Jump to content

Our love for Derby County


Curtains

Recommended Posts

It’s a thing that never leaves you. 

My love started when I’d travel from Littleover to  the Baseball Ground and go in the Normanton End  and watch Reg Matthews in goal leaning on the post between attacks and watch Barrowclffe playing at Full back  .

Loved it from day one  

What is others first memories of watching Derby 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 47
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Nothing specific just the feeling I was important going with my Dad and his mates to watch this incredible event.  Lots of grown ups making the same sort of noise and feeling part of it.  That noise when a goal is scored. It is now more than 50 years since my first game and when I go to PP this Saturday I will get that same buzz, never goes away.  Sadly my Dad won't be with me anymore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Curtains said:

It’s a thing that never leaves you. 

My love started when I’d travel from Littleover to  the Baseball Ground and go in the Normanton End  and watch Reg Matthews in goal leaning on the post between attacks and watch Barrowclffe playing at Full back  .

Loved it from day one  

What is others first memories of watching Derby 

 

Was to young remember Geoff Barrowcliffe playing for Derby but as a kid can recall my dad speaking to him on many occasions on Bath Street in Ilkeston and being told he was former DCFC player and how good a full back he was, that would have been in the late 70’s early 80’s. My grandad had a season ticket at the BBG and first game I can recall going to was around 1973 ish (I’d be 10) against Stoke when his mate couldn’t make it. Been hooked ever since. ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Spanish said:

Nothing specific just the feeling I was important going with my Dad and his mates to watch this incredible event.  Lots of grown ups making the same sort of noise and feeling part of it.  That noise when a goal is scored. It is now more than 50 years since my first game and when I go to PP this Saturday I will get that same buzz, never goes away.  Sadly my Dad won't be with me anymore.

The buzz when Derby score is brilliant and it always will be. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Curtains said:

The buzz when Derby score is brilliant and it always will be. 

It is a very special feeling.

Non more so when Bobby Davison popped that one in against Plymouth 1987 and we went onto win the league. 

I had visited the Base ball ground before that but that day was my very first taste of success as a Derby fan.

Come on you Rams

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know why this sticks in my mind ,but my dad and grandad took me to a Boxing Day match at the BBG .I would be around 6 or 7 at the time it was snowing [just cleared the white lines in them days]and the Sally Army was playing outside the Baseball Hotel .

Very atmospheric and something I have always remembered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of my first memories, not my first match but, was watching us play Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Cup, I was apparently eight years old at the time (or so Wikipedia has just informed me). We were in the paddock under the C Stand but I got lifted up and I sat on the ledge of the C Stand - hail, hail to health and safety eh!

Think we won the home leg 12-0 but lost the away leg 13-0, though I admit I might be getting things a bit mixed up with that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But, to counter the original post, I have kind of lost my absolute love for it over the years and I am acutely jealous of those who have not. Someone once said that your football club is the only thing in life that you love for the earliest of times to your death bed - no other passion in life is with you for so long. But for me I just don't have the same craving for it as I did in my younger days when I simply could not wait for the weekend to come. I guess part of this has been because I haven't lived in Derby since my teens so I've been restricted to intermittent attendance plus I've not really had a 'gang of mates' to go to the booter with for a few years now. I still enjoy it, as I mentioned on another thread I am a recent convert to watching football on my own - it is far more engrossing spectacle - but I consider it more a series of one night stands now than a passionate relationship. Still love her though......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Curtains said:

What is others first memories of watching Derby 

 

I'm seeing bright, scorching sunshine.

I'm seeing "millions" of people smiling, cheering, laughing.

I'm wondering "why?", as all that is in front of us is a dour 0-0, being played out most certainly out of duty, and for no other reason.

I'm hearing light-hearted "accusations" of on-field drunkenness, but still the off-field cheers and smiles continue.

I'm remembering nothing whatsoever about the match itself, other than the final score.

I'm hearing a whistle.  I'm seeing the hordes escaping their concrete pig-pens below me, for the bright green turf... and helping themselves to their very own chunk of it!

I'm seeing those same hordes returning whence they came... but not to leave for home... but to turn, and once again face the arena, as the gladiators return to take their bow.

I'm seeing freshly laundered tops, gleaming white.  I'm seeing a fresh spring in the steps of the players that had disappeared down the tunnel moments before.

 

...Then out of nowhere... I see it... for the first time... something glistening in the bright sunlight, way below the gargantuan Ley Stand, at where I now stand upon my plastic fold-away seat, to peak a view twixt the shoulders of men... each laughing... hugging... crying!

Something so shiny, so bright, that for the first time in my life, I had an inkling that "maybe", there is such a thing as Heaven.  This simply could not have travelled from anywhere else!

The glistening grows ever nearer, ever brighter, and ever larger, as it is transported by hand, anti-clockwise around the pitch perimeter, until it is held aloft in front of my very eyes.  Teasing me to touch it, despite the physical distance being beyond possible.  I cannot reach, though as I try, it comes to me... Not into my hands.  Not even caressing my 13 year old ruddy cheeks.  But it comes to ME!  It touches ME... RIGHT IN THE HEART!

