Yes, it's the very first, the original...
NOSTALGIC RAMBLINGS The random recollections of one Handsome Dick Brown
The memory does of course play tricks. The unmissable two inch tap in can become a thundering volley by the time you get home from the match. By the end of the season, you might remember it as an incredible dribble from inside your own half, finished off with a dramatic chip over the diving keeper. An accidental deflection off your hero's left buttock can be turned into a heroic overhead scissors kick once you travel down Memory Lane. Despite these slight drawbacks, I am certain that my first sight of my heroes was against Blackpool in the Lancashire Senior Cup in the mid-sixties. Those were the days. Still in Lancashire... a ground with four sides... rattles... Rattles? Whatever happened to rattles? I suppose they became dangerous weapons and were banned. Anyway, after my first visit to a 'real' football match at Holker St, a rattle was the highest priority in my life - except of course to see the boys in blue win their next match. I certainly got my rattle, but I haven't a clue whether the boys won their next match. The second time doesn't stay in your mind like the first time, does it? I was an instant addict. After that first game, it was blue and white hat, blue and white scarf, blue and white rosette and of course, my blue and white rattle (painted by myself as if it were going on public display, which I suppose, in a way, it was). I have some vivid memories of that first game. It was a night match - the floodlights adding to the drama and excitement. Night matches always seem more exciting, don't they? As a rather naive schoolboy, I was half expecting to see Stanley Matthews. To me and probably every other schoolboy, Blackpool meant the 1953 Cup Final. In reality, Stan had left the Tangerines many years before that. And the big clubs usually only put their reserves in the Lancashire Senior Cup, anyway. I don't know whether we were playing against Blackpool reserves or their first team, but who cares? It was a cup match and it was there to be won. And as I recall, we did win. It was a titanic struggle with end to end football of the highest quality. The lead changed hands several times and our heroes won. That's how I remember it and if it happens to be wrong, I don't want to know. One thing I can be certain of, is that Burnley went on to win the Senior Cup that year. For some reason, they always did. Despite their tradition of being a 'big club', I suspect they cheated and played some first teamers. I remember one year when Burnley's alleged reserves thrashed our lads 4-0. We chanted "We want our money back" as we staged a dramatic sit down at the Steelworks End. But that's another story... The only goal I can remember from my first match was surprisingly scored by the bright orange coloured Seasiders. Nowadays the scorer would no doubt describe it as "Well Brian, the ball floated over from the left and I went up for it and I got my head to it and er, it just went in the top left hand corner. It was a great cross, the lad done well." The keeper's view would have been more interesting. "Well Brian, the ball came over from my right and the lad jumped and headed it past me. Then I went for the cross but, er... well Brian, the ball was already in the net. I was a bit late." A bit late indeed, Duffer. This was just something you had to put up with until the signing of Fred 'Best Uncapped Goalkeeper in the Universe' Else. The slightly late keeper was of course the legendary Lionel Duffin. If you are called Lionel Duffin, I suppose people are bound to call you 'Duffer' whether you can catch the ball or not. Unfortunately Lionel could have changed his name to Gordon Banks but he would still have been a duffer. On the rare occasions when he caught a cross, the St Johns Ambulance Brigade were overrun treating spectators for shock. Despite his inability to catch a moving object, I have a soft spot for old Duffer. If he had been Scottish, he would have been capped. He was crap, but we loved him. Funny old game, Saint. Issue 001 - January 1990