From The Victoria Ground to Club Berchem & back...(part 1)

Let me take you on a journey through the tough streets of hartlepool to the first football game i ever attended..Sadly i don't have a programme from the game but do remember me and my dad getting on the bus at peterlee and heading off on the short journey to THE VICTORIA GROUND..
It was quite an adventure for me and i remember it all very well..the opposition was stockport county and we sat in the old wooden stand on clarence road..the game itself is a bit of a blur but i remember we won 3-0 and there was a penalty..this stands out in my mind because my dad told me i had to reel off the scorers and the penalty taker when we got home to mam..alas that bit is well faded in my memory.

Next stop i remember on my voyage through football was to roker park to see sunderland take on cardiff city..this became quite a memorable game as shortly afterwards i was hit with meningitis and rushed to hospital and then to the old isolation hospital in sunderland which i believe was the havelock or something similar..

Anyway now fully recovered and back to my family..we moved to antwerp,belgium as my dad was employed there within the oil industry..

Living in the area of antwerp called berchem..the local team was kv berchem sport and my dads mate mike kear was a full time pro for them..in fact as you'll see from the video, he was the first full time pro..
Now the unusual thing back then was that games were played on a sunday..so off we'd set up our street and  along to the stadium which was not too far away..first memories were of lots of colour when entering the stadium (black & yellow) , flags scarves and fans with claxons making a right racket..second memory was the hot-dogs..omg these were the real deal and served up with mustard..something i'd never tasted before but loved from the first bite..

Anyway we took our places in the stand and waited for "uncle mike" to come out with the other players..all exciting stuff for a 6 year old..the game has faded once again into memory but the sights and smells still linger.

We often went down to see berchem sport and it was a great family day out for us..also my dad took me a few times to see near neighbours royal antwerp..now this was special..a huge stadium and the noise was deafening with the fans singing and dancing right through the whole game.

After a couple of years living in antwerp,we moved back to the north-east and the hustle and bustle of middlesbrough..Good thing was we lived in the then dragonara hotel (ladbrokes) for about a year untill my parents found a suitable home for us in linthorpe.

One amazing story i must share was when the mighty liverpool stayed at the hotel prior to playing the boro the day after..i remember all the stars and got autographs and pats on the head from them all and the manager bob paisley (if only we'd had camera phones back then and facebook or twitter)..also with the team was jimmy tarbuck the scouse comedian whose incessant laughter scared the life out of me..

Next day me and my dad set off to ayresome to se the boro play the mighty liverpool..the result was 1-1 and to be honest i was terrified..lots of  drunken blokes fighting and pushing around us...still that was something i had to get used to quickly because middlesbrough was and still is one of the toughest towns in britain...