YEOVIL TOWN 0 BARROW 3 GM Vauxhall Conference 9 March 1991 by Clint Wags
It's amazing how fans appear out of the woodwork on Barrow's more distant travels. Take Yeovil last March. Barrow based Barrovians (you know what I mean) shunned the £16 a head executive coach, and so apart from the four diehards who came down in a rented car. they missed thrills and spills galore as Macca saved a penalty and Barrow went on to win 3-0, their biggest away win in the Conference since Cowps gave Kettering a lesson in football, scoring all the goals in a 4-0 triumph back in 1980. Support was there however. Along with Phil McMenemy and Co., Barrow's London fans provided plenty of vocal support. A family from Westbury turned up bedecked in blue and white: husband, wife and two bemused children with 'Barrow' on their shirts. An Ulverstonian living in Southampton brought his kids and a pillhead from Askam brought a couple of his pals (Barrow were in red, mate!). But best of all was a 72-year old with a West Country accent who informed us "I ƒ*¢#¡>¿ well hates it down 'ere, I do." Apparently he was born in the West Country but after joining the Merchant Navy ended up in Barrow for eight years in the 1950's, when he saw every home game. He has remained loyal ever since and who can blame him? I suppose I should mention Dave Leitch's contingent from the National Supporters' Club who made an anonymous presence in the main stand. Try shouting for Barrow, lads; the players appreciate it! Anyway, there we were. What we lacked in numbers we more than made up for in enthusiasm. As we were so few, Yeovil never opened the terraces behind the goal, leaving us all in a seated area to the side of one penalty box. One particularly surly steward invited us to sit down. Steward: "SIT DOWN!" Me: "No!" We stayed on our feet for the rest of the game. Yeovil's fanzine is called Huish Roar. Is this some kind of local in-joke? Huish Whisper would be more like it. Huish Squeak even. It is no exaggeration to say that our motley band of a dozen or so supporters made more noise than the efforts of 2,000 Yeovil fans put together! They did try and taunt Chilts with the occasional cry of "Ee-yore, Ee-yore! but our reply of "Oo-arrh! Oo-arrh! soon shut the yokels up. I never heard one shout of "YEOVIL!" in the whole game. The lack of atmosphere among the home supporters had to be heard to be believed. (time for a Clint Wags tip: get behind your team and you may not be in the relegation zone for so long this year!). Yeovil's ground, of course, is one of the newest in the country. But don't they know about the social side of non-League football? We were pointedly told by the stewards that we would not be welcome in the bar, so we had our pre-match pint in a pub on a local housing estate called The Arrow (Come on Clint, is this the pub or the housing estate? Ed.) They also ran out of programmes at 2.45 and had no pies left at half-time, which is why you won't be reading about their snack bar in Igor's Gourmet Guide. Good organisation, Yeovil. About par with your team's performance on the field. Anyway, despite (or maybe even because of) all this we had a good day out. Take another tip from Clint and put Yeovil high on your away travel agenda for the coming season. If last year's showing is anything to go by, then they may not be around in the Conference for much longer. Originally 'Laurel and Hardy' by Clint Wags in issue 007 - August 1991