Childhood Football Memories

Paully D

What are your memories of anything to do with football from your childhood? I'll start:

• Using Ceefax and Teletext to update myself on football scores.
  
  
• Running up massive bills on the landline ringing those £1.50 a minute phone-lines which would say ''Sunderland to sign international superstar'' which after 10 minutes on the phone would be revealed to be someone like Milton Nunez.
  
  
• Looking forward to going to school to try and swap stickers with my mates to complete my sticker book. Also, begging my Mam to buy multi-packs of Walkers crisps and Sugar Puff cereal to get more stickers.
  
  
• Playing headers and volleys and World Cup knockout 'till all hours in the local school field.
  
  
• Trying to stay awake on Saturday nights to watch Match of the Day.
  
  
• Collecting Football Magic and waiting in anticipation each week for the newest release to be waiting for me when I got home from school on Wednesday's. They used to come in a red folder and would feature a different team each week, along with coaching skills, tactics etc.
  
  
• Gluing Subbuteo players heads and arms back together, along with crawling underneath the tables and chairs to find the inevitable missing football.
  

I really miss those days. Things have changed now, you'll very rarely find kids out playing football, more often that not they're stuck in on PS3's and Xbox's. Money has also completely destroyed the game IMO and it wasn't really like that back when I was a kid. You could relate to the players a lot more.

You could argue things have also changed for the better though. Streams are available for those who can't travel to watch their team in the flesh and news is available for every team with the click of a mouse. It's now easier than every to keep track of your club.

Anyway, I'll leave it there for now, but fire away with all your memories!

antomorro-sei

Playing games of ball out on the local green. Used to be great banter, like 40 odd people playing and the scoreline would end up around 33-32 or something. And then there was always "next goal winner" rule. Good times man.

Pinturicchio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHXfHFNlJ_w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HQZnLqmqjM

citytillidie

Getting those ladder posters in match and shoot magazines so you could keep track of the league tables with the little bits of card in team colours

This thing

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SHOOT-MAGAZINE-FOOTBALL-LEAGUE-LADDERS-1988-89-/330579181724?pt=UK_SportsMemorabilia_Football_Memorabilia_ET&hash=item4cf80e009c#ht_814wt_1139

Mars Bar

Paully D wrote: »

What are your memories of anything to do with football from your childhood? I'll start:

• Playing headers and volleys and World Cup knockout 'till all hours in the local school field.
  
  
• Collecting Football Magic and waiting in anticipation each week for the newest release to be waiting for me when I got home from school on Wednesday's. They used to come in a red folder and would feature a different team each week, along with coaching skills, tactics etc.
  
  

I did the playing until all hours thing.

I also collected Football Magic which I still have! I loved the little football stickers you'd get! It was 4 folders wasn't it?

I collected the Merlin stickers but couldn't do the swapping coz I was at an all girls school.

One of my favourite memories is getting an award at the local soccer club award night for being the first registered female of the club.

tommyhaas

The moment where a poor kids life is turned upsidedown as they drop there swap's and a cruel guest of wind sweeps in, scattering them all over the school yard, leading to premier league sticker collection free for all

That, Kevin Sheedy, Packie Bonner, Fcuking Schillaci, BBC teletext pg 302, those yellow GK gloves with the black spots all over them, 3 and in, fly goalie, mitre size 4 balls, getting changed in someones garage in Neilstown before playing an U-14 side, half of whom drove themselves to the match, thinking I was Robbie Fowler every time I played as a banger for teams 2/3years below me and Hi-Tec boots

Mars Bar

tommyhaas wrote: »

The moment where a poor kids life is turned upsidedown as they drop there swap's and a cruel guest of wind sweeps in, scattering them all over the school yard, leading to premier league sticker collection free for all

That, Kevin Sheedy, Packie Bonner, Fcuking Schillaci, BBC teletext pg 302, those yellow GK gloves with the black spots all over them, 3 and in, fly goalie, mitre size 4 balls, getting changed in someones garage in Neilstown before playing an U-14 side, half of whom drove themselves to the match, thinking I was Robbie Fowler every time I played as a banger for teams 2/3years below me and Hi-Tec boots

There's a lot of facebook groups there tommy.

tommyhaas

mars bar wrote: »

There's a lot of facebook groups there tommy.

Facebook's for loosers. Bebo's where its at :pac:

Paully D

mars bar wrote: »

I also collected Football Magic which I still have! I loved the little football stickers you'd get! It was 4 folders wasn't it?

Class.

