Your first game

[Terminal Boardom]

v Tranmere 1983/84. We won 1-0 with a late Mark White free kick. Our last home game in Division 4.

I was there. Towards the end of the game the ref plays an advantage for Reading and almost immediately, we lose posession. The South Bank give it the "Who's the oxf*rd in the black?". The ref stops, looks at the South Bank, and points to his chest! The place errupted with laughter. Brilliant spontaneity from the ref and totally difused the situation. Women got in for free that day as well. How frigging sexist does it get?

[ankeny]

For those of us that were there in the seventies,dont you think those days were better,more fun and a damn sight more characters?I cant be arsed anymore

[Terminal Boardom]

For those of us that were there in the seventies,dont you think those days were better,more fun and a damn sight more characters?I cant be arsed anymore

The days when you went more in hope than expectation. When anything above 5,000 was considered a big crowd. The ever changing scoreboard at the Tilehurst End. Smelly Henry selling Golden Goal tickets.

[ankeny]

For those of us that were there in the seventies,dont you think those days were better,more fun and a damn sight more characters?I cant be arsed anymore

The days when you went more in hope than expectation. When anything above 5,000 was considered a big crowd. The ever changing scoreboard at the Tilehurst End. Smelly Henry selling Golden Goal tickets.

That scoreboard was considered Hi Tec then,pity it didnt last long.i thought we "arrived"when that went up,but typical Reading,it soon broke

[AthleticoSpizz]

I'm still arsed.............but you are right Ankeny


Moving on.........does anybody remember a 2-2 draw versus Palace (circa 1986/87 maybe)..........Palace scored their third (and very offside) late into the game (long long before microphone links etc)..........the ref gave it.......the linesman stood his ground and would not shift until the ref came over to speak to him..............the ref then several minutes later disallowed it.

The Southbank broke into a serenade of "we loves you linesman we do's"..........the Palace waited for the Southbank on the Tilehurst Road after the game to argue that fact

[Terminal Boardom]

For those of us that were there in the seventies,dont you think those days were better,more fun and a damn sight more characters?I cant be arsed anymore

The days when you went more in hope than expectation. When anything above 5,000 was considered a big crowd. The ever changing scoreboard at the Tilehurst End. Smelly Henry selling Golden Goal tickets.

That scoreboard was considered Hi Tec then,pity it didnt last long.i thought we "arrived"when that went up,but typical Reading,it soon broke

Watching us against Watford in 75/76 (3-0), I looked up at the scoreboard and I swear it had us 9-0 up!

Moving on.........does anybody remember a 2-2 draw versus Palace (circa 1986/87 maybe)..........Palace scored their third (and very offside) late into the game (long long before microphone links etc)..........the ref gave it.......the linesman stood his ground and would not shift until the ref came over to speak to him..............the ref then several minutes later disallowed it.

The Southbank broke into a serenade of "we loves you linesman we do's"..........the Palace waited for the Southbank on the Tilehurst Road after the game to argue that fact

Close, but no cigar! We won that one 1-0. My dad is a palarse fan and I had great fun giving him dogs all the way home. What happened was that the ref gave a pen but after consulting with the linesman, gave us a free kick for offside. Spot on about the South Bank's reaction though.

[ankeny]

What about the v Rochdale" goal"even the most avid Royal could say that was in.I wondered what the hell was going on when the ref pointed to the centre circle

[Hemenbruff Royal]

Versus Bradford City on 14 January 1970. we won one nil (I looked it up). sat in the satnds towards the Tirlhurs Road end of the grounf I can remember some bloke sat behind me shouting 'unload him Dennis' (Allen) every time their winger (Ces Podd) came down the line with the ball.

[AthleticoSpizz]

not sure

early to mid 1970's

remember Sunday lunchtime kick-offs (to beat the power-cuts)

remember Ces Podd playing for Bradford

1970 Hemembruff?..............jeeesss...remember it just like yesterday

[bobby m's syrup]

5-0 FAC 2 v Brentford Dec 1965

Also remember beating Div 1 WBA in Sept 1967 FL Cup 2 in front of 18,910 and getting stuffed 6 or 7 nil by Citeh in FAC 3 replay Feb 1968. Crowd around 25K

[glass half full]

v Tranmere 1983/84. We won 1-0 with a late Mark White free kick. Our last home game in Division 4.

I was there. Towards the end of the game the ref plays an advantage for Reading and almost immediately, we lose posession. The South Bank give it the "Who's the oxf*rd in the black?". The ref stops, looks at the South Bank, and points to his chest! The place errupted with laughter. Brilliant spontaneity from the ref and totally difused the situation. Women got in for free that day as well. How frigging sexist does it get?

There was a time when referees were directed to go into the dressing rooms before the game to give a 'pep talk' Apparently, in the Jack Mansell era, one ref went in and said simply: " Right lads, I'm a cnut. Now let's get on with the game!"

Do referees today have the same sense of humour?

[From Despair To Where?]

