Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: BegbieAV on November 10, 2013, 08:53:59 PM
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Was anyone at the Arsenal game, when Santa crashed into the Trinity. I was in the North stand that day. Nearly s**t meself
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Yep, in the Holte End Lower, watched them jump way off over the M6 and watched the Flt Sgt pile into the roof of the old Trinity Road stand before falling to the floor, horrible.
Great second half though 0-2 down, 3-2 winners.
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I was opposite, in the upper Witton Lane.
Good job the roof wasn't as high then as it is now.
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I was up in aberdeen with an ex Xmas shopping. Carefully steered the ex into a pub for tea with the footie on to watch second half.
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Was in the Upper Holte where we only saw Santa after he'd hit the roof. 'Look kids it's Santa!'
Strange day as the mood was a touch sour at half time before the body of Santa was thrown onto the sideline. Followed by a Collymore inspired comeback.
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I watched it in The Dutton Arms in Blackpool whilst on my stag weekend.
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Was talking to my Gooner mate about this on Saturday night (who was also at the game). I vividly remember, hoping that the game would have to be called off, as we were 2-0 down at the time. Glad it wasn't, as it was a Hell of a come back. Dublin off side with the winner, but didn't give a flying one.
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In the Holte, selfishly hoping the game would be abandoned because, judging by our first half performance, we were going to get a thrashing.
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I was there. I'll bet he sh*t himself far more. Quite amazed he survived. I believe he married the nurse that cared for him. Flight Lieutenant Nigel Rogoff.
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Was sitting in the trinity , he was lucky to survive
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I was there. I'll bet he sh*t himself far more. Quite amazed he survived. I believe he married the nurse that cared for him. Flight Lieutenant Nigel Rogoff.
He came back to the Villa a few years ago and was introduced at half time, it was a very long road to recovery.
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He came back to the Villa a few years ago and was introduced at half time
It was against West Ham and Doug accompanied him out on to the pitch to salute the crowd. Ellis couldn't couldn't undestand why Villa fans were booing the brave parachutist....
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We always win when Father Christmas crashes into the ground....
Think the poor bloke is dead now actually.
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He came back to the Villa a few years ago and was introduced at half time
It was against West Ham and Doug accompanied him out on to the pitch to salute the crowd. Ellis couldn't couldn't undestand why Villa fans were booing the brave parachutist....
I imagine to this day that still confuses El Presidente.
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I was in the Holte End - horrifying thing to happen. I always remember listening to Tom Ross on the way home and some heartless bastard said it was great as he could get another pint in before the 2nd half! Utterly unbelievable.
Didn't he have a leg amputated as a result of the fall?
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Think his left leg was amputated, his name was Nigel Rogoff I think.
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Nigel Rogoff is very much alive, albeit minus one leg, and is still raising lots of money doing long-distance canoe stuff.
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I was in the Lower Holte and I remember the ground just went silent, horrible horrible moment.
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When you think about it, it's a puzzler why the match wasn't abandoned after the accident anyway. It was an horrific incident which shook the place up.
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Was in the lower trinity. Was surreal to see Santa falling from the roof.
He went on to marry one of the nurses who looked after him I recall. So Santa got his end away ultimately.
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I was there but I had a complete Arsene Wenger moment I'm afraid. I have no memory of seeing or hearing about it. Did it happen at half time?
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I was in Lower Witton Lane directly opposite with my two boys. We just looked on in disbelief. We just looked at each then wondering if it was all happening. Time seem to stand still and then when people rushed to help it finally sunk in along with the shock of it all. I didn't think he would survive crashing in to the scaffolding on the roof but then when his momentum carried him over the edge of the roof I thought it was all over for him. How he lived I will never know. Truly shocking.
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It's Father Christmas. Not Santa.
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I was there. In my usual seat in L2. I remember an extra-extended half time. We were bloody superb in that second half!
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I was there but I had a complete Arsene Wenger moment I'm afraid. I have no memory of seeing or hearing about it. Did it happen at half time?
Wow, I'll have a pint of what you were drinking pre-match!
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I still remember the gasp from the crowd as he hit the floor. To think of how much worse it could have been had he fallen on to people below. Shudder.
The two remaining parachutists who landed after the incident didn't have the best of landings either, I remember them sliding all over the place.
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I was in the upper Holte and I distinctly remember a smattering of laughter when it happened, the poor bloke came in at such speed and was getting tossed about in the wind that it didn't look like it was a human, more like a rag doll. It was only when every St John's ambulance member in the ground went steaming towards him that it became obvious what had happened. Then I thought he must be dead and also thought the game would be abandoned. It must have looked far worse from Lower Trinity, in fact there must have been some people who he fell directly in front of. I've often wondered how it was explained to any kids around, "Is Santa dead?" "Er..."
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It was a surreal moment when the guy hit the roof and for a split second I thought he was stuck up there. Then he fell like a stone to the ground. It must have been a great comeback in the second half to turn round a 2-0 deficit against a side of Arsenal's quality but my mind was no longer on the football and I couldn't appreciate it.
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Was in the lower Holte, right in line with the front row of the Enclosure. I can still see him trying to grab hold of the roof now. I can't imagine how it must have affected those who were a few yards away from it, kids must have had nightmares for weeks after that. Was just relieved that the poor bloke survived.
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The things I remember, a bloke behind me in the Lower Holte saying about 3 seconds before that the guy was going 'too fast' - the eerily slow fall & it seeming ages for St Johns to wander towards him....was convinced when we put the radio on in the car afterwards that he would be dead
As for the game, the first half Bergkamp was totally sublime, 2nd half we were awesome
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I was in the Holte and said to one of my mates as the half-time show was starting "wouldn't it be funny if one of them landed on the roof" (note: I did mean land and not crash into). It wasn't funny and I was deeply ashamed of what I had said as though I had somehow affected the outcome.
Anyway, I'm not sure how the players or crowd got up for the second half, but we did and it was a magical turnaround of the type we haven't seen very many of over my lifetime.
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Yep, I was there as well. Pretty central in the old TRS. He disappeared from view over the stand and then reappeared in the unfortunate manner that we all remember.
During the ball-kicking competition farce of halftime against Sunderland, we were discussing memorable halftime of the past and decided that the Santa event and the "marriage of the lions" stood out. Neither for a good reason.
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He landed about 10 foot in front of us... always felt very surreal... especially when the game re-started about 15 minutes late.
It still amazes me he survived.
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I was in the Lower Holte, horrible incident.
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Did'nt he marry the nurse who looked after him?
Collymore was unplayable that 2nd half, they put Viera on him, he could'nt handle him either.
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Did'nt he marry the nurse who looked after him?
Why didn't Barry take the penalty ?
Do you know Santa was green before Coca Cola hijacked him