50 years a gashead

My first game was as a 10-year-old at Eastville, when BRFC played West Ham United FC, on the 31 August 1957. I remember very little about the game itself, probably because I didn't know what was going on too well, but I do remember vividly the WHUFC goalkeeper Ernie Gregory, who seemed to me to be a giant of a fellow, and who was very tall and well built. Around that time, if there was a big crowd at Eastville, then my father would call out ''boy coming through,'' and the supporters would make way for me to get to the barriers down by the greyhound track. Perhaps I was lucky, but I always remember that this was done with good humour and much ruffling of hair from the older supporters.

My comment about not knowing what was ''going on'' is not entirely in jest, because remember that there was little TV (certainly not where I lived) at the time, and I'm quite certain that there were no football programmes like Match Of The Day on TV either, they came along quite a number of years later. So it was mostly down to what you had learned through kick-a-bouts in the street, and what older boys (and your dad) had told you. Does anyone else on here remember the ''live'' radio coverage from Molineux, when Wolverhampton Wanderers played in an early form of European competition? 

I can remember spending ages and ages of my young life cutting out pictures of players, match reports and the like, and pasting them all in my scrap book. This gave me an insight into the history of clubs, the colours that they wore, their nicknames, where they played etc. I positively drooled over the likes of Spurs and White Hart Lane, the players featured on cigarette cards, and was always intrigued that Blackburn Rovers should play in such a similar style shirt to ourselves. It was all the more rewarding when I was able to go and visit these teams and places myself.

I often wonder whatever happened to those old scrapbooks, and my stamp collection if it comes to that.