Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: Ivo Stas on June 15, 2012, 03:39:39 PM
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Watching one of the Euro 2012 games last night, the players didn't like the match ball for some reason (maybe it was a little flat) so to ensure it didn't get recycled back into play at some later stage by a ball boy, it was kicked into the crowd and some very chuffed bloke got to keep it.
It made me remember the one time I touched (but didn't keep) a match ball. It was away at Portsmouth, I don't recall which season but Juan Pablo Angel scored (and I think that may have been his last goal for us). Anyhow, Pedro Mendes had a go from distance and it cleared the cross-bar and came straight at me. I prepared to catch it but someone in front threw up their hands and got a slight deflection on the ball and I ended up heading it straight up in the air instead.
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I have at Villa, I panicked and flapped at it. May have been a Hitzlsperger shot
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I have in the game v Coventry at home when we relegated them. Was sitting in the Holte end about ten rows back behind the goal and a shot came flying over the bar straight toward my younger sisters face, jumped infront of her to catch it, got a small cheer. Cant remember for the life of me who's shot it was.
Quality come back, Merson's goal was an absolute screamer!
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A Dennis Mortimer shot in the Holte. I'm sure I'm not the only one. He was great with the ball at his feet but couldn't shoot on target to save his life, though that never stopped him trying.
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Years ago I was stood at the front of a very empty Holte and threw the ball back to Jimmy Rimmer. It was during a league cup tie against Leicester.
Jimmy was not impressed with the accuracy of my throw as he had to move behind the goal to retrieve the ball. He shot me a filthy look!
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Villa v Blues, got chucked out for it by a steward ;-)
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I remember when we had season tickets in the Witton Lane stand lower. The ball came into the crowd and the guy next to us caught it, the play had stopped for some reason so he took a few seconds to line up his shot which went straight off the linemans head.
Also got smashed in the face when at a Moor Green game.
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Yes. I've been a ball-boy.
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I was in the first row at Bescot one Boxing Day and caught a ball that had gone out for a throw-in.
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Headed one back in play, from the East Stand at Hull City, bloody good header as well!
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At the Molineux - possibly a League Cup game? - in the early 80s. I threw it back to Peter Withe after it ended up in the crowd.
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I think I got a touch one one at home to Portsmouth back in early 2006. We beat them 1-0 courtesy of a Baros header, and at some point during the game someone must've hit one wide which deflected off me and further up into the crowd.
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During the Brian Little testimonial. I found my way into the right side of the lower North and was the only bugger there. Ball ended up in there so I had to throw it back. Took me a couple of attempts to get it over the fence IIRC.
Plenty of times when following Rovers. Including the Bill Dellow cup final 2nd leg at Trowbridge. At the final whistle we invaded the pitch and stuck the match ball in one of our bags. We got nabbed.
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No. It has traumatised me since childhood. I want to touch the match ball !!!!!
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Years ago found a fiver and took my mates down match.Was watching the game and a shot from Harry Burrows hit me in the nuts .Didnt realise why everyone was ducking .Think their still swollen now
Years later i was a steward in the witton stand and used to fetch the ball when it went over the old stand .Out the exit turnstile and if i was lucky it wouldnt bounce to much .Anyhow one game they couldnt get a exit gate open ,So i had to go round to the north stand .I had my jacket on the match ball in my hand and old bill wouldnt let me in saying anyone could say that .I had to wait till that sent out a search party
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Years ago found a fiver and took my mates down match.Was watching the game and a shot from Harry Burrows hit me in the nuts .Didnt realise why everyone was ducking .Think their still swollen now
Years later i was a steward in the witton stand and used to fetch the ball when it went over the old stand .Out the exit turnstile and if i was lucky it wouldnt bounce to much .Anyhow one game they couldnt get a exit gate open ,So i had to go round to the north stand .I had my jacket on the match ball in my hand and old bill wouldnt let me in saying anyone could say that .I had to wait till that sent out a search party
Where did they think you'd vanished to?
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May have been the Swansea night game before the European Cup, the ball had gone out for a Villa corner and landed at the front of the Holte trinity rd side.I grabbed the ball the same time as my brother and cousin.We had all got hold of the ball and arguing who should throw it back.Meanwhile Sid and Dennis Mortimer are standing hands on hips waiting for the ball so they can take the corner.Eventually Sid gets pissed off and shouts "COME ON " ,his anger shared by all the Villa fans around us . We all drop the ball at the same time and some bloke ends up throwing it back.
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Sat in the front row of the trinity once i threw the ball back to alan wright.
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Never...and for years it bothered me and now I actually like the fact that for all the 100s of matches I've attended I've managed to come close to touching the match ball.
