First match attended

Walsall 0 -6 Newcastle

Hooked for life.

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I cannot remember my first League game. My earliest programme is for the opening match under floodlights in December 1957 when Falkirk were our visitors but I had been to a few games before that.
My first visit to Fellows Park was much earlier probably around 1954 when a Great Uncle who was a Season Ticket holder took me to a reserve game in the old Birmingham League. I think the score was 1-1 and the opponents were Stourbridge Town (I think) .We sat in the old main stand on the wooden benches and I was told off for kicking the person in front of me!!! It must have been an exciting game !!!

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God I wish we had those two now. Proper footballers.

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That was some game

I’m sure I’ve tried to figure this out on here before. Pretty sure it was the 94/95 season but all I remember of the day was a protest on the pitch.

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Walsall 2 Mansfield 0, October 1986. I was in the Street End and it was so foggy that we couldn’t see past the half way line. Both goals were scored at the other end, and we only knew when the PA announced the scorer and we could see them kicking off again!

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Remember a protest last game of the season in 94, Lost to Mansfield when we had an outside chance of making play offs.

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That could be in with a shout. I don’t remember watching us play in the 93/94 kit, but if it was the last game of the season I’d not see that kit again, which could account for me not recalling it. :+1:

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I’ll bet you there isn’t.

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Walsall 1 - 1 Leeds (FA Cup 95)

When Marshy scored I remember being carries forward about 4 rows in the Gilbert Alsop. I was absolutely hooked from that moment on and thought all games would be like this :slight_smile:

What a great night that was

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Do you recall our bed-sheet flag?

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Trevor Woods heroics as well.

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OK scratch that … mind plays trick on you. Obviously the first memory that stuck but just looked at the 94/95 fixture list and I had gone to a fair few games before that so most likely it was Walsall v Northampton (1 - 1 Draw) and for the life of me I cannot remember anything about that game !

I am unsure of my 1st game but it would of been around 1994. (Aged 4)
I remember going to Bristol Rovers one year around that era and crying because Charlie Ntamark got sent off who was my favourite player and a friend of the family

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Walsall 2-2 Torquay United, 25th August 1990. My late grandad had bought me the kit for my birthday, Technology PLC the sponsors.

The first competitive game at the Bescot - and in what has become almost ritual for me now in important matches, I missed the first Torquay goal due to the incredibly long ticket office queue that me and my dad were stood in.

Matt Bryant will always have a small piece of the club history to his name. Would be intrigued to know if any other stadia’s first competitive league goal was an OG…

Happily, we didn’t have to wait to long for Stuart Rimmer to grab a Walsall goal, and I was hooked. Sat in the family stand for most of the nineties looking enviously across at the Gilbert Alsop, telling myself that one day I would stand on that terrace too. Thankfully managed to do a few matches standing there before they all-seatered it. Would love them to go back to standing one day - the matches always had better atmosphere with a bouncing home end.

Loved Colin Methven and Charlie Ntamark. Special mention too for Mike Cecere.

That season culminated in us beating Blackpool 2-0, they had brought tons of fans expecting a promotion party. When Ian McParland belted the second of his brace in the top corner, the family stand went berserk. Great feelings. 31 years later, here we are…

Lovely little video from that Blackpool game - great gem 11-05-1991 Walsall v Blackpool - YouTube

Good times.

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The replay away was a cracker too.

Wetherall scoring at both ends and us holding Leeds 2-2 at full time before being undone by a Masinga hat trick in extra time and losing 5-2.

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April 10th 1971
Walsall 3 Bury 0

The first match in 50 years of uninterrupted glory…

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And the very dodgy floodlight failure when we were well on top and threatening to get a winner in normal time which interrupted our flow. Very reminiscent of when we were thrashing Burnley that one game at Turf Moor …

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The week before that we’d been 2-0 down at Grimsby, Super Donny Goodman came on as sub and in the last five minutes won a couple of towering headers to set up goals for (I think) Leitao and Byfield, and we nearly stole it right at the end when someone hit the post and it was cleared. I sure he hadn’t played since getting injured in September. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, I don’t think any player has become a genuine Saddlers legend having played so few games for us as SDG.

We trod similar paths. My first programme is for the Falkirk game and my uncle had taken me to reserve games before as my dad worked on Saturdays. Think I have posted elsewhere that Tony Richards was having a run out for the reserves and when I was hit on the head with the ball after a clearance he came over to see if I was ok. Obviously that affected my brain to such an effect that I was hooked for life. Not sure if I saw the first team before the Falkirk game so it was probably at the start of the 58/59 season.

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