November 1967... my first visit to Craven Cottage.

[keith]

I remember the day well.For months now my Dad had been promising me a trip to see Fulham play at Craven Cottage,and finally the day had arrived.We left our flat in the Elephant and Castle at about 1.15 and walked to the Tube station.Dad bought the tickets,and we got into the lift.In those days,when travelling in the lift,you were surrounded by concrete as you descended to the Platform,rather claustraphobic.Onto the Bakerloo line platform and on to the Tube Train.Some of the adverts on the walls were good;  "Afore Ye Go" advertising Johnny Walker Whisky."Brook Street Got Big By Bothering" a job recruiting agency,and, "Panatella,the Cigar that`s bigger than your Pint".So,where was i?.Oh yeah,Bakerloo line Train to Charing Cross,and then change onto the District Line,destination Putney Bridge.My memory of the journey was of people getting on the Train wearing Black and White scarves and hats,Fulham fans.This was unusual to me,because,coming from the Elephamt and Castle,i`d not seen many Fulham fans,and i thought it was great.Alighting at Putney Bridge,we got on a Bus to the ground.I remember the traffic being very slow,but we eventually got off.I remember being surrounded by what seemed like Thousands and Thousands of people all travelling in the same direction,along a road towards the ground.The glare of the floodlights in the distance will be forever etched on  my Brain and from what i could see,Craven Cottage looked massive.Once in Stevenage Road,after getting a Programme,Rosette,and a packet of "Percy Daltons" Peanuts,we went through this revolving gate.Blimey,the bright lights of the Floodlights,they were really blinding my eyes,and the big Green pitch,it was about Two Miles long!!!.We were in what was then called the Enclosure,"Boys 6d" the sign had read outside.Along with 85,000 other people (In my mind,anyway),we waited for the teams to come out.It was Fulham V Nottingham Forest,we had Johnny Haynes,George Cohen,Allan Clarke etc,surely we`d win,wouldn`t we?.I seem to remember there was lot of Red and White clad Forest fans scattered around the ground as there was no segregation then,in fact,Three were standing behind us in the Enclosure.The tannoy was playing "All you need is love" by the Beatles,"Release me" Englebert Humperdink and "Hole in my shoe" by Traffic.The BBC cameras were present,so it would be shown that night,and then the Teams came out to a massive roar.The players looked so Colourful to me under those  bright lights,as a mist rolled in from the Thames.And then we were off."Come on you Lily Whites" shouted Dad,"Come on Fulham" i followed.Amazingly,Allan Clarke scored in the First Minute,we were One up.Scarves were thrown in the air,rattles were whirled,Toilet roll was thrown onto the pitch followed by an invasion of Kids."Blimey" i thought "This is good".The rest of the half flashed by,along with the Second,in which Clarke scored again and it finished 2-0 to Fulham.When we got back to the Elephant and Castle,my Dad bought Fish and Chips for the Famillies Tea and that night i saw my Dad in the crowd on Match of the Day.Watching the game recently on youtube,i again saw my late Father in the crowd.It was a great day for Ten year old boy,on the First of many trips to Craven Cottage.COYW.

[watfordwhite]

Thank you for that, it was a great read.
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[keith]

Thank you sir.

[Chesh]

Thank you for that, it was a great read.
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Yep, I enjoy these Keith, keep 'em coming
:54:

[keith]

Will do Chesh,and thank you for your comments.

[TheDaddy]

Blimey i wish i could remember half the stuff i did this morning and im ten years younger !

Keep them coming Keith fantastic read...

[epsomraver]

Those were the days ! bit missed out that I remember was the way you got carried along by the crowd coming out especially when you came past the bottom of the floodlight by the cottage and hoped that those around you were going towards Putney as it was difficult to get your feet on the ground and I was a big lad for my age

[keith]

Thank you chaps.

[Travers Barney]

Great stuff yet again Keith

Seeing your Dad must have evoked some memories.

I saw some footage of Hillsborough 75 the other day that made me reflect and get nostalgic and a tad sad...can roughly make out where I was standing with a lot of family members who are not around these days...sorry to be a bit maudlin but old footage gets me that way!

coyw

[keith]

Me too TB.I was a big disappointment to my Dad in some ways,he was a Boxer and a bit of,shall we say,a rascal,and despite being dragged to spar at a Boxing club at the age of 5,i became an entertainer.I never forget the time i finished a "Gig" near my Parents house in Dunstable,and dropping in to see them late one night.I walked through the door and got some strange looks from my old man,i`d forgotten to take my stage make-up off!!!!.Still miss him though.Mind you he was proud of my Son when he captained his School Football team.

[OtterFFC]

Great read . . . Just after the 'Summer of Love' . . I was born the following year!  098.gif

[keith]

Thanks Otter.

[Fernhurst]

Great atmospheric post Keith, brought back wonderful memories.

[keith]

Thank you.

[Scrumpy]

As with everyone else, I enjoy these posts too. It was before my time so it is always interesting to here about what it was like in them days.

Keith, I have a couple of questions if you wouldn't mind..

1 - Why were the floodlights on at the start of an afternoon kick off? Was it always foggy in those days?

2 - You mention the Forest fans around you. Did you see any trouble? When was segregation introduced in football and was it as a result if any specific incident? Did all Clubs introduce it at the same time, or did some do it while others did not for a while?

When I get a moment, I'll try and recall my first game at The Cottage against Millwall. There was 'supposed' to be segregation for that one!

[Burt]

Great post Keith.

My first game (v. Blackburn in 1974) was a very peaceful occasion. Brother Burt took me, and left me to it whilst he mucked around with his mates by the green pole, where all the big people seemed to be. So I just roamed around the Hammersmith End at will. I am pretty sure I ended up in the Putney end too.

[MasterHaynes]

Thanks, great memories, you beat me to your first game by about 5 months, my first game I think was in the spring of 68 a 4-3 win against Burnley.

[bill taylors apprentice]

I had been going to matches for a few years by 67, (I was 12) sometimes on my own as my dad sometimes worked on saturdays.
We lived in Kingwood rd and I still remember the excitement in those days of watching the crowd of people build up as they past our house on the way to the game.
   

[keith]

Scrumpy.

It was a very misty day like it always seemed to be in the Winters of the Sixties.There was no trouble if i remember rightly,although there was a large group of Forest in the Hammersmith End singing. Segregation was introduced late Sixties/early Seventies at some grounds,later at others.Up until the beginning of 71/72 season,you could walk around Craven Cottage.It was only the Riverside stand being erected that the Riverside was blocked off.Even then,they used to open the gates at the Riverside about 15 Minutes before the end of a game. I didn`t feel threatened by the Forest fans by us,`c`os i had a lot of confidence in my Dad giving them a slap!!!!(You feel that way about your Dad at the age of Ten,don`t you?).

[Travers Barney]

A far cry from walking back to nottingham station after we smashed them 3-0 in the tigana beautiful season...the walk back along the trent was a bit lary...but I was living in some kind of dream world at the time....got back to Euston or wherever and on boarding the tube fuelled by the drink started the old ooh ah tigana rant....didnt care for one minute that no-one joined me...the party goers departed at leicester square or wherever but i was in my fulham utopia...didnt care who laughed at me i sung it with gusto....stuart my eldest didnt care either and he always was quite dignity is everything aware if you know what i mean!!...amazing days that were before our premiership highs.

Mohamed Al Fayed I salute you.

coyw