(I was sitting close to the lads who did head tennis during out Cup defeat at Man City last year - that's probably the closest I've come in recent years)
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As a youngster when we played QPR (or Man City) the season they went out the prem, the ball fell into the empty row behind me, I picked up the ball and in amazement I started squashing it, curious to how soft it was. I didn't notice there was a QPR player standing and shouting at me to throw the ball back. Some guy next to me swiped me round the head and nocked the ball out of my hand, must have had the ball for about 20 seconds.
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I actually left an away game at Highfield Rd in the 80s with the match ball stuffed under my donkey jacket. It came into the away end and Coventry never saw it again.
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Portsmouth away. Kevin Phillips scored and was later substituted as we had a player sent off. Solano? We were holding on to a one nil lead, the ball came in to our section behind the goal. I caught it, held it and then threw it behind me, away from the pitch. Childish, yet pleasurable.
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It's funny how many games I've played in or watched from the sidelines and nearly every other game a ball would come over our way. But never watching the villa. I did catch a blow up doll at Wigan away a few years ago though
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Found the match details:
http://www.11v11.com/matches/portsmouth-v-aston-villa-23-august-2005-220749/
How shit are those teams, especially theirs?!
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Just remembered a more recent story. It was about 3 years ago or so, when Chelsea came to Villa Park and we lost 1-0 courtesy of a first half Anelka goal.
Anyways pre-match I was standing in the front row of the Lower Holte watching them warm up when Ashley Young went to practice a free kick. He missed while I wasn't looking and the ball hit me right in the gut, winding me, and knocked me back a little. After a few seconds of being lost in surprise I looked up to see him holding up his hand in apology.
Most people don't like Ash because of his half-arsed final season with us, and some people don't like him because of his tendency to dive. But not me. I hate that wanker because he once accidentally hit me while warming up.
On the plus side I told all my mates I was on the receiving end of an Ashley Young cross. Every cloud and that.
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Twice - once at a game at Luton in the pre-match warm up which almost broke my fingers and the second at the Madjeski Stadium in Reading.
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I don't like to talk about it but I used to be a ball boy. It was my profession!
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Once I think against Derby in the Full Members Cup in 1986, the ball was kick into the Holte End which I collected and threw back; although the crowd was only little over 5000 with huge gaps everywhere.
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Villa v Coventry in 1999-2000 season. I was off work for a few weeks after a hernia operation and was sat in the Trinity. I caught the ball and quickly threw it to Merson, forgetting the stitches in my stomach. He launched a quick attack from which we got a corner but I was in pain for 5 minutes.
We won 1-0 though.
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Just been reminded that a couple of seasons ago at the Vancouver whitecaps, I was walking up the steps in the stand behind the goal with a couple of beers when seine took a shot. The ball hit me square in the back. Which was very fortunate as I didn't spill a drop!
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I was down the very front of the Witton Lane stand for the 2-2 against Everton at the end of 1990/91. The ball bounced over the advertising hoardings and I beat my little brother to it. I looked up in wonderment to see which of my heroes I could throw it back to - Platt, Cowans, Daley, McGrath..... I was greeted by the sweaty, moustachioed face of Everton's Polish striker Robert Warzycha. A disappointed 11 year-old, I called him a twat and my Grandad smacked me on the shoulder for swearing.
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Twice - once at a game at Luton in the pre-match warm up which almost broke my fingers and the second at the Madjeski Stadium in Reading.
Ooh, I caught it at Reading once too. I caught it and threw it back in one swift styleish movement. I thought I was doing everyone a favour but they had a multi-ball system and the ball boy threw a new ball to the player taking the throw in. The player quickly took the throw in but the ref had to bring it all back because there was two balls in play. When I write my memoirs I am going to make sure this story is in there.
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6th March 1971 - The Hawthorns - West Brom 4 Man Utd 3. ( I looked the date up)
Went there with my father and standing just to right of the goals at the Brummie Road end. Bobby Charlton unleashed one of his shots, just missed the post and into the crowd. I put both hands in the air and took it from above my head like a pro.
A few years later I was playing against him in a 5 a side game, talking to him after he, didn't remember anything about it. Not surprising really >:(
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As a young lad, at the Witton Road end, down right at the front with my hands through the little fence that used to be there.
Shot from Harry Burrow, wide of the post smacked into my hand, hurt like hell but being a brave soldier I just smiled when Harry asked if I was ok.
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NO but when the lad was selected as mascot last year his mom came to watch
Sitting there right at the front, ball lands in her lap she stands up and hands it back to King Carlos who smiles says thank you and carries on playing................Me and the lad gutted
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Never in 46 years of going to football. For about the last 10 seasons I have sat in the Trinity lower about mid way between the Holte and half way line. Prime territory for a central defender or the left back breaking up an attack and clearing to touch. Has it even come near ? Not a sniff ! Its now become a standing joke with my brother when the ball is kicked into our side we complain about the defender not getting his clearance right.
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In the late 70s we lost 3-0 at home to Liverpool. I always stood next to the away dugout. I threw the ball back to Phil Neal once.
