Football is more than just a game for so many reasons. This is mine. I am Bradford born and am the fourth generation of my family to support Bradford City. We’re not a big club and apart from two maverick seasons we spent in the Premier during the 1990s, perpetual under-achievers and mediocre humdrum. But from as early as I can remember, they’ve been my team and always will be.
Between the ages of nine and thirteen, life in my family was difficult. My Dad – ex-pro wrestler and boxer, sergeant in the military police – descended into darkness, manic depression and a series of nervous breakdowns. Life for my Mum, my two brothers and myself became one of walking on eggshells, fearful and unsure about what the next day would bring. My Dad, locked into a helllhound trail of Valium and a cocktail of other inexpertedly recommended anti-depressants, dominated every breathing moment of our home like a great black dog. Much of my life between nine and thirteen, was spent under the covers. Hiding. Trying not to be there.
What kept me going was this pretty ordinary little lower league football club called Bradford City. My Uncle Albert took me to some games. My Great Uncle Billy would religiously give me match programmes and cuttings of match reports from Bradford’s evening newspaper, The Telegraph and Argus. One day, my Uncle Albert took me down to Bradford City’s ground, Valley Parade, to watch the players go in for training. As a nine-year-old, my hero was Bobby Ham – five foot six inches tall, thighs like tree trunks and City’s top scorer. I spotted him amongst the gaggle of players going into the ground. He wore a gold coloured bri-nylon roll neck sweater and tartan slacks and a haircut out of the army barber’s manual. I pushed my autograph book into his hand, he smiled, scribbled onto a page and then disappeared into the ground. I looked at what Bobby Ham had written, and it said `Get Lucky’ signed `Bobby Ham’. I gazed at this in awe. He knew. He knew about my awful life. And this was a message from my footballing hero. Get Lucky. I was just a kid, ready for any sign that my life could get better. In two sketchily written words, my hero had confirmed that there was hope.
Well, this is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a marvellous job!
Extremely interesting post thanks for writing it I have added your site to my favorites and will check back By the way this is a little off topic but I really like your web page layout
yours
Leia Lamarr
Hey man, was just looking through the internet searching for some information on this and stumbled your site. I am impressed by the information that you have posted. It shows how well you understand this. Bookmarked this page for further reading, will come back for more.