I started life going to White Hart Lane with my older brother in 1971-72. I then developed a "thing" for Arsenal. Then in 1974 (i think) i went to see Hillingdon Borough play Watford in a friendly, and have been with The Golden Boys ever since. Seen a few games over the years, the highlight being the 4-3 win over Bolton in 1994. Can't get to games much nowadays due to illness etc. But always have the shoutbox on for my updates
Like Arakel & a few others I too was born in Watford General (or Shrodells as it was back then in black & white). After that I could see the old floodlight towers from my house as a kid so why would I have wanted to have gone anywhere else? Although one side of the family is from Islington and follow Arsenal with the other lot from Silvertown and supporting West Ham it could've been different. Even more so considering my first ever football kit (before the mass marketing explosion of replica kits and they had neither club badge or makers logo) was an Everton one!?! Never got a good reason as to why that was, maybe they didn't like me back then either?? :'(
It's quite peculiar because my Dad used to take me to Watford games when I was young, but I hated them to start with because the noise was too much for my fragile ears. Once my ears had adjusted to the noise as I grew older, I began to feel like Watford was part of my identity (even though I had to be reminded they were called Watford, not Wimbledon as I kept calling them). My Dad was born in Watford General and my Grandfather used to run the line at Watford games. Even though for years and years I knew of no other Watford fans, I still felt as though my blood was yellow and it made up a big part of who I was which has proven to be right. Everywhere I go I am recognised as the avid Watford fan, and I now know loads of hornets which is great
This is a good topic and interesting to see how/why people came to support the club. Born in Kilburn and moved initially to South Oxhey -along with many others -when the GLC offered people the chance to live in houses not tenaments in the late 50's. First match was around 1965 (aged 8) just before football was about to get very popular. My dad (who was a fulham fan) took me to see the local side and we became hooked. That spread to one of my younger brothers I repeated this with my eldest son at a slightly younger age and now he along with my dad (50% of games anyway) and me, my brother and his son all sit in the UR. Like many on here i try to encourage people i know to come along for games even though their allegiance may be to a premiership side. I did read the other thread about falling attendances and what to do-sadly it degenerated but this thread i think gives a good insight into why people come. There is no harm in having ambition and of course we need to progress (which this season we have in many areas) but if the consequences of failure are so scary lets consider why so many people come in the first place on the basis this forum represents a fair cross section of all supporters
There was a massive buzz in school about some fa cup final or other.. My dad took me to see the open top bus parade after the game. I think I pestered him all summer about going to see a game the following season. When my kids are old enough they will be coming along, or they can go support Oxford who are now my local team. I couldn't imagine how people can "Support" a team without going ever.
Grew up in Tring and I think that bit of West Herts/Aylesbury is an important catchment area for Watford despite it being closer to other clubs. Anyway, did one of those half term WFC run football things at my school and got free tickets from that, enjoyed it so got a season ticket the following year and had one since.
Born and bred in St Albans, I began to follow WFC through the back pages of the Evening Echo in the 68/69 promotion season (thank God it was the Evening Echo and not the Evening Post which circulated in St Albans). Being a WFC fan at my school in the early seventies was tough, as St Albans was firmly within L*t*n's catchment area in those days. My girlfiend's (now wife) first WFC game was also GT's first as manager. I have lived in South Beds or L*t*n for most of my adult life, but no one hates them with more passion than me. Due to location (we live very near to the Herts border) both of our children were born in Hemel, so like me Watford is the nearest league club to their birthplace. Both are now teenagers and we all have season tickets in the Rookery (just applied for my 38th consecutive season ticket - the first one cost £10!)
Had the terrible misfortune to be born in Lootahn, elder brother was an Oak Road skinhead, even got dragged along to the kennel a few times in the 70s, before the folks saw the light and moved to Harrow. Bruv converted to being a Wet Spam suedehead, but he's a plank so I looked for kicks closer to home and stumbled into Watford not long after GT. First game was a 6-0 demolition of Doncaster. After that I was hooked but never managed to persuade more than a couple of school mates that standing under the scoreboard in the sleet or dodging Southend ***** outside was a fun thing to do with a Saturday afternoon.
Moved to Watford (Market Street) in early 1963, when I was 6. My step-Dad was an Arsenal fan, but took me to a couple of games at the end of the 62-63 season. By the start of the next season, I was going to nearly all the home games with a kid in my class, whose Dad was a lifelong Watford fan, and since then I wouldn't consider crossing the road to watch another team. Carlisle v Watford or World Cup Final? Carlisle v Watford every time!
