...and the UGLY
Barrow 1 Metropolitan Police 0 (FA Trophy second round, 3.2.90) Suffice to say this one was ugly enough to merit a mention in the national press, while Barrow supporters were amazed and enraged by the behaviour of the visitors. Writing in issue 002 of Beans! Alan Casey asked 'Well, what can you say? Upholders of the law... or young men with a licence to maim on the football field?' Incredibly, only one player was sent off and that was our very own Tony Chilton! As for the game, it was wrapped up courtesy of a Dubberley own goal after twenty minutes.
Barrow 3 Gateshead 1 (GM Vauxhall Conference, 1.1.91) Admittedly, this is only in here to make up our quota of ugly matches, for what was so unpleasant about this wasn't the behaviour of the players or the fans, but the state of the weather. Exactly one year after the Darlington drizzle, we had the Gateshead gallons which were equal to, if not worse than the conditions that ruined our Bob Lord Trophy final game at Sutton later that season on the wettest April day recorded in London this century. However, after losing 5-1 at the International Stadium on Boxing Day, Barrow had a point to prove, but it was never going to be easy in these conditions. The game became a lottery with passes sticking in the mud and players slipping all over the place. Fortunately it was a lottery that Barrow won with a first half Doc hat trick. Gateshead pulled one back in the second half, but to no avail.
Barrow 0 Northwich Victoria 2 (GM Vauxhall Conference, 11.4.92) After Northwich had taken the lead with one of their few forays into the Barrow area, Mark Rutter's header nestled safely in the back of the net for the equalizer... or so we thought. But several seconds later the linesman raised his flag for offside. This was just the first and worst of three offside decisons by the same official which prompted one Barrow fan to reach out and grab his flag to show him how the job should be done. More supporters joined in the barracking, but a potentially ugly situation was defused when club officials went to stand alongside the frustrated section of the crowd. But Cyril Whiteside later had to apologise for his comments about the 'idiots' who went to stand behind the linesman by saying this was a light hearted and not an abusive reference. Sure Cyril. To complete a dismal afternoon John Brady hit a penalty against a post and Northwich scored again in the last minute to put Barrow even deeper into the relegation mire. It was a game we more than deserved to win.
Barrow 0 Whitley Bay 1 (HFS Loans League Premier Division, 10.10.92) Some ugly scenes on the pitch were more than matched by the performance that was going on around the ground. But to start with the match itself, in the latest of a series of dismal performances Barrow went down 1-0 in a bad tempered game that saw Bay's Ray Ball sent off for a nasty foul on Tony Rigby and both benches squaring up to each other following an incident involving Paddy Atkinson and another Bay player. But the real action was taking place in the ground where supporters allegedly (you'll notice lots of use of that word in this bit) brought in from Manchester by Graham Heathcote to shore up his waning reputation, allegedly intimidated the regular Barrow fans in the Holker End and in the stand. Unfortunately all this occurred at the game that Ray Wilkie had been allowed out of hospital to come and watch. I only hope that from his vantage point in the Sports and Leisure Ray was spared the worst of these scenes.
Barrow 0 Boston United 2 (Northern Premier League, 12.2.94) Of all the games we've written up here, this may well be the ugliest, if just for the actions of one man. Let's go through the circumstances again, as if any of you needed reminding. With the score at 1-0 to Boston, striker Neil Grayson and Barrow's Tim Parkin pursued what the match officials were later to describe as a 50-50 ball. As a result of the ensuing 'collision' Parkin was left with a badly broken leg, which if the descriptions we've heard are to be believed, didn't need the trained fireman's eye of Ian Senior to know that he shouldn't be moved and that treatment was going to take a while. Thus the teams had to leave the field. As they did so, Boston goalie Paul ß@$*ø¢# 'gesticulated to the Barrow fans in a manner clearly intended to incite.' That's the diplomatic way the National Supporters' Club Newsletter put it and to prevent us getting too carried away we'll restrict ourselves to some more of their report. 'When the teams were brought back out, Bastock met a hail of abuse, and worse. Grayson was missing, injured - or substituted for his own protection. Six minutes later - and a good five minutes before the end of the scheduled ninety - the referee again took the players off the field, this time for good. The Boston squad left the ground immediately on the advice of the Barrow board.' Somewhere in there, Boston scored again, but by now nobody cared. But we do, however, remember Mr. Bastock's antics only too well. Could it have been merely coincidence that the following season, Boston was our last home game? Issue 021 - January 1995