Yep, it was four folders. Upload some pictures of them if you can (please) as I can't find mine anywhere, they went missing when I moved house.

OPENROAD

Anyone remember this top choon? Sundays 14:55 and 2 minute match build ups. happy days imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRtto2Org4w

mike65

Liverpool 3- 0 Newcastle Utd FA Cup final 1974
Scotland v Argentina 1978
Argentina v Holland in a blizzard of ticker tape WC final 1978

citytillidie

The big sun shadow in Mexico 86 and getting the country flags in chewing gum wrappers

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Match magazine.
Getting really passionate about Old Firm games.:pac:
RTÉ having 3pm games on Saturdays.
All night FM sessions. Well, these still happen from time to time.:P
Head, flicks and volleys/Red arse.
Collecting stickers.

flahavaj

baz2009 wrote: »

Match magazine.
Getting really passionate about Old Firm games.:pac:
RTÉ having 3pm games on Saturdays.
All night FM sessions. Well, these still happen from time to time.:P
Head, flicks and volleys/Red arse.
Collecting stickers.

I remember RTE having delayed coverage of the games by half an hour! I still remember watching Stevie Bruces' injurytime double vs Sheffield Wednesday and regretting having sneaked a look at the score on teletext first!

Also the "World Cup 90" weekly colection that came out for Italia 90, it had a big ring binder, a section for stickers, a dn sections like "Golden Goals," "Great Games," and "Football Heroes." it was great way for a young lad to learn about World Cup History.

Mars Bar

Paully D wrote: »

Class.

Yep, it was four folders. Upload some pictures of them if you can (please) as I can't find mine anywhere, they went missing when I moved house.

Yeah I'll try and dig them out. I'm fairly sure they are up in the shed with my Horrible Histories collection.

OPENROAD

flahavaj wrote: »

I remember RTE having delayed coverage of the games by half an hour! I still remember watching Stevie Bruces' injurytime double vs Sheffield Wednesday and regretting having sneaked a look at the score on teletext first!

They used to have the games from 15:00, early 90's

Turtyturd

Bruce Grobellar (sp?) walking on his hands.

Ray Houghton scoring against England/Italy.

Half days to watch the afternoon Irelans games.

Ryan Giggs emerging as a footballer.

Leonardo dishing out a vicious elbow to a USA player during the 94 WC.

Some more personal ones.

Watching Niall Quinn save a penalty for Man City against Derby.

Picking the Opel sponsor off my new Ireland jersey so it would be like the players ones.

Playing World cup and setting up all the sh*t kids one by one just so you could knock out the person you didnt like in the first round.

Turtyturd

flahavaj wrote: »

I remember RTE having delayed coverage of the games by half an hour! I still remember watching Stevie Bruces' injurytime double vs Sheffield Wednesday and regretting having sneaked a look at the score on teletext first!

Also the "World Cup 90" weekly colection that came out for Italia 90, it had a big ring binder, a section for stickers, a dn sections like "Golden Goals," "Great Games," and "Football Heroes." it was great way for a young lad to learn about World Cup
History.

Was actually trying to think of that magazine....it was class.

tommyhaas

Anyone remember the magazine ''90 Minutes''? It was a bit higher brow then the likes of Shoot and Match. I remember I used to get all the old issues off me brother and being devastated when I realised there was no posters in it

Mr. Guappa

flahavaj wrote: »

Also the "World Cup 90" weekly colection that came out for Italia 90, it had a big ring binder, a section for stickers, a dn sections like "Golden Goals," "Great Games," and "Football Heroes." it was great way for a young lad to learn about World Cup History.

I still have that in a wardrobe or attic. Unfortunately I wrecked the "Golden Goals" section by drawing in my own versions of those goals.

I remember that Gateaux had a set of collection cards of the Ireland squad for Italia '90. You got one player in every swiss roll box. After getting three Gerry Peytons in a row I had to keep sketch in the shop while the mother opened box after box looking for a Pakie Bonner!!

yabadabado

Getting match and Shoot for the posters.

Jacobs had a blow up shamrock for Italia '90,I think you collected a few bar codes for it.

The white t-shirts with a squad photo and the front that lasted about 3 washes.

Watching Ireland games in school.

frantic190

• The Match of the Day music has been in my head as far back as I remember.
  
• Subbuteo, lots and lots of Subbuteo.
  
• Collecting football stickers - Have these been completely replaced by these Match Attax things?
  
• Watching Ireland games in the P.E. hall in school when we made it to major competitions.
  
