I HAVE vivid memories of the very first live football fixture I went to when I was eight years old.
Let me take you way back to Wednesday 18th August 1971 as Chelsea lost 3-2 at home against Manchester United in the top flight. Prior to that, I had only ever observed matches on television.
The reason I went to this game was because my Irish mum totally idolised United’s Belfast-born star George Best.
So at 6pm on the evening in question, she arrived home from work and spontaneously decided that we should both go to Stamford Bridge. Therefore we dashed out and jumped on the tube near our house in Golders Green.
An hour later, we were outside the stadium ahead of a 7.30pm kick-off. I can visualise the excited hustle bustle caused by thousands of people swirling around en masse.
And I was intrigued to hear distinctively raw London accents of assorted street traders near the main entrance:
“PRO-GRAMME! GET YER PRO-GRAMME!”
“ROASTED PEANUTS! ’OT DOGS! ’AMBURGERS!”
The pungent aroma of frying onions filled my nostrils. But as an impoverished one parent family we simply couldn’t afford to buy any of the delicacies on offer. Indeed, we had just enough money to cover admission.
Anyway, my mum thought we would easily be able to acquire seat tickets. However, Chelsea only had two grandstands in those days and we hadn’t anticipated the massive crowd of 54,763 that was present!
So we ended up paying to stand on the huge curved North Terrace behind one goal.
This was absolutely jam-packed so we couldn’t see any of the first half due to the sheer volume of heaving bodies in front of us. Chelsea opened the scoring and we were left to work out what had happened by the roar of the crowd.
A transmission chain of information followed. Lucky spectators with a good vantage point at the front of the terrace relayed the name of the goalscorer to those of us at the back who were totally oblivious as to what was going on.
We thereby discovered that Tommy Baldwin had put the ball in the net for Chelsea.
Undeterred, we strategically manoeuvred to a slightly less crowded spot during the half-time interval. And my mum lifted tiny me up on to her shoulders so that I could view the action at last.
My first impression was that the pitch seemed so vibrantly green bearing in mind I was used to a humble black and white TV set at home.
Then as the teams emerged for the second half, I remember counting up the players on both sides in my nerdy fashion.
George Best is the reason I was taken to my 1st ever football match. My Irish mum idolised George so we went to Chelsea v Man Utd in 1971
— Tony Incenzo - my 50th football season (@TonyIncenzo) July 2, 2017
I said: “Mum, I think Manchester United have only got ten men!”
I was right! It transpired that George Best had been sent-off five minutes before the break for swearing at referee Norman Burtenshaw.
So we went through that whole complicated palaver to watch George in action but we didn’t actually see him kick a ball on the night!
My other main recollection was witnessing United’s Bobby Charlton score a trademark thunderbolt effort where he hammered into the roof of the net from 30 yards. It turned out to be the winning goal.
Well there is more to this story moving forward 28 years later! After I had progressed into my media career, I attended a Football Writers’ Association Dinner at London’s plush Savoy Hotel in 2000.
This was an official tribute event for George Best and - knowing that the great man was going to be present - I bought an extra ticket for my mum.
George sat on the top table with his wife and received a presentation for outstanding services to football. As soon as that ceremony had been completed, my 65 year old mum suddenly launched herself forward without warning.
She nipped around the back of the top table and tapped the special guest of honour on his shoulder. As he looked up in surprise, mum said: "George – a pleasure to meet you.
"My son Tony is a football reporter. When he was a little boy, I took him to his first match to watch you play. But you got sent-off before we could see anything…"
The look of bemusement on George’s face is still indelibly etched in my mind!
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 22nd December 2022
