Matters soccer

Since the age of 12 I have supported Sheffield United Football Club 'The Blades' - well we all have one cross to bear! Rarely travelled to away matches, although I remember visits to Scunthorpe and Leicester and of course to the enemy in the north of the city.

On Sheffield United's away Saturdays I would watch Chesterfield 'The Spireites' at Saltergate. One season I even made trips to three of Chesterfield's away games: Chester - now closed down, Bradford Park Avenue - closed down but restarted in some lowly division and Rochdale - the worst ground I have ever visited.

Going to 'the match' was a weekend ritual: discuss the forthcoming game in the pub on Friday night, meet up with your mates before the game, watch the match: Bovril and pie at half-time, buy the Green 'Un; a special Saturday paper produced by the Sheffield Telegraph on all matters football and sold after 6.00PM. Sunday lunch: down the pub and pick over the previous day's football events.

I stopped going to matches sometime in the late 1980s when commercialism really took hold and clubs stared importing players from all over the place. When I watched football most of the team would have consisted of local lads and the football club was part of the community.