Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Ads on January 13, 2018, 12:58:00 PM
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Call me sad, but one of the things I've been looking forward to these past couple of years is ruining my son's life by taking him to the Villa for the first time and getting him addicted. I'm aiming for next week.
He's 30 months old, toilet trained for a good while now.
A few questions; my intention is for him to sit on my lap,will he need his own ticket at that age?
Any general tips about taking the wee ones?
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I took my oldest at around that age (Leicester FA cup 2-1 game as it happens!)
I got him a separate seat. He was more interested in the people around him to be honest. In hindsight its probably too young and my other boys will be 4 soon and I'm not going to take them until next season. Depends on the kid - MDC junior even now finds some games a bit loud. Hes kind of more bought into the shirts, scarves and being a Villa fan than going to the games as such although after the Bristol game he still goes on about Grealish (his first football hero in the making).
I'm with you though - start 'em young! North Stand always have great ticket offers on for an adult and a kid. With mine I just kept taking him every couple of months. These days he'll ask when are we next going. I always take snacks and a tablet (just in case) and we go on the train if we can as he enjoys that part too. I think he finds it fascinating that so many people are going to see the same thing.
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I think that's too young, tbh. He'll be cold and bored.
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Took. Mine when he was four. Away at Wigan. We won 2-1 and Curtis Davis scored I think.
He was bored rigid. So stock up on crisps and let him play on your phone would me my advice.
Mind you, it was better with him than when I took my youngest. Burnley (a) a couple of years back. 1-1.villa fans fighting amongst themselves etc. Horrible.
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Call me sad, but one of the things I've been looking forward to these past couple of years is ruining my son's life by taking him to the Villa for the first time and getting him addicted. I'm aiming for next week.
He's 30 months old, toilet trained for a good while now.
A few questions; my intention is for him to sit on my lap,will he need his own ticket at that age?
Any general tips about taking the wee ones?
In years to come you might regret it at times like I do. I took my daughter to her first game when she was 4 and now she''s 21. I can't go to a game without her and I always get the tickets however when I meet her on match days I always hear....."i'm a bit strapped for cash this week dad"..which not only means I fork out for the tickets but for the drinks in town before the game. Having said that I wouldn't change it for the world.
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I took my lad when he was 6. He went on the bouncy castles in the family fun area and had a great time.
Taking him next Saturday to the Barnsley game and taking my 5 year old daughter for the first time too. Bouncy castles and ice creams then the game.
Sit close to the pitch as kids like to see the players up close and try and get an aisle seat for the toilet etc.
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Took my 5 year old to Bolton. Not ready yet. IT wasn't a great game and he asked several times when it'd be over. At least he got an insight into life as a Villa fan as I've often thought the same. Joking aside, I reckon 7 is a better age.
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Took my daughter when she was 5 a 1-1 draw against Fulham...gave her as much sweets and fizzy pop as she could handle to try and seal the deal. Now 10 she is a season ticket holder and knows more about the current side than I do.
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I have a 5 year old girl and a 4 year old boy. I took them both to their first games against Sheffield United before xmas. I also used the pop and sweets technique which worked. Be prepared to be tell them the score every 30 seconds!! The Family Fun Zone in the old stumps is also a great idea and a must visit.
I also took them to the Peterborough game so that's all my good work down the drain lol.
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I introduced my lad to the Villa at a reserve match in the Central League when they played at Villa Park. He was seven and it was against QPR and Villa won by a big score that I can't remember but my lad can. I took him to his first 'real' Villa game shortly after but for the life of me I can't remember against who.
A couple of years ago I was a very proud granddad as I attended a Villa match with my son, and two grandsons.
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I’ve just come back to the Villa after a long and enjoyable lay off purely to stop my boy from having his head turned by all the Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea tossers at school and football training. As I’ve said elsewhere, I’d prefer him to be a nose than a glory hunter. I’m toying with the idea of taking him to a match (he’s 6), but I can’t see him enjoying it for 90 mins. 9 might be about it.
My dad took me to whatever ground he fancied when I was young, he always told me I should support every Birmingham club (by which he also meant WBA and Wolves). So my first live football experience was under floodlights at, God help me, The Sty. Leaving aside the obvious issues, I will never forget emerging from the dark to see the floodlit pitch and hear the noise of the crowd (which won’t actually have been that big). For that reason, I want to leave it until I can take him to a night match. I live over an hour away so you’re talking best part of midnight before I’d have him home and asleep so may be a while.
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Took VCTM jnr to first game when he was about 4/5 (he is now 17) - cant remember the game but he loved every minute of it including the journey down from Formby.
He was hooked from the off and over the past 12 years we developed match day rituals (touching the right foot of the Mcgregor Statue, eating Balti pie and chips pre match, stopping off for a Balti on the way home (he was a growing lad !) - the type of thing I used to enjoy with my late father when we travelled all the way from Hall Green to VP
Its a great way to bond with a son or daughter - Jnr and I have travelled far and wide watching the Villa and enjoyed weekend Wembley visits on 3 occasions (despite the score lines at two of those).