• I also remember sitting on my Dads shoulders walking up to Dalymount Park on a cold wintery night, and seeing the iconic floodlights lit up. They used to look massive when I was smaller. (See picture below)
  
• My dad teaching me anti-Rovers propaganda - "Who do we hate?" "Rovers!"
  
• I remember running over to the side of the pitch as the players were warming up looking for autographs on their pictures in the program.

Ah, those were simpler times

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

Great idea for a thread.

• The Primary school getting everyone in the school into the common room to watch ALL of Irelands qualifying matches for USA 1994. First one was Latvia I think. Was an Ireland supporter from then on.
• At my Grannys house when I was about 8 with all the older cousins watching TV and seeing some young lad in a red shirt flying down the wing. From then I was supporting Manchester United along with the Irish national team and little did I know that Ryan Giggs would still be playing 18 years later.
• The morning after Cantona's kung fu kick and having a class discussion from 9.30 to 10.30 talking about the ramifications.
• Total Football magazine which is gone now. I always thought it was better than FourFourTwo.

I only recently got back into football and it's way better now with the Internet. I remember when RTE lost all highlights rights and we never had 'the channels'. So from 1996-1998, I'd be reading about goals every week in Match and Shoot magazine and had to imagine them in my head. Sometimes they'd have diagrams of how goals happened like the Georgi Kinkladze one against Southampton. Now I can watch it straight away on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg57cOivaQc

blue-army

- Sticker books

- First Waterford United game v Bohs back in 03. Lost 1-0 I think, Glen Crowe scored!

- World Cup 2002 - We got a half day from school for the games. Remember having a flag in basically every window of the house, and going absolutely mental when Robbie scored vs Germany.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWg9VOjWVr4

- Biggest game in Chelsea's history. Could well be where Leeds/Forest are now had they not won this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRFgyWziMJw

Zola's last game too, and he was unbelievable! Ruined Jamie Carragher and the whole Liverpool defence for the 90mins.

OPENROAD

JVC and Arsenal The Perfect Match

3hn2givr7mx1sc

OPENROAD wrote: »

JVC and Arsenal The Perfect Match

I remember getting all bitchy with my parents after they replaced the Sharp video recorder with a JVC one.:D

jive

(half way line against wimbledon)

There's a few that stick out in my mind!

OPENROAD

baz2009 wrote: »

I remember getting all bitchy with my parents after they replaced the Sharp video recorder with a JVC one.:D

lol, always wanted mine to buy JVC, eventually they gave in and bought me a JVC Hi-FI They were under strict instructions not to buy any Sharp products :D

GavRedKing

Remember all the sticker collecting....have, have, have, have, have, need, have, need, need.

Playing a game of WC with about 10 people and no one wanting to play on goal and the accusations flying when somthing dubious happened.

If ya ever had some wood metal and ye made a goal, the awful feeling when ya realised it would either be burned/stolen by one of your neighbouring estates over night.

Good times.

keano_afc

• Saint and Greavsie on a Saturday
• Following the scores on teletext, ITV, page 141. If Arsenal were at home it was always the first score
• Playing 3 and you're in, on the volley and off the pole during the summer holidays
• Singing Amhran na Bhfriann in our school playground at lunchtime when Ireland were playing. That was in the days when all Ireland games were 3pm kick offs coz there were no floodlights in Lansdowne
• Sportsnight on BBC if there were midweek games on.
• Getting my first summer job during Euro 88 and having to work while we played Holland.
• World cup 90: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9zotjtiXdk

The_Kew_Tour

Collecting stickers, buying all the United and Cork City jerseys.

Buying Match magazine every Thursday.

going to City games in Bishopstown and remember when Turners Cross had just shed and grass rest way around.

Going to my first Ireland match in 1993 when beat Lithuania 2-0.

Going to my first Man United game against the mighty Luton Town in March 1991

That_Guy

Sticker albums. 3 "normals" for a shiny of course.

Fly goalkeeper.

My first Newcastle jersey with the Newcastle Brown Ale sponsor on it. Happier times eh?

Fantasy football when it wasn't online. Myself and my dad used to do it from the paper every week.

That goal by Beckham against Wimbeldon.

PiE

Yer da bringing home the late edition of the Evening Herald on a Saturday and giving you the pink sheet with the afternoon scores in.

jonnyfingers

• Watching Ireland v Malta in 1989 at Landsdowne Road. It was my first match. I was decked out in all the gear, shorts, jersey, cap and scarf. And we won 2-0!
  
• Meeting Phil Babb, Niall Quinn and Roy Keane.
  
• Playing football at the top of our cul de sac where two vertical cracks in the wall and the top of the wall made the perfect sized goal!
  