Born in South Oxhey, none of my family were really into football, my Dad was an armchair fan of the Spuds, but I managed to persuade my older brother and sister to take me to the odd game (circa 1965). The first 'big' game I went to was against Liverpool in the FA Cup and we watched it from the roof of the Red Lion garage (0-0 draw). I was hooked! Season ticket holder until 1984 but having moved to Cambridge with my job and newly married, had to give up the ST. Still attended regularly but not enough to warrant a ST. Took both my children to games before they were two and my son, who is now 16 and has no connection with Watford, other than the team, has been a season ticket holder for about 10 years. His first away game was Macc' in the cup and I said we'd go to every game until we got knocked out (Southampton in the Semi's), he was totally hooked by then. My elder daughter comes to the odd game but prefers the lure of money, so works most Saturday's. Once it's in your blood, it stays - would never ever contemplate following anyone else. This is a great thread - Since 63, where in S.Oxhey were you mate? I lived near the Grapes in Heysham Drive.
Dad was a Fulham fan, took me to a few games at the Cottage when I was 6 (86/87 season) but I hated it. Old Div 3, crowds of 3-4,000 and everything was black and white! Then I saw the 1987 FA Cup Semi final on TV and bet my Mum 10p that Spurs (her team - sort of) would lose, so was supporting Watford from the sofa. Saw another game on TV the same year (Everton or Chelsea at home) and was amazed by the colour and atmosphere compared to the Fulham games I'd been to. Pursuaded my Dad to take me to the first game of the 87/88 season and by Christmas we had season tickets and have had ever since. It helpled being local to where I grew up, although my Dad took stick from his Fulham chums for years. Luckily we didn't play them until 9 years later.
Is S.O a spurs zone? One of my best friends is from there and he supported spurs till he got older and it's always been my old man's 2nd team (he's from SO) so I imagine that he probably supported spurs before he went to watford games. For me, born in Watford, lived in Watford, Dad took me to a few watford games when I was younger and got to go to a few additional tuesday night games when I was in junior school (previously I had only gone to saturday games)when Jewsons' (the company he works for) used to sponsor a few matches and he always made sure I could come along. Alough I remember sitting in the box once when Jewsons was sponsoring the game and wanting to sit in the rookery. After that got a season ticket and then got into away games.
That is EXACTLY what i do when i go to home games.....when thats gone , a little bit of following watford will be gone with it for me
No, as you probably know S.O was a London overspill from the war. My M&D moved there from North London (Camden way I think), he and his mates were all Spurs fans - unfortunately, most of his friends were killed during the war, so I think it brought back too many bad memories for him. I think deep down if it had come to the vote once I was attending Watford regularly, he would have sided with us. As soon as my younger brother started playing for the youth team, he was converted. My mum saw her first ever Watford game when she was 84! My son was mascot that day and it made me the proudest man in the stadium, I just wish my dad could have been there to see it as well!
As a kid in the 70's I occasionally got to watch Lincoln City who had a very promising young manager, who took them to 2 consecutive promotions before missing out on a 3rd on goal difference. That manager...Graham Taylor. When I left the RAF in the 90's I settled in Watford (well South Oxhey) and the Graham Taylor connection was enough to get me back into football.
Not as many the past two seasons - it always seems recently that some major family birthday or such falls on a day Watford were/are playing up here! I did get down for the Boro game at the weekend and it was good to meet up with my old mates in the lower Estcourt.
South Oxhey was a bit of a QPR hotbed for some strange reason, but most London clubs had some level of support - a lot would go to see 'their' team one week and then Watford if their team were playing away. We still had quite a good number though who followed Watford.
"This is a great thread - where in S.Oxhey were you mate? I lived near the Grapes in Heysham Drive". Hi Jelboy,we lived in Hindhead Green so not far away-my parents soon moved to North Bushey leaving my Grandparents there until my Nan died in 1995. She loved it there and never had any problems. As regards the estate being QPR or Spurs, when i was a teenager in the 70's (but not living there) it was pretty solid Watford. You might remember we played QPR- evening game in 1969- in our first year in Div2. 28,000 ! I seem to recall someone telling me that as QPR were escorted back to High St station, people had to make their way to Bushey and Oxhey to get off at Carpenders Park-not ideal planning for segregation ! One last bit of nostalgia for us "old timers" but topical with the FA Cup final tomorrow. 42 years ago Watford played Man U in the 3/4th playoff at Highbury in a Friday night curtain raiser. The losing semi finalists had this "honour"-it was the first such event-only 15,000 turned up in a stadium that could hold 70,000. As a twelve year old i went with my 16 year old next door neighbour-we lost 2-0-Man U had Best, Charlton and Kidd up front. Memory fades but i think a few thousand Watford, mostly united but a few hundred Arsenal to welcome us into the Northbank. This 3/4th play off event was canned a few years later.
