It was a chilly but sunny October afternoon and my parents and I were walking towards Upton Park Stadium, home of West Ham United.
West Ham were to play Leicester City, in the 1996-1997 season. This was an early 8th Birthday present from my parents and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Little was I to know that this match would kick start a love affair for me with West Ham that would (and will) last for the rest of my life.
We had driven to my Aunt’s house in Forest Gate for a pre-match cuppa – something which would become a ritual for our frequent visits to the Boleyn ground in the following years, before I had the money to buy myself a season ticket.
I had discovered football the previous summer in the form of Euro 1996, where England were cruelly knocked out on penalties by (you guessed it, the Germans) in the semi-finals. Here I found players to worship, the likes of Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham, Paul Gascoigne and David Seaman. Certainly no West Ham players were involved!
So at school the talk had shifted from subjects such as Power Rangers and Star Wars to football amongst the boys in my year group. Games such as hopscotch and dare I say even kiss chase were quickly replaced by football – sponge balls in the playground at winter and leather on the field during the summer months.
Premier League football stickers were also a new craze that became popular amongst me and my school mates; my life had almost been transformed by the beautiful game.
But which team to support? I am always reminded of the story by my Dad when I came home from school one day and asked him which team to support out of the 3 I had so far heard of: Manchester United, Arsenal and West Ham, whereby I was immediately told to support his childhood team West Ham. However I wasn’t convinced, even despite having the shirt bought for me – the centenary one with little bubbles in the shirt sponsored by Dagenham Motors.
Most of the boys at school seemed to support Arsenal, which almost seemed like the ‘cool’ team to support, from the well-known players such as David Seaman, Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp to even the make of the kit Nike (as opposed to the little known ‘Pony’ at West Ham).
I got made fun of for how badly West Ham were doing, fighting against relegation as opposed to challenging for the title. I was also rarely impressed on the taped recordings I watched of Match of the Day, unable to pronounce many of the little known foreign players Harry Redknapp has assembled the squad with that year. The likes of Florin Raducioiu and Ilie Dumistrescu were hardly names that rolled off the tongue.
Nonetheless here I was, about to attend my first ever football match at the home of the Hammers. As we walked into Green Street, and got closer to the ground we were joined by more and more West Ham supporters until all I could see around me was a sea of claret and blue. I remember realising then how great it was to be part of a community, all sorts of people coming together to watch a shared passion, something I had never really experienced before. I wasn’t alone! We had many other fans!
We must have got into our seats a good 20 minutes or so before kick-off, located in what was then known as the Centenary stand, as I remember being in awe of the Leicester players skills in their warm -up! Finally the players ran out (this was before the current nonsense of pre-match handshakes) for the start of the game, allowing me for the first time to experience the chorus of I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles. Listening to everyone roaring out the words of this magnificent tune filled me with a sense of pride I had never felt before; a pride of supporting West Ham.
Finally the time had come for the game to start, with a further roar of encouragement for the Hammers as the referee blew his whistle. I cannot remember too many details from that game, although a few things did stick out for me. As it developed I started learning some of the protocols of watching a match, such as some of West Ham’s songs (I had now become quite accustomed to Bubbles), the sorts of comments you can shout out to the players during the game and even when it was appropriate to stand up during a contest.
I first found my love for Julian Dicks at this game. Sitting where I was in the stand I had a perfect view of ‘Dicksy’ in his usual left back position during the first period. He seemed to be involved in almost every part of the match! Preventing Leicester attacks with his no nonsense tackles to bombing up the wing in attack. Any move West Ham had usually stemmed from the number 3.
Pretty soon after his name and number were printed onto the back of my shirt, and he remained my favourite childhood player even though injury meant he barely played after that season. There can be no doubt we would have been relegated that season without his influence.
The other part that really stood out for me was the only goal of the game early in the 2nd half at my end, giving West Ham a much needed 3 points in the battle with the drop. A ball was laid into the path of tough tackling midfielder John Moncur who drove home first time from the edge of the area. I remember just being able to see the ball beat the despairing dive of Kasey Keller, the Leicester ‘keeper, before the fans in the rows in front leapt up to obscure my view. There is nothing quite like watching your team score in front of you for the 1st time. The ecstasy and energy of those around me was intoxicating and I celebrated like mad with everyone else!
Looking back, it probably wasn’t the greatest game in the world as a spectacle but was such an important one for me in so many ways. I went home that day tired but happy, and a committed Hammers fan.
Since then I have witnessed the agony of relegations and cup final defeats, through to play-off final victories, successful relegation battles, (brief) European runs, and many more ups and downs supporting West Ham. But I still feel it was this day that began my roller-coaster ride with the Hammers, and I wouldn’t change it for the world!
