting Filbo as a watermark moment. 

[cambridgefox]

3 hours ago, st albans fox said:

Sadly my memory just isn’t what it once was - I know I went to some venues but cannot recall what happened at the game or what the ground was like

 

is it Norwich or Cambridge away where you have to walk across a large grassy area with electricity pylons to reach the ground?

 

 

 

Yeah,the old allotment end.

if my memory serves me rightly I think the old away end at Watford,had you walking through allotments.Opposite end to the away fans now.

[Bayfox]

1 minute ago, cambridgefox said:

Yeah,the old allotment end.

if my memory serves me rightly I think the old away end at Watford,had you walking through allotments.Opposite end to the away fans now.

We still had the allotment end when muzzy scored to put us in the play-offs. Great end that. 

[SemperEadem]

25 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

My dad was pretty much the same. He always cites Rangers visiting Filbo as a watermark moment. 

Were they not welcomed with open arms?

[Guest bss9401]

1985 FA Cup tie at the Den. What an experience. The walk to the stadium was something, burnt out cars and vans, eerily quiet and creepy. At the station the cops were so helpful. We asked for directions and the copper pointed the way and said that we should hope that we lose. During the game there were constant attacks on the away fencing. Unbelievably there were plenty of Leicester fans who were up for it and scrapping broke out at regular intervals. I watched throughout the eighties and while I never looked for it I got caught up several times and had to fight my way out. Arsenal, Cov, Villa and West Ham all spring to mind. Frequent interruptions to games for fighting in stands or spilling out onto the pitch. I feel guilty when I remember getting quite a buzz when it all kicked off. It emphasizes the tribal element to football back then and I definitely felt that. It's no wonder that so few women and kids attended games and that attendances were very low.

Edited 8 April 2019 by bss9401

[Claridge]

Scary, but exciting as well. Wouldn’t want itback, but as a teenager in the 80s away games were fantastic as we had a large away following.

[Jo Smith]

 

The 80s away day was an adventure, tense at times, but I think the advent of casuals made for less random violence than in the 70s, by the late 80s a couple of scarfed skinheads could walk to a ground and only get hassled by the still woefully out of touch police. Anyone remember the last game of the season at Filbert Street against a relegated Newcastle and a city full of Geordie skinheads? I was very young so got away with just a spitty jacket, that was the 70s vibe. They would brick any old bus of away supporters those days, lost a few coach windows at Everton when I was about 9 years old, Also had the pleasure of being crowd surged in the away end on Boxing day, Chelsea, whilst a brave handful of Braunstone boys and market traders fought off the cockney boot boy infiltration and earned the right to adapt a Boney M song. 

 

The 80s brought a maturity to the tribal violence.

Scousers chased you for your jumper, not simply because they wanted to slash you. Though pure football passion never went away, I have still got a scar from that Middlesbrough game. Shopping in London and using the tube was a gamble on matchdays due to roaming firms and St Pancreas lurking yids out to tax unknown casuals. That was before you even tackled the walk up seven sisters road. (Talking of Spurs, that 1999 League cup atmosphere was a throwback to the 70s and 80s, if you went that day you get the idea). Anyway, new to posting on the forum, wont waffle on anymore

 

When I went Cambridge they actually had a loose bull in that field

 

 

Edited 9 April 2019 by Jo Smith

[Jo Smith]

5 hours ago, 49er said:

Was anyone else at the FA Cup tie at the Baseball Ground vs Burton?

 

Unless the mortality rate in Leicester is really high, I would guess about 15 thousand living Leicester were there 49er, how many on fox talk, who knows. I remember talking to an actual Burton policeman, not from Derby, who told us about another set of fans who threw the seats from the 2nd tier onto there own fans. I assured him Leicester would never do that. Silly me/

 

It wasnt only their keeper who got hit, lots of fist shaking from our city fans below bring peppered with wood. Did not help that they counter weighted the seats with heavy sand bags.