For those of us that were there in the seventies,dont you think those days were better,more fun and a damn sight more characters?I cant be arsed anymore

For me it's the mid to late 80's for exactly the same reasons. I suspect it's more to do with that era being your formative years as a supporter.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

For those of us that were there in the seventies,dont you think those days were better,more fun and a damn sight more characters?I cant be arsed anymore

For me it's the mid to late 80's for exactly the same reasons. I suspect it's more to do with that era being your formative years as a supporter.

Definitely. Give it 10-15 years or so, and it's a bit "been there, done that" with most things that happen. The novelty wears off.

I was kind of lucky in the my first game was 2-0 v Newport in 85/65 (not that game, but the home game in March), so I only saw a handful of lower tier games before being whisked up the heady heights of Division 2 and the Simod Cup win the year after that. Remarkably, I got as much out of that promotion as the others, despite having only been a genuine supporter for a couple of months before we went up

[Ian Royal]

90s for me, because that's when I started.
The likes of Shaka, Gooding, Quinn, Parkinson, Morley, Caskey, Wdowczyk, Gilkes & Bernal...

Don't see their like these days

[bobbybottler]

First matches - Hearts vs somebody shite at some point in the early 1970s. After a while I wanted to see Hibs (as they played in the top flight unlike Hearts at the time) and then completed the Edinburgh suite by seeing Meadowbank Thistle a couple of times. I knew this was an error at the time but still went anyway.

First match in England was Chelsea v Ipswich in erm 1977 ish, we were going into Stamford Bridge and a copper said "This is no place for youngsters" to my Dad. Went to EP (can't remember who against sorry) the following week and despite paying to watch Ollie Kearns I was not dissuaded from going back. It might have been Richie Bowman that swayed it, I used to think he was fantastic.

[Ark Royal]

The days when you went more in hope than expectation. When anything above 5,000 was considered a big crowd. The ever changing scoreboard at the Tilehurst End. Smelly Henry selling Golden Goal tickets.
That scoreboard was considered Hi Tec then,pity it didnt last long.i thought we "arrived"when that went up,but typical Reading,it soon broke

Watching us against Watford in 75/76 (3-0), I looked up at the scoreboard and I swear it had us 9-0 up!

Moving on.........does anybody remember a 2-2 draw versus Palace (circa 1986/87 maybe)..........Palace scored their third (and very offside) late into the game (long long before microphone links etc)..........the ref gave it.......the linesman stood his ground and would not shift until the ref came over to speak to him..............the ref then several minutes later disallowed it.

The Southbank broke into a serenade of "we loves you linesman we do's"..........the Palace waited for the Southbank on the Tilehurst Road after the game to argue that fact

13th September 1975
Reading 3 (Barker, Murray, Friday)
Watford 0
Att: 5721
Death, Peters, Moreline, Cumming, Barker, Youlden (Murray), Whitham, Hiron, Friday, Dunphy, Stuckey

[Ark Royal]

5-0 FAC 2 v Brentford Dec 1965

Also remember beating Div 1 WBA in Sept 1967 FL Cup 2 in front of 18,910 and getting stuffed 6 or 7 nil by Citeh in FAC 3 replay Feb 1968. Crowd around 25K

4th December 1965
Reading 5 (Allen, Webb 2, Terry, Evans)
Brentford 0
Att: 10582
Dixon, Neate, Meldrum, Thornhill, Spiers, Evans, Scarrott, Allen, Terry, Webb, Travers

13th September 1967
Reading 3 (Harris 2, Sainty)
WBA 1
Att: 18910
Wilkie, Bacuzzi, Spiers, Meldrum, Chapman, Yard, Allen, Scarrott, Sainty, Collins, Harris

[Ark Royal]

V Bradford City september/octoberish 1978

3-0 to us, iirc 2 goals for John Alexander and one for Pat Earles

Attendance around 7,500

7th October 1978
Reading 3 (Hetzke, Kearney, Sanchez)
Bradford City 0
Att: 5886
Death, Peters, White, Bowman, Hicks, Bennett, Earles, Hetzke, Kearney, Sanchez, Lewis

[Ark Royal]

not sure

early to mid 1970's

remember Sunday lunchtime kick-offs (to beat the power-cuts)

remember Ces Podd playing for Bradford

1970 Hemembruff?..............jeeesss...remember it just like yesterday

I remember the wonderfully named Cec Podd playing in this one:

24th March 1974
Reading 0
Bradford City 0
Att: 8065
Death, Henderson, Butler, Wagstaff B. (Habbin), Hulme, Youlden, Freeman, Chappell, Friday, Carnaby, Stuckey

A few weeks earlier, Robin Friday made his home debut in the first-ever Sunday game at Elm Park:

10th February 1974
Reading 4 (Freeman, Carnaby, Friday 2)
Exeter City 1
Att: 5394
Death, Henderson, Butler, Wagstaff B. (Habbin), Hulme, Youlden, Freeman, Chappell, Friday, Carnaby, Stuckey

[Bristol Royalz]

Reading 0 Bradford City 3 Edinho destroyed us.. It was awful