Going to the match. No, not the LS Lowry painting, but something that many of us do week in, week out. Your fortnightly routine, whatever it may be, started somewhere.
My Goodison adventure began earlier, in 1985 when my dad sat me down beside the radio with him to listen to the European Cup Winners´ Cup Final. Even in a moment of amazing unbiasedness, a lifelong blue from a long line of lifelong blues, he still let me choose what team I was to support, but even as a three year old, my mind was already made up – I was born a blue.
The date March 5th 1988 may not mean much to other people but to me it is etched in to my memory forever – it was the day of my first match. Match details, well ask any 30 year old what they remember 24 years ago and you might not get much information. This game though, I remember well.
Everton 1 – 0 Newcastle, in the 28th game of the 1987/88 season. We were title holders, and ultimatley went on to finish 4th that year. Me and my dad made the short jouney from Cherry Lane, luckily only getting to the end of our road when he realised he´d left the tickets on top of the television. We got to our seats in the upper Bullens, two of 25,674, where my grandad had watched Pele and Eusebio 22 years earlier.
I was presented with my first programme, and I still treasure it to this day. This was followed by a 90 minute succession of ´Trio´ chocolate biscuit bars. As for match details, we won by a solitary Wayne Clarke goal. That was it, I was hooked for life.
As a footnote, this weekend is my wife´s first derby, her first actual Goodison match being some years ago, when we celebrated expecting a baby by going to see an Everton cup win. She was hooked and as for my daughter, she can support whoever she likes as long as it´s Everton!
Everton vs Newcastle 5/3/88
Adams, N
Clarke, W
Harper, A
Pointon, N
Sharp, G
Sheedy, K
Southall, N
Steven, T
Stevens, G
Van Den Hauwe, P
Watson, D