• Playing an Irish v Spain match against the Spanish students that were over for the summer, and hammering them.
  
• Telling my mother that all I wanted for my birthday was the Man United away jersey. Instead she bought me the Arsenal home jersey "because it looked nicer", and she made me wear it all the time.

bonerm

Those hard orange "PE balls" that you'd get in primary school. Slightly smaller than a regulation ball and harder. I remember we would ask the teacher for a lend of one and use them for a kick-around during the lunchbreaks.

Also merely being introduced to "league tables". Up until about the age of 9 I'd presumed the only way sport could be contested was on a knock-out basis. The idea of "everyone playing everyone" seemed fascinating in itself.

Ireland games during the WC 90 qualification campaign. Because Ireland had no floodlights all the games had to be played 2pm on a Wednesday. Basically the school ceased operation and we all sat and watched Northern Ireland (H) and Malta (A). It was a big deal. I remember feeling a little sad when the floodlights went into Lansdowne in 1994 because that aspect of "dossing off to watch the match" would be lost forever.

bonerm

"League Ladders" in shoot magazine. What a stupid idea in retrospect.

http://throughyourlegs.blogspot.com/2010/06/league-ladders.html

Third_Echelon

Wow... lots of memories there alright...

Euro '88 would have been the first time that I knew that Ireland had a football team. I was 7 that summer. Italia 90 though was the first real tournament where I knew all the players and really understood the format etc. The Panini Italia '90 sticker book collection was of course doing the rounds in school and the delight of getting rid of doubles for stickers that you didn't have at break time.



I grew up an Everton fan (still am for my troubles) and remember being so excited at the prospect of getting to see Goodison Park. On the way back from a family camping holiday in France (took boat back from Calais to Dover, drove to Liverpool to get the boat to Belfast). It was the summer of Italia 90 so I was football mad on the brain. Anyway. Rolled up to Goodison Park at 6AM on a Sunday morning i think it was. Half asleep in my Everton kit to get the obligatory picture in from of the Goodison Road stand. Every time i see that picture now i find it hilarious. I looked so tired, but was so happy to see where my heroes played


- playing "world cup" was always a favourite game of mine out on the football pitch in the estate where I lived. First to score, then into the next round. 20 lads cheering on awaiting their turn. I also loved being the goalie so you could do your best Walter Zenga impressions

- playing a match against the neighbouring estate. The place packed out of it.

- those 40 vs 40 games in school with a tennis ball and bins for goalposts and scoring the winner just before the bell went. You were a legend until the next break time

- match of the day. saint and greavsie on a saturday lunchtime followed by an episode of Air Wolf and The A-team.

Then in the mid 90s, RTE's delayed coverage of matches.

great memories there. I wish football was still as enjoyable as it was back then...

That_Guy

When all sports shops used to sell a wide range of Newcastle jerseys... Including goalkeeper jersey's. :eek:

bonerm

Third_Echelon wrote: »

Wow... lots of memories there alright...

Euro '88 would have been the first time that I knew that Ireland had a football team.

Same here, which was ironic because I had the Panini Mexico 86 sticker book which listed the qualification groups for that tournament (including Ireland). Unfortunately for some reason Panini liked to list every team in their own language so "Ireland" was listed as "Eire" and I didn't know that word at that age so I just went on presuming that GAA was the only sport played in this country. :rolleyes:

Anyone else remember this? http://anicepairofslacks.blogspot.com/2010/06/massing-and-all-that.html

Turtyturd

That_Guy wrote: »

Fly goalkeeper.

Was that the same as "Last man back"?

Also remember traffic cones or steel bars plus the orange plastic netting used by "The Corpo" making really good goals.

Dozen Wicked Words

Few early memories of football for me.
Collecting the stickers for the 1982 World Cup at school, watching the final in Italy with an Italian family going as mad and as animated as you would expect.

First game I went, no idea who it was against, but sitting in the Hotel End terracing crying that I wanted to go home. (There are times watching Northampton now I still feel like that!)

First time I saw trouble at a match was Brighton v Chelsea, fairly horrible for a couple of isolated policemen on the pitch.

First trip to Wembley watching Chelsea beat Man City in the Full Members Cup Final.

SlickRic

everyone wanting to be Schillaci in school the Monday after Ireland went out of Italia '90.

the teacher rolling in a TV from God knows where, and putting the Ireland qualifier on for us, obviously because she couldn't be arsed doing any more work.

putting my t-shirt over my head when i scored...aka, RAVANNNELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5PT65I2ny8

sticker albums. people with bag fulls of 'swaps' and kids behind trees swapping with each other as if they were dealing crack.

it'll never be like all that again

_blank_

Turtyturd wrote: »

Was that the same as "Last man back"?