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My mom had the match ball hit her in the face at Plymouth Argyle.
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We used to welly an old case ball round the back garden as kids until it fell apart. Spoke to my Dad about it years later and turns out it was one of the balls used in the warm up kick in before the 57 cup final and was autographed by several players from both teams. The old man, being an unsentimental old curmudgeon, couldn't understand why I was so shocked that we were allowed to hoof it to death
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At the Molineux - possibly a League Cup game? - in the early 80s. I threw it back to Peter Withe after it ended up in the crowd.
I remember you doing it - it was the match where we went 2-0 down and come back to win 3-2
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Villa v Blues, got chucked out for it by a steward ;-)
When was that?
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I've caught the match ball twice. First time was in the Platt Lane stand at Maine Road and the second was at Stamford Bridge. I was sitting in the front row and Celestine Babayaro came over to me to get the ball back and I chucked it in the opposite direction. He gave me a glare and I thought he was going to jump over the advertising board and do a Cantona on me.
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Standing behind the goal away at Oxford I was reading the programme while the players warmed up. Dunno who it was, but I took a pot-shot in the face and when looking to my fellow supporters for sympathy found not a jot as they proceeded to piddle themselves laughing.
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twice in pre match warm ups,first time at forest in 2 all draw under dr jo and secondly at villa before a uefa cup tie when bozzie and gk coach tried to kick balls into the top tier of the holte.i was sat near the back of the lower tier when i caught a ball but as i threw it back the ball slipped and turned into a pretty feeble throw which made bozzie look and curl a lip up and sneer at me before shaking his head and saying something to the gk coach :-[
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Yes, in a friendly game against Walsall at Fellows Park on 6th May, 1981, four days after we'd won the League at Arsenal. I was standing behind the right hand post, behind the goal which Nigel Spink was defending, when a Walsall player shot just past that post. I caught the ball with both hands and clutched it to my chest like a true goalkeeper, to a round of applause, and threw it back to Spinksy.
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Got a touch at the Southampton game in the Lower North.
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Wrong type of balls though Dave.
I once threw the ball back to Phil Neal when they tonked us 3-0 in probably I think 78-79, or 79-80.
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Wrong type of balls though Dave.
I was sat next to Peter Withe's Shin. Just saying.
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Once back in the old second div days. Gave it to Bruce Rioch who took a corner and Dave Simmonds scored! I'd have got points in fantasy football for that assist these days!
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Wrong type of balls though Dave.
I was sat next to Peter Withe's Shin. Just saying.
I'm not complaining.
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Yes, I started the movement that ended in a goal against Man U at Villa Park.
The ball came into the lower Holte, I picked it up threw it out liesurely to Bosnich who placed the ball and kicked it up field, the ball passed seemlessly through midfield and I'm sure it ended up with Yorke who slotted the ball home for our third goal, I think it was Yorke anyway. But I'm claiming it, without my touch it would have been so different!!
It was the opening game of the 1995 season, I'd love to see the whole goal again, from me onwards.
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I would have touched the match ball at a Rugby League game at Valley Parade but for the fact that I'd just legged it downstairs for a piddle. It landed on my empty seat apparently.
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I've been going down the Villa since 1978 and had never even got a sniff of the ball until a few years back when O'Neil was in charge.
I was in the Lower North and managed to get my hands on the match ball twice in one 90 minute game! The 2nd time i threw it back 'throw in style' to Ashley Young who was waiting to take a corner. A bloke behind me tapped me on the shoulder as commented on how good i was!!!
Reckon i'd get a shirt if i did it down there now!
Whooooohooooo!!!!
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I would have touched the match ball at a Rugby League game at Valley Parade but for the fact that I'd just legged it downstairs for a piddle. It landed on my empty seat apparently.
I've touched the match ball at a game at Headingley a few years ago. It was a Friday night game and I was feeling quite refreshed. Every time Sinfield went to take a conversion I was saying "this one's heading to me" which it didn't until his last kick. I was thinking this is incredible, my prediction's come true, this is going to be so great when I catch it.... but I fumbled and it ended up hitting the end of my index finger and stubbing it. Painful and also no doubt highly amusing for those around me who'd had to listen to my pissed ramblings, although they hid it well.
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Twice and both times returned with headers.
The first was a Cheltenham Town game in their non league days. I was stood behind the goal where the stand for away fans is now. A shot flew over the bar and I squarely nutted it from ten yards back with it landing outside the penalty area. I was about twelve and got an ovation from quite a few of the crowd.
The second was with the Villa and a pre season game with Wolves. I think Gregory was in charge and recall Stayvie Bull playing the first ten minutes.
We had the usual lower stand of the John Ireland. I was sat 12 rows up, just off half way on the South Bank side. Same thing again. Ball flew out and I nodded it back. Some applause but nothing like that which young me got at Cheltenham.
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The stuff of dreams and you did it twice. Well played