As a babe in arms, I was taken to Boothferry Park to my first football match by my Hull City supporting mother and grandparents. My uncle was the captain of the City youth team having been loaned back to the club by Manchester United until he had grown a little and had his career ended at a young age when playing in a reserve match against Sunderland at Roker Park. My grandparents owned the village shop in Nafferton and every other Saturday would close the shop at midday much to the annoyance of the village in order to watch their beloved Hull City. Younger readers might be surprised to learn that all matches kicked off at 3.00pm on a Saturday and there weren't any live matches on the television.
Visits to my grandparents tended to involve taking in a game and then, to my mum's dismay, in 1974 at Boothferry Park, I saw a team with an exotic sounding name who had a long-haired player called 'Chico' Hamilton and that was my team, Aston Villa.
Many years later when Ella, my first child, was born, she was given the middle name of Aston and a paver was bought at Villa Park with her name on. She left hospital in a Villa babygrow. She was a Villa supporter as far as I was concerned. Our first trip to Villa Park was scuppered due to illness, she was featured in the match day programme but I thought there would be plenty more opportunities to show her the grand old stadium. The grand old stadium with lots of ugly new bits added.
How wrong could I be?
My mum's cousin, who was a season ticket holder at the KC stadium, asked if I would like to borrow her ticket and her friend's for a game they were unable to attend and my seven-year-old daughter surprisingly expressed an interest in going. I took pencils, colouring book and comics for when she inevitably got bored. We had fantastic seats on the half-way line and alarm bells should have rung when Ella started expressing an interest in one of the players warming up in front of us before kick off.
Hull lost 1-0 against Bolton, thanks to a brilliant performance from Jaaskallainen in the Wanderers goal, but Ella had found her first hero, Michael Turner. She announced how much she had enjoyed it all with the killer words 'SORRY DAD, I'M HULL CITY NOW'!
I'm gutted she's not a Villa fan like her dad or brother, but proud of her for choosing Hull over the usual tedious suspects, whilst her enthusiasm has waned since she cried herself to sleep the night Turner was sold to Sunderland, arguing that, as he had signed her 'Tigers Forever' shirt only a week previously then he should be forced to stay, they are still her team and she refuses to engage with anybody who supports Leeds!
Her gran is even more proud of her too, especially as she feels it's some sort of revenge for a decision made almost 40 years ago! This season saw three generations of our family sat together watching City and Villa grinding out a tedious 0-0 draw but all of us proudly wearing our 'No To Hull Tigers' badges.
Memory added on August 22, 2012
Comments (Add your voice)
No comments have yet been added to this memory.
