SPECIAL TRAINS
TRAVELLING football fans reach away games nowadays in a fleet of cars, luxury coaches and Inter-City rail services.
But back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the best way to attend fixtures around the country was by ‘Special’ train.
These ran to the more popular matches and were exclusively for the use of supporters with cheap fares on offer.
They would leave the main railway terminals and go straight to football destinations without stopping at any of the other stations en route.
It wasn’t publicised widely at the time, but I certainly felt those trains used as Specials were probably the oldest left on the tracks. This meant heating and air conditioning usually didn’t function very well.
For example on hot summer days at the start of the season, it was perfectly normal for the Specials to have the heating permanently turned up to maximum in the carriages whilst the sliding window openings were sealed shut so they could not be used. Basically it was like sitting in a sauna.
But for some strange reason, freezing cold winter away trips often saw no heating available on the Specials whatsoever. Accordingly, the windows were jammed open and could not be closed!
On a personal note, my favourite away trip of all-time following QPR was up to Liverpool for the Milk Cup Semi-Final Second Leg on Wednesday 5th March 1986.
The return fare on the Special was a bargain £11 in advance for supporters’ club members (£11.50p on the day). Advertised departure from London’s Euston Station was 3.20pm.
Looking back on my 50th season of regularly attending football matches, there were a couple of personal highlights. Firstly, here is the Daily Telegraph article from 19th April 2023 as I reached 50 years without missing a QPR home game... pic.twitter.com/930iIrFapB
— Tony Incenzo - football reporter (@TonyIncenzo) June 27, 2023
It eventually left at 3.35pm with 500 Rangers fans on board and arrived three hours later at a local station on Merseyside called Edge Hill.
From there a convoy of double decker buses transported supporters to Anfield, arriving outside the turnstiles 30 minutes before the 7.30pm kick-off. We joined another 2,500 R’s followers who had journeyed by road (including 35 full coach loads).
Own goals by Liverpool stars Ronnie Whelan and Gary Gillespie gave QPR a famous 2-2 draw that night and an overall 3-2 aggregate scoreline which took us through to the Final.
Our fans’ noisy celebrations at Anfield went on for a full 20 minutes after the final whistle and the Special train was unable to depart until 10.13pm. Everyone arrived back at Euston at 1.20am - very tired but extremely happy.
FIVE-A-SIDE TOURNAMENTS
I REALLY enjoyed attending national and regionalised five-a-side tournaments as a youngster.
The Daily Express Five-a-Side National Football Championship ran from 1968 to 1986 and was staged at Empire Pool Wembley (now called Wembley Arena).
It graced a Wednesday night in November with mini-matches (usually eight minutes long) starting at 7pm. Crowds of 8,000 to 10,000 were commonplace for this indoor knock-out competition.
There was wide-ranging coverage in the Daily Express newspaper, who were sponsors.
In addition, an hour of highlights were screened later in the evening on BBC1’s Sportsnight With Coleman show. Legendary broadcaster David Coleman commentated on the action.
The initial winners in 1968 were Charlton Athletic. Over the years, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal were amongst those who lifted the trophy.
Guest teams from Scotland were also invited to take part and Celtic actually won the competition in 1981. A ladies’ exhibition match was sometimes played in the interval too.
Sadly, the event started to lose appeal in the 1980’s. The BBC, who had televised the competition since it began, decided to pull out in 1983. This situation was not helped by the launch of a new Soccer Sixes competition held at the NEC in Birmingham.
The last winners of the Daily Express Five-a-Side National Football Championship were Norwich City in 1986 beating Manchester City 5-0 in the Final.
In addition, the London Five-a-Side Football Championship was first introduced in 1954 where Charlton Athletic were crowned as inaugural winners.
It was sponsored by the London Evening Standard for many years and extensive publicity for the tournament would appear in the paper’s sports pages.
A one hour highlights package was televised by ITV for their London region only (Thames Television) including commentary by the great Brian Moore.
The competition was played on a Wednesday night towards the end of the season and featured Football League clubs from London and the surrounding areas. The original venue was the Empress Hall at Earls Court but it transferred to the now demolished Harringay Arena after one year.
Then in 1959, the London Five-a-Side moved to Empire Pool Wembley where it remained until the last ever tournament in 1995 when Wycombe Wanderers were victorious.
*Credit for photos in this article belongs to @TonyIncenzo*