No, a fly goalie is a designated goalkeeper, but he's allowed to play outfield too.

Usually in games with odd-numbered players, the team with the extra man had to have a stick goalie, who wan't allowed outside his box, the other team had a fly goalie, who was.

Last man back meant the fella nearest the goal was the keeper, if anyone else caught the ball, or blocked it with their hand it was a penalty. Nice arguments involving a tape measure nearly

Is it a goal if it rolls over the jumper?

Necronomicon

Des wrote: »

Is it a goal if it rolls over the jumper?

Oh man, the arguments. Also, how high over the keeper's head is over the bar?

Refereeing decisions with no referee, with everyone just shouting at each other until some semblence of consensus is reached.

When I was really young I remember getting up on Saturday mornings at an ungodly hour and playing football with a balloon in the living room, where I was every player on the pitch.

keano_afc

Necronomicon wrote: »

Oh man, the arguments. Also, how high over the keeper's head is over the bar?

Refereeing decisions with no referee, with everyone just shouting at each other until some semblence of consensus is reached.

When I was really young I remember getting up on Saturday mornings at an ungodly hour and playing football with a balloon in the living room, where I was every player on the pitch.

When I was young the bar was how high the keeper's arms went up over his head. Way around it then was to stick one of the small lads in goal, twas great.

_blank_

Necronomicon wrote: »

Oh man, the arguments. Also, how high over the keeper's head is over the bar?

The height of his upstretched arm when he jumps of course.

We used to have trees lining the green, so we'd use a jumper for one post and a tree for the other, and pick a low hanging branch as the crossbar height though. Still arguments.

Necronomicon wrote: »

Refereeing decisions with no referee, with everyone just shouting at each other until some semblence of consensus is reached.

We still made better calls than half the professional refs nowadays though :pac:

mikemac

Late 80's, early 90's there was Italian football on Irish TV.
Me being young picked Sampdoria, what a team! Mancini, Lombardo, Palguica, Vialli
Still support them to this day

Pepe Signori was the god of the league, amazing player

The start of the program was "Gooooo latchooooo" and in school and on the training pitch we had endless debates about what was said.

Italia 90 and we collected those coins.
Costa Rica was a rare one as I remember

And then getting sticker albums and buying Pannini stickers every week

missingtime

Becoming a Sampdoria fan while watching Italian soccer on network two
Knock-off Ireland jerseys from Pennys
Writing out what stickers I needed, several times so it was neat and "professional looking", for my sticker-book collection
John Barnes becoming my favourite player
Playing world cup and the arguments on whether or not power counted if the shot was deflected in off someone else.

Probably loads more...

Jimmy Iovine

FA Premier League Stars, my favourite PS1 game of all time. I woke up played this game, went outside played a match and came back in and played it again. There was a star system and you increased your players stats by sc oring goals and assists and so on.

I bought Zola and scored 256 goals in a season with him. That record still stands .

I also bought Raul I think and scored 29 goals with him on his debut. All my players were on 99 and I regularly scored goals from the halfway with Beckham.

I was very talented at that game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f6QnqH8mUk

Jimmy Iovine

mikemac wrote: »

The start of the program was "Gooooo latchooooo" and in school and on the training pitch we had endless debates about what was said.

According to James Richardson, and assuming we're both talking about the same programme, it was actually "golazo".

For years I told people it was golazo - which means what an amazing goal. But then I heard Steve De Berry who'd produced the music for the show say he'd wanted it to sound like 'go Lazio' because of Paul Gascoigne presenting it and so had added a twist to the soundbite. It became the signature sound of Italian football for a generation of English fans. It also took me more than a season to realise why the show was called 'Gazzetta', and it was again because of Gazza.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/aug/12/sport.obsmagspecial8

I remember shouting 'go Lazio' out plenty of times when I was younger without knowing what it meant.

mikemac

Fantasy football before the internet

It still worked the very same, you have a set budget and have to fill positions.

You then need a touch tone landline (very few had mobiles back then) and you were prompted and had to enter a code.

The calls took ages and were on premium rates so wait until the Telecom Éireann bill arrives and the parents see :eek:

You didn't check the result online, the Sunday papers would publish the results every week which I'd eagerly check.
You need need a pen and paper to calculate your points

Youngsters have it easy these days with their computers doing this for them lol