I have also taken him to Rugby League games, and matches at Anfield and Goodison but he has always stayed loyal to the Villa- which must have been tough during his school years. He went to Newcastle recently with his mates to watch Everton - he enjoyed the craic but said it wasn't the same as going with me to the Villa
Our bonding through football has lead us to have a great father/son relationship .... just over a year ago we went to Memphis together to visit Stax, Fame and Muscle Shoals Studios and had an absolute ball.
Its not all about the football - its about bonding with your kids and creating memories ...... hope it goes well Ads, although I think 30months may just be a tad early
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I would wait until he is around 6. Talk to him about it, buy him stuff and get him excited so that he wants to go. Then make a big day of it when he is ready. He won't get anything out of the experience at 30 months and may put him off.
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I'm another for waiting a bit longer, I sit in the family stand with my son and notice any kids under the age of 4 or 5 get bored very easily (as I do but that's more to do with the actual football), I also doubt they will remember their first match at such a young age. Most of the young ones seem to spend their time either facing away from the match, endless trips to the toilet or food stands or playing on somebody's phone.
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Probably a bit young for this..
https://www.avfc.co.uk/fans/junior-villans/my-home-debut
but it's how my (then) 6 year old started, you get walked round the pitch during the warm up, have their name up on the score board and meet the mascot. He's now on 6 games 6 wins and actually thinks it's down to him, we left London against Ipswich without our "lucky" scarf and had to go back for it. He gets bored during the game but is usually more exited by the fact that ,with me, he gets to drink pop, eat what he wants and stay up until 11 in a curry house.
Taking them to the kids zone before helps and there's a bar!
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Have you stuck him in front of a game on the TV (I appreciate you're normally there, so opportunity might not often arise)?
Gauging his enthusiasm from that would probably be the best starting point - even just to make sure he's happy sat in front of the same thing for two hours without much of a break from it.
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Charlie took his book and tablet with him to the Peterborough game. He was happy hopping on his seat to see chances but read the book for a chunk of the second half. If you take them too young you might put them off and certainly won't get close to seeing the game out.
I tried him on non league day at Halesowen when he was four and he spent most of the second half on the bouncy castle they had erected before wanting to leave early.
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I went with my nephew to the Sheffield Wednesday game. He now wants to play for Villa as he wants to play with his favourite player: "Alan"
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I'm taking it on board. But it's hard though.
Was putting him to bed last night and we started singing "We're on our way!" And he joined in. He wore a Villa shirt today over his normal top and represented at nursery.
I feel dead chuffed to be honest. My first games I was 4 I believe. I guess I'm quite keen to take him on a day out just to spend a bit more me and him time together. Thinking the cold may be a tad nippy this weekend.
We will see!
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I took my lad when he was 6 after he'd been begging me to take him for months (home to Fulham, we won 2-0). I used to take his friend from down the road with us and we used to go to the Academy thing before the game and they'd have a kick-about with the Villa coaches while I had a pie and pint.
I ended up buying him a half-season ticket for Christmas that year. I think I got it about right as we still go together now he's 23. And I still pay.
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Thinking the cold may be a tad nippy this weekend.
He'll be fine - will be too busy staring at the people around him, and soaking in the atmosphere to let that bother him I'm sure.
Bit different to my first game - I can remember the old man taking an empty milk crate in so I could stand on it on The Holte. I can also remember me spending most of the match seeing how many Holte End steps I could jump up/down with our kid brother. Oh, and seeing how long I could sit on the crash barriers before my bum got frozen solid.
Good luck with him.
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I'm taking my two sons to VP for the first time this weekend. We have been to plenty of away games (we stayed to the end of the Chelsea 8-0, it was my younger sons second game). They are looking forward to it. We will get there early for a proper look around.
We are coming off the M6. Any suggestions as to where to park?
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I park down towards the old Albion Pub for free on the road. Near the Harley Davidson garage. Its a mile walk though, but doesn't take too long.
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My first football match was as a baby, Hull City v Millwall, my uncle played for Hull City at the time. It would be 1962, my mum got threatened by some of the wives of the Millwall players for taking a baby into some 'lounge' or other. Lovely bunch.
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I took my six year old to the Burton match. He's barely shown any interest in football until a month or so ago and I have never mentioned Villa to him as I've been on an extended sabbatical from the shitstorm of greed and bile that football has become. However, for my own reasons I indoctrinated him a few weeks ago into the rollercoaster of Aston Villa, after briefly toying with the idea of telling him I was a lifelong fan of Man City and he should be too (joke).
On advice from here, I packed an iPad, books, cake, drinks etc. Everything stayed in my bag and he was rapt from start to finish. The family area has a good atmosphere for kids, albeit I missed being in the Holte End. He can't wait to go again. So, on an unrepresentative sample of one, they're not too young at six.
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I had my first season ticket at Six. Had one ever since. I'm 33 now.
I've taken my girlfriends ten year old son a few times this season and He went to Brentford away on boxing day. He loves it when he's there. he's not fussed for watching the match on TV though.
I've got it all to come myself though. My girlfriend and I are expecting our new arrival in July.
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I've taken my girlfriends ten year old.
An apostrophe would help out there enormously!
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I've taken my girlfriends ten year old.
An apostrophe would help out there enormously!
Ha, that's what you get for trying to post on H&V whilst at work!