Christmas is always a brilliant time of year if your a football fan, the games come thick and fast. Boxing day is one of the must attend fixtures of the season. So what have been your best memories of the festive football fixtures?

 

The earliest Boxing Day game I can remember was when Barnsley came to town in 02-03 & were beaten 3-2, that was a good'un. More recently there was that 4-1 win at Burton around Christmas time when Lee Hughes was at his magnifficent best, running the Brewers defence ragged and scoring a fantastic hat-trick within about 15 minutes.

 

For Weymouth Boxing Day is always a bit special. Non-league clubs nearly always get their biggest gates of the season on Boxing Day, and Weymouth's gate has touched the four figure mark for the passed couple of seasons. Years before four figures would have been guarenteed every week but thats part of the damage our decline has caused sadly

I'm afraid I have to many holes in my mind to recall many festive memories, I don't actually recall any games. I can recall arriving early last year, along side Jake and spending time walking around the ground repeatedly passing pieces of paper to passerby's and I recall going with Jake & Ellie, when rumours the game would be called off was circulating by shameful fans trying to prank others.

Luckily plenty of people spoke up and stewards informed people who seemed to be walking away that the ref had given the okay.

I can recall taking a picture of Jake and Ellie near the main gates, afterwhich Ellie told me she 'loved' Notts and wished we could play in the snow all the time because it combined two things she really liked.



Sadly I don't recall who we played, only bits and pieces about what happened around this time.

One of my favourite memories of a boxing day fixture was when the team I played for at the time our game was called off at 2:00pm and the closest game that had survived the frost that we could attend was the Northampton vs Hereford at Sixfields, the whole team went & we went with the Hereford fans only on the basis of our keeper was ex Northampton Town player, we got in the ground at a little after 2:30pm and after a few shandies at the bar there we went and found our seats, we quickly ascertained from another fan what the songs were & the favourite players to really cheer for & we preceded to have one of the best 90 minutes of being a supporter you could have, lots of your close mates, all a bit worse for wear and all dancing round like t1ts when i think Steve Guinan scored a hat trick if memory serves me right, just a brilliant day with some really good people.

Boxind day 1969.I had a hangover but went to watch Rams, top of the table, at home to Middlesbrough,second in the table with one point less in the old 2nd division with our normal group being swelled to about 12.The pitch was almost frozen.I can't remember the scoring sequence but a penalty was awarded against Dave Mackay which we all thought very harsh.The ball bounced up and hit his hand ,which was by his side, instead of taking a normal trajectury.Rams also got a penalty and the match ended 3-2.Rams went on to win the league and I went out at night but had learned a lesson from the previous night and didn't celebrate too much.

The opposition for the final game of this season were .....Bristol City.Rams won 5 - 0.It would be nice if Notts could get 5 tomorrow.

Boxing day 2011 is etched in the memory for me although not necceserily for the right reasons.

 

Frome Town v Weymouth.

On the field, it was a pretty dour 0-0 draw, memorable for a shocking double penalty miss from the usually ever realiable Warren Byerly. He hadn't failed from the spot in a Weymouth shirt at all in the two previous seasons with the club prior to this game.

 

His first penalty was saved, and as he charged in for the rebound he was shoved to the ground again by a defender who recieved his marching orders. The second penalty was blazed over the bar, incredible!

 

Off the pitch it was quite ugly. The Weymouth following more than doubled their average home gate but we were not too welcome by the locals for some reason. We walked into their club house and got a lot of very dirty looks from some wannabe hooligans, and during the game a few fights broke out between the two sets of fans. A friend of mine had his drink stolen, thrown over him, and recieved a bloodied nose for his troubles. Our chairman had beer thrown over him, and there were numerous scuffles between fans. Both sets were partly to blame, I think a combination of alcohol, and them not taking too kindly to us completely taking over their patch didnt help.

 

As I said, memorable, but for all the wrong reasons!

I'm surprised Super hasn't remembered a certain Christmas match from way back

Oh,Thank you Granny.Yes December 27th,1975.Rams were 4th in the old first division having lost 2- 1 at Leicester the previous day(boxing day)and were in 4th place ,2 points off the top.Our opponents that day were Aston Villa who were about halfway in the league.We met up with my mates and had a couple of drinks then made our way to The Baseball ground earlier than usual.We all had season tickets except one of my mates,Dave, who had been working away from home(Thames barrier in London) and Granny.The plan was for Granny to use my Season ticket and Dave and me would queue for our ticket and meet up inside.So we went and joined the queue and after about 10 minutes got to the ticket office window but the chap giving the tickets out suddenly stood up and apologetically said the ground was full and shut the window.So Dave and myself,along with several hundred other fans couldn't get in to see the match.The crowds outside the ground quickly thinned out and Dave and me had to content ourselves with listening to the chants,roars and cheering from the wrong side of the stands.We were however consoled slightly,as the afternoon passed,by two tremendous cheers,Rams won 2-0(Charlie George penalty and Steve Powell).After the match we were all reunited.My big mate from Derby,Ken,(and he is big )had protected Granny in the crush inside the ground and Granny, though sympathetic towards me and Dave,rubbed salt in our wounds saying what a good game it had been.When Granny and me went out to the pubs that night  everyone had a laugh when Granny told folks what had happened.Ah well.

See now that is true chivalry for you.

 

I would have contacted the stewards, and told them of the misuse of my season ticket. Thereby getting Mrs PTID ejected from the ground, and me rightfully taking my place among the throng of cheering supporters.

 

 

he he he