Ironically my first game with my first season ticket was a 3-2 home win over PNE (then managed by Bobby Charlton) in August 1974. We went 2-0 up early on, and as we celebrated our second goal I was hauled out of the Rookery by a policeman and ejected from the ground (totally at random - but that's how it was in those days). Anyway, I had to head up to the Vicarage Road End and pay again to get back in! On a more serious note, that same day a Blackpool fan called Kevin Olsson was stabbed to death by Bolton Wanderers fans behind the old Spion Kop at Bloomfield Road. I always associate those two events in a strange way. The football ground of the 1970's was a million miles from today's all-seater, segregated, stewarded, (sanitized?), stadia.
I lived in a village near Bletchley in Bucks - now part of Milton Keynes, and I started off as a Nottingham Forest fan, from when they got promoted from Div 2 (now Championship) and won the League straight away in the 1977/78 season. However, my old man was from Ruislip and he was Watford, as was his Father. I asked Dad on numerous occasions if he would take me to the City Ground to watch the Forest (which living where we did was not a big ask), but the nearest I got to Nottingham was seeing them at Highfield Road against Coventry. Dad then started to take me to Watford - first game v Harlow Town in the 4th Round of the FA Cup in 1980, which Watford won 4-3. He then took me to a couple more games at Vicarage Road, however the key one was the League Cup match against Forest late 1980 which Watford won 4-1 beating the then European Champions. We stood on the Corner Terrace of the Rookery End in the Forest Section. However, in the eyes of this 10 year old child, Watford must have been a far superior side to Forest due to the crushing scoreline. Dad then continued to take me to see Watford occasionally after that, although I was still clinging to my love of Forest. The 81/82 season began, I was a bit older and more interested and we started going more often to the Vic. He would then buy me scarf or a hat or some other piece of tat from the Hornet Shop which was in Vic Road precinct. I remember getting a Watford kit and tracksuit (the one with the red and yellow vertical panels down the front) for Christmas that year. That was it, he had broken my resistance. I was now a Hornet. I got on board, just before the great times began, and they were fantastic days. Now my son is 6 and starting to take an interest in football. He is allowed to be Watford or MK Dons (sorry but he was born there). That said, if he incorrectly chooses MK Dons, then I will employ the same tactics my Dad did, and break his will. It may take time, but he will be Watford.
Born in Co Durham...moved down to Chesham when I was 5...mate at schools's brother followed Watford & persuaded me Leeds were really crap and it's been that way ever since
My Dad lived in Mill hill and got taken to a game by his uncle And got hooked. I went to my first game when I was three and also got hooked
WH48, Hindhead Green, was that off Ashridge Drive, near Greenfields Primary? Lived in SO from 57 until 82, went to Greenfields, plenty of QPR and Chelsea in the main, but as you say in the 70's quite strong Watford support, especially in the Taylor years. You ever been back? I went through quite recently and it had changed a lot. I remember a few run-ins with QPR fans, and recall the game you mention, it was manic - also remember Millwall in town one year midweek, they kicked the sh*t out of everyone heading back to Carpenders Park that night... Way back, when I think Rodney Marsh was playing for QPR we went to Loftus Road, despite them winning fairly easily, they emptied the Loft and came into the open end - South Africa Road - and all the Watford fans just laughed at them - good days those! PM me, you may have known my younger brother.
Grew up in Tring which has always had a decent core of Watford support. My dad took me to my first game in October 1983 and that really was it, hooked for life and never would consider supporting anyone else. I was never really pushed to support Watford, I just did it without question. Growing up as a kid in the 80s most kids at school supported Liverpool (glory hunters) or Spurs who were the glamour team with the likes of Lineker, Gascoigne, Waddle etc. Even then when Watford had the best team in their history it was never cool to support Watford, but I kind of like that we just knew we were superior.
Did I meet you in The Half Moon in Hitchin after the Coventry away game not this season but the season before and you told me about wfcforums?
