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Posted by: avfcinwales
on Friday, November 05, 2004 - 04:29 PM
Malcolm's back - A trip down memory lane for a change with a kick off at 12.45...and no mention of Doug Ellis.
The good news. A Saturday kickoff
The not so good news Its at 12.45
The even better news, for some, its on Sky
So I can watch it with the aged one although with his age and susceptibility to strokes and my dickie ticker, the amount of alcohol consumed will be much restricted, his nurse, my eldest lad will no doubt ensure that.
Still I have a few bottles of Belgium beer left over from my spring trip, and have some more top of my Xmas list and I’m sure he will enjoy his usual bottle of Guiness along with the numerous cakes and pastries the cook at his residential home always plies us with.
She likes to see Ronny’s smile. 84 and he still manages to charm the females, mom always warned my wife I was the same and my son’s no different, must be in the blood, like supporting Aston Villa I suppose, cradle to grave.
Supporting the Villa indeed why do we do it. What is it that makes those of us able and fortunate enough to go down those dreary roads to that stadium, once every other week or so.
My dad remembers before the war, when streets were still filled with horse muck, most everyone wore cloth caps, and old dears came out to meet you and discuss that latest news from around the city. He remembers getting the tram from Ellison’s, of training at Birchfield as a teenager with the likes of Harry Parkes and Cummins, and of others lost in the great battle.
He remembers watching greats like pongo, his all time favourite and the honour of representing his country in Italy as the War came to an end.
He’s got his poppy and although he can’t stand anymore will still shed a tear come the 11th hour of the 11th day, when in his failing years he remembers old friends and colleagues who didn’t turn up in the Witton End when the war was over and Football came back, with many of those blokes he’d played with in Italy or on the shop floor, now promoted to the professional ranks.
As I’ve said before he took me down for my first match at Villa park in 1957 just after we’d won the FA Cup. What a time that was, the smells, the noise, so many people in differing favours, a sight you could never forget. They had their fun, adjourned to the pub for a few bevies and home for Saturday tea. Ham and salmon salad at our house, or if we was lucky my granddad had been to the fish market in the city centre, ‘town’ we called it, and bought a fresh crab.
That’s how I grew up, with my first Villa coloured rattle bought from Harry Parke’s shop along with my first set of boots, by my dad.
My nan knitted my scarf and so adorned I’d get the bus to Witton or Perry Barr and walk down to the Witton end, queue up and stand behind the goal at the front. When he could, my dad and his mates or one of my uncles would meet me there and take me home after the match, usually stopping off at the Crossroads pub where I’d sit outside and wait until they were done.
Remember the smell of those pubs of how the stink from the cellar always found its way outside especially on hot summer or spring days. No need for tv advertising in those days, you were just drawn to the nearest pub by a smell that is hard to find today, but the memory lives on.
As the years progressed on I used to play in the morning, go the Villa bowling alley for a burger and a few strikes and back to the Witton Lane stand with my season ticket to watch us in all sorts of strange games against all sorts of weird teams. Occasionally I’d take dad down when he wasn’t working and he always surprised me how he was just as fanatic as ever, as if he went down every week. Always careful of his languageat home it always went to the wall at Villa Park, but you could tell he’d enjoyed it.
Big matches, small matches it didn’t matter being at Villa Park is what mattered, it still does now, he misses it, misses being able to I suppose, but come Saturday, Portsmouth will get the usual abuse, even if its just a square screen its thrown at.
Win or lose he’ll enjoy it, so will I and my 2 sons, its never like being there but it’s a good second best.
Ron and Malcolm
According to some, no longer true supporters.
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