How I achieved FIFTY YEARS without missing a single Bristol Rovers home league match..By David Clensy, reported in 2017.
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Malcolm Norman hasn't missed a single home league fixture for 50 yearsMalcolm Norman couldn't feel more at home as he takes his seat in the West Stand of the Memorial Stadium. Seat V89 has become a sort of spiritual home for him.
Having just notched up the impressive achievement of 50 years without missing a single Bristol Rovers home fixture, he knows the seat pretty well – just as he knew his previous seats at Eastville Stadium and at Twerton during the team's decade in exile in Bath.
Seat V89 is far more than simply a place for Malcolm to watch the football. It represents his place in a community – both the wider community of Pirates, but also in the micro-community, of the sort that develops in every corner of every football stand in the country.
He knows his "neighbours" as well as he knows his neighbours at home in Bradley Stoke. Perhaps better. After all, he sits with them all for a couple of hours each week. He's even attended many funerals of people he knew only within the context of this row of fold-down plastic seats.
i2-prod.bristolpost.co.uk/incoming/article2743.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200e/Malcolm-Norman.jpgMalcolm NormanBut for Malcolm there will always be a quiet special significance to the seat to his left. It was for many years his father Ray's seat – the man who first took him to see Rovers play, and who was his constant companion in the stands for more than four decades, until his passing seven years ago.
"I always feel dad is still here with me on a Saturday afternoons somehow," Malcolm says, with a glance up to the skies above the centre circle. "He's with me in spirit here."
'Opportunity for father and son to bond'Malcolm was first introduced to Rovers by his father in 1964, as an eight-year-old boy.
"My dad had been a regular at Eastville Stadium from the end of the war," he says.
"I inherited my passion for the team from him. I used to love going to the match with my dad. I suppose it was an opportunity for father and son to bond. It was my chance each week to sit down with him for a couple of hours each Saturday without fail.
"In a funny way, it still brings me close to him, even though he's been gone for seven years."
Retired postman Malcolm has taken his father's passion for Rovers to new levels, by not missing a home fixture in 50 years. That is now a tally of 1,137 consecutive home league matches that he has watched.
Indeed, the 59-year-old clearly has something of a soft spot for statistics. He is quick to explain the breakdown of that figure – 451 matches at the original Eastville Stadium, four at Ashton Gate and 230 at Twerton Park – following the fire that devastated Rovers' original ground in 1980 – and 452 at the Memorial Stadium.
"I'm hoping I'm around long enough to clock up a decent tally at the new ground," he adds with a smile. "Now we have our new owners I'm more confident than ever that the vision will come together for the club.
"In fact, it's a really exciting time to be a Rovers fan. There is so much promise now, after a few difficult years. The toughest moment was undoubtedly when we lost to Mansfield in 2014 to be knocked out of the league.
"I'd never imagined that I'd ever witness Rovers fall out of the league. I was absolutely devastated. It is still painful to remember – nothing will ever compare to the feeling of devastation on that day – May 3rd, 2014.
'I have boxes of programmes everywhere'"Though there have been a few low moments – you're bound to get plenty of them in 50 years.
"The relegation in 2001 to the bottom tier of league football for the first time in the our club's entire history was also pretty hard to take.
"But there have been some great times too," he adds. "The last few years have been brilliant.
"To make an immediate return to the Football League in 2015 was an incredible achievement and the season in the Conference saw our biggest home win in more then half a century, when we beat Alfreton Town 7-0.
"The only other seven goals I've seen was in September 1971 – 7-1 in a match against Bradford City."
i2-prod.bristolpost.co.uk/incoming/article2742.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200e/Malcolm-Norman.jpgMalcolm Norman with his dad RayMalcolm's memory of watching the club is extraordinary – no doubt helped by the fact he has kept every single match day programme from the 50 years.
"It is quite a collection," he says. "But it has rather taken over my house now. I have boxes of programmes everywhere – in cupboards, under the stairs, pretty much everywhere. I actually keep a special few in display cases."
Malcolm even has the programme – passed lovingly from his father – for the last home fixture he actually mixed. It was February 19, 1966, when Rovers took on Mansfield Town at home, and it's clear that Malcolm is still quietly reeling from the disappointment of not being there.
"I was stuck in Frenchay Hospital with appendicitis, knowing that the match was going on out there just across the city" he grumbles, as he flicks through the historic programme.
"What made it worse, was we won 6-0 that day. It wasn't a good one to miss."
Malcolm's extraordinary passion for watching his side playing at home has not been without its sacrifices.
He has lost count of the birthday parties and weddings of friends and relations he has missed in favour of his beloved Pirates.
What's more, Malcolm has been unable to take a holiday during the football season for the entire course of his adult life.
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That's all before trying to imagine how much he has actually spent on the pleasure of sitting in the windswept West Stand, cheering on Rovers through all that rain and relegation.
"It is one of the more expensive seats," he says. "I think I pay something like £390 a year for the season ticket. But it is my great interest. I don't think that's too much to pay for something you are this passionate about. After all, most people spend that much each year on a week's holiday.
"It has restricted what I can do at weekends during the season, but I can't complain. It's not felt like a sacrifice for me. I just love it so much. It's my life."
All time best matchOf the 1,137 home matches that Malcolm has watched as Bristol Rovers' most avid fan over the last 50 years, one stands out as his all-time favourite.
It was May 2nd, 1990, when Rovers enjoyed a 3-0 win against local rivals Bristol City.
