I was born in the small Worcestershire town of Bromsgrove. It's where I spent my formative years - I attended my first school there, it's where I made my first friends, but perhaps most significantly of all, it's where I experienced my first live game!
The story goes that my dad was decorating and wanted me out of the house. My mum wondered where she could take me and realising that the Rovers were at home, settled on a visit to the Victoria Ground. I do not know the exact date or who the opponents were that day, however I remember being lifted over the turnstile and enjoying the game. I must have done, because I went back regularly after that!
The first actual fixture that I remember was Newport County in the FA Cup. We lost 1-0, and the small stadium was packed, as I recall. I recently bought a programme from the game, on Ebay, because if I ever owned one at all, I lost it decades ago.
When I was nine years old, my family moved to the other side of the beautiful county that is Worcestershire, so I stopped attending Rovers' games. That's how it may have continued, but for a visit to my Nana's in the spring of 1992! Out of boredom I read her Sunday paper from cover to cover and realised my home town team were top of the Beazer Homes Premier League, or Southern League, as it was known prior to the days of sponsorship. And so it began!
I became utterly obsessed. We won promotion that season to the GM Vauxhall Conference, now known as the National League, and I somehow persuaded my mum to buy me a season ticket. I think I missed about three games all season - all away games, of course! I'd travel on the supporters' bus, which was full of cigarette smoke and a lot of boozy middle aged, and older, men. There were only another couple of kids who used to travel on it. I went up and down the entire country - Yeovil, Woking, Bath, Telford, Stalybridge, Farnborough, Boston, Altrincham and many more places.
Here's me at Wycombe, in February 1993, watching us lose 2-0 in the FA Trophy!
The above is a screenshot of the match highlights, which I found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZSZzEun6wU
Watching the Rovers made or broke my week, depending on the result. That season, I had a lot of good weeks, because we finished runners-up to Martin O'Neill's Wycombe Wanderers, who won the Conference at a canter as well as the FA Trophy.
For the next three or four years, my life was dedicated to Bromsgrove Rovers FC. That's all I really cared about. I used to know the club's premium hotline number off by heart and, this being in the days before the internet, I would phone at least a couple of times a week to keep abreast of the latest news.
Whilst I was able to persuade a few friends to go to home games with me, I could not get them to travel to away matches. In January 1994, we played away at Gateshead. There was no supporters' bus running, so, aged fourteen years old, I travelled there by myself on the train!
Whilst my passion for the Rovers was mostly innocent and benign, there was one occasion that I think about to this day and cringe. It followed an away fixture at Dover Athletic, on New Year's Day 1994. I travelled down by coach, which is a round trip of more than four hundred miles! We lost the game 4-3, and there was a controversial incident of some sort that involved a poor refereeing decision. Whether it really was objectively poor, I have no idea. However, at full-time, I and many other Rovers fans were screaming abuse at the referee, as he exited the field via a mesh tunnel. It was right next to where we were standing, and he responded by smirking and pursing his lips, imitating a kiss. I was apoplectic with rage - I felt we'd been cheated, and then the b**tard went and did that! I vividly remember sitting on the coach, seething, all the way home!
Here's a link to the video of their winning goal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M7JEYaIfMo
I was still furious when I arrived home, which amuses me now. However, you must remember that I was utterly obsessed - this was my life's passion. I had used my time on the coach to plot revenge; however, I just needed to know whether my simple plan would work. The programme helpfully provided the referee's first initial, surname, and the town in which he resided. I can still recall all of this information - a small town in Buckinghamshire! So, I 'phoned Directory Enquiries and asked for his telephone number, half expecting him to be ex-directory; he wasn't.
Now, I know that what I did was utterly pathetic! Trust me, I know. It was silly, petty, and vindictive too. However, at the time, I would have probably ordered a hit on the bloke if I could have. I hated him. So, I 'phoned the number and gave whoever answered it some abuse. I then did the same the following morning. Then, in the afternoon, I 'phoned again, and it was hastily answered. This time, seeking an explanation, I asked the man who answered why he'd made the decision he did. I still recall his reply, "I've 'phoned the police after your calls last night and this morning. They're tracing this call!" I hung up straight away and was worried sick for about a week that the police would come to my door.
I gradually fell out of love with the Rovers. I remember missing a home game for the first time, and it felt like I was cheating on a partner. Eventually, I went off to university and almost forgot about them, until I got chatting with a guy on my course. I arranged to borrow some of his notes and when I called to collect them, he showed me into his room. There, draped over the fireplace, was a Bromsgrove Rovers scarf!
Bromsgrove Rovers FC was founded in 1885. The club folded in 2010. It has been replaced by an impostor - a sickening, grotesque imitation. I curse 'Bromsgrove Sporting' with every fibre of my being.
Bromsgrove Rovers FC 1885-2010
Always in my heart
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