I was nine years old and had seen some big matches on our little black and white TV at home in Purley: The FA Cup Final (Wolves 3 Blackburn 0), The FA Amateur Cup Final (Hendon 2 Kingstonian 1), the European Cup Final (Real Madrid 7 Eintracht Frankfurt 3 at Hampden Park) and England’s away matches in Hungary and Spain.
Havant & Waterlooville v Gosport Borough
FA Carlsberg Trophy
Semi-final first leg
3pm, Saturday 15 February
West Leigh Park
I kind of knew how it all worked.
My maternal grandparents had retired to Gosport, over the harbour from Portsmouth, and their brand new home in House Farm Road was a five-minute walk from Privett Park.
One August evening during one of our earliest family holidays down there I went with Dad and Grandad, both Brentford fans from many years previously, to see a pre-season practice match.
It may have been ‘First Team v Reserves’ or ‘White Shirts v ‘Red Shirts’.
Sitting amongst a sprinkling of people in the stand, wearing his chain of office, was the Mayor of Gosport. He knew Grandad and asked me if I’d like to be one of the linesmen! Someone handed me a huge flag and I was quickly bounding across the pitch to take up my position at the far touchline.
I think I must have got every decision wrong and the players were in stitches.
Being an unofficial match it isn’t one of my 6,587. My first proper one was an FA Cup First Round Proper tie between Crystal Palace and Hitchin Town at Selhurst Park three months later.
I saw quite a few matches at Privett Park during the ‘60s and those included the annual fixture for the ‘Coronation Cup’ between Gosport Borough and a Gosport League Representative XI.
I think the first of those was played on Christmas Day. After that it was always on Boxing Day. Gosport’s local rivals Fareham Town were the top team in the Hampshire League in those days and their clashes used to draw crowds of over a thousand. Gosport had a good run in The Amateur Cup one year and I saw them play at Hayes (won 4-0) and at Kingstonian (lost 0-4).
I still watch them a couple of times each season – I attended their Conference South match with Dorchester Town back in August (1-1) – and the thought of seeing them at Wembley is mind-boggling. I hope to be at the home leg of their FA Trophy Semi-Final with Havant & Waterlooville on 22 February. There is certain to be a Hampshire side in The Final!
Twitter: @thebarberfan