This was the whole point.  To be the best.  Numero Uno.  "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS"!  The best in the land.

 

Google tells me that was April 26th 1975. 

My memory, and the ensuing 44 years hence, tells me my first ever game was as good as it gets.  As good as it Can get!

... Why I bothered to carry on after that, Lord only knows!   If only I knew then what I know now!  LOL!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Majority of my friends that watch soccer are fans of either Man United, Barcelona, Arsenal, etc and are really just casual in that meaning they don't follow them as closely as you would if you were really a super-fan.  Really, that is the case with most Americans in general regarding non-MLS teams as Man United and similar tend to get the most press, tour the most over here, etc.

Me personally am very glad that I selected the Rams to be my team to cheer on.  I love the rich history of the club, how passionate the fans are regardless if at times they may go overboard in certain cases,  the overall community feel as it were of Derby, etc.  Being on this message board now for almost 5 years has just strengthened my love for the Rams even more by chatting with like minded Rams fans,  getting a better idea of how much this club really means to its supporters, etc.

Words can't describe how ecstatic we are to come to Derby next month to see the Rams in person; I might even shed a tear to be perfectly honest but it will be worth it to see the Rams come out in their black and white and get the 3 points.

American and a Ram fan 4 life.??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, AmericanRam said:

Majority of my friends that watch soccer are fans of either Man United, Barcelona, Arsenal, etc and are really just casual in that meaning they don't follow them as closely as you would if you were really a super-fan.  Really, that is the case with most Americans in general regarding non-MLS teams as Man United and similar tend to get the most press, tour the most over here, etc.

Me personally am very glad that I selected the Rams to be my team to cheer on.  I love the rich history of the club, how passionate the fans are regardless if at times they may go overboard in certain cases,  the overall community feel as it were of Derby, etc.  Being on this message board now for almost 5 years has just strengthened my love for the Rams even more by chatting with like minded Rams fans,  getting a better idea of how much this club really means to its supporters, etc.

Words can't describe how ecstatic we are to come to Derby next month to see the Rams in person; I might even shed a tear to be perfectly honest but it will be worth it to see the Rams come out in their black and white and get the 3 points.

American and a Ram fan 4 life.??

Which game(s) will you be catching? I hope they don't let you down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, BaaLocks said:

But, to counter the original post, I have kind of lost my absolute love for it over the years and I am acutely jealous of those who have not. Someone once said that your football club is the only thing in life that you love for the earliest of times to your death bed - no other passion in life is with you for so long. But for me I just don't have the same craving for it as I did in my younger days when I simply could not wait for the weekend to come. I guess part of this has been because I haven't lived in Derby since my teens so I've been restricted to intermittent attendance plus I've not really had a 'gang of mates' to go to the booter with for a few years now. I still enjoy it, as I mentioned on another thread I am a recent convert to watching football on my own - it is far more engrossing spectacle - but I consider it more a series of one night stands now than a passionate relationship. Still love her though......

Why did you have to counter the original post? This thread should be a celebration of happy memories. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Why did you have to counter the original post? This thread should be a celebration of happy memories. 

As you can see I started countering it but then, by the end, had countered my counter and admitted to myself that I do still love Derby. I know, utter drivel but it's all I'm capable of I am afraid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dads side of the family are villa fans ?‍♂️ My mums side are stoke fans, double ?‍♂️ though my mum was never a stoke fan and has now fully embraced being ram....anyway being a derby fan wasn’t passed down to me. 

At the age of 10 I didn’t really have a team, I just knew it wasn’t going to be Villa or Stoke. I did toy with the idea of Port Vale just to wind the relatives up, they weren’t a bad 2nd tier side back then.

Anyway, I was now living in Derby, the Rams had been promoted to the premier league which had caught my interest and I got a free ticket to watch Derby v Everton at the baseball ground with the football team I was playing for, for the record Mickleover All Stars...not even sure if they are still going.

we had a tour of the ground, and when in the changing rooms Igor Stimac appeared. it was my first and only game at the BBG, we lost 1-0 from a Nick Barmby goal, but I didn’t care. I had never loved anything so much in my life. I was well and truly hooked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't watch or even follow any other football. Can't even tell you off the top of my head who is top of the Premier League. I know it's either City or Liverpool at the moment. Third downwards and it's murky. Spurs probably third? God knows after that.

I'm not a football fan. I'm a Derby County fan. The only football that matters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Tombo said:

I don't watch or even follow any other football. Can't even tell you off the top of my head who is top of the Premier League. I know it's either City or Liverpool at the moment. Third downwards and it's murky. Spurs probably third? God knows after that.

I'm not a football fan. I'm a Derby County fan. The only football that matters.

I'm like this even in our own league.

Couldn't tell you where we are in the league, who's behind or in front, apart from Bristol!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...