On this day in 1955 .....

I attended my first game at Oakwell, as a 6 year old. I went with my brother, a few days before his 11th birthday. You didn't need to be accompanied by an adult in those days. We stood in the Terrace, by the wall, next to the tunnel. I'm pleased to say that we beat Leeds 2-1 in what was the opening game of the 55-56 season. We'd just been promoted back to the 2nd Division, after a 2 year stint in the 3rd Division North. Arthur Kaye and Bobby Wood scored our goals. The legendary John Charles was playing centre half for Leeds. As I lived throughout my entire childhood within a short walking distance of Oakwell, it was easy to get to the games. It's amazing to reflect on the fact that I have been a fan for 70 years now. I am fairly sure that there are several BBS contributors who have been attending Oakwell for even longer than I have.

 

Happy Anniversary!

 

I love that you have that memory!

I have no idea what my first game was. My mum believes I was 2 when my dad first took me, which would make it 91/92. I remember looking up at the lights in the top of the stand, and I remember my dad parking the car in the dairy he used to work at, behind the Mount. But I remember little else from those early games.

 

I'm very impressed with your memory. I was born in 1948 and I believe that the first matches I attended were in 1955, not sure whether or not that was 54-55 or 55-56 season though. My grandfather was a keen supporter of BFC and it was he who started me on the road to watching games at Oakwell when I was 7 years old. Sometimes we would venture beyond Oakwell, with one visit to Hillsborough sticking in the mind as, if I remember correctly, we lost 5-1. Arthur Kaye, Bobby Wood, Lol Chappell are all names I recall but my hero of the day was Duncan Sharp, a real no-nonsense centre half. One game I recall was against Bristol City at Oakwell and Bristol won, I believe, 7-4 with the England centre forward Jon Atyeo scoring a hat-trick while Lol Chappell bagged all 4 for Barnsley. My memories are not as clear as VoR so happy to be corrected, but nevertheless they were happy days when, after the match, Saturday teatimes and early evenings were spent reading almost every word in the Green Un.

 

Thanks very much, YT. I hope to be attending for many more years yet. Someone who sits not too far from me in East Upper went to his first match before the outbreak of WW2, he told me, though he's not sure of the precise date.

 

If your first game was in the 54/55 season, then that would have been in the 3rd North, which we won, and you would, of course, pre-date me. Both of us have been fans now for over half of the club's existence.

 

I remember all the players you mention very well. Re Duncan Sharp, he was actually second choice centre half in 1955. He was very "uncompromising" and a very fierce competitor. First choice centre-half then was the cultured George Spruce, a very different kind of player. I was at the 4-7 Bristol City match. How could we forget that?! Four goals for Lol Chappell and yet we were on the end of a hammering. John Atyeo scored loads of goals in his career and he made a few appearances for England when he was playing in the 2nd Division, as did Fulham's Johnny Haynes, the first £100 a week footballer. Bobby Wood used to go in the bookie's at the end of Mottram Street, down Eldon Street North.

 

12th November 1988 for me. A glorious 0-0 draw with Bradford City that ensured a six-year-old me would keep on coming back for another 37 years at least.

 

I had never realised that - probably as it's a bit of a scary thought. For the last 16 years I've been living and working in the Yorkshire Dales so watching matches live is a thing of the past - although I do hope to make at least one more visit to Oakwell in the not too distant future.

 

Impressive that you can both get up there

 

I'm smiling at that description - uncompromising and a very fierce competitor. I tried to model myself on him when playing and was certainly more of a Sharp centre half than a Spruce one. Just dug through the old photo records and found this, published in The Star - think it is from 1961 and the FA cup ticket for Huddersfield v Barnsley. The original match was postponed and played on the following week (evening game). My mother wouldn't let me go as it would have been too late getting back and with school next morning ...... My grandfather is second from right and I'm second from left.

 

I, too, started in 1955 as a 6-year-old, but I used to go with my grandad, who was at Bramnall Lane in 1912 when we won the cup. We lived in Redbrook at the time; my memory has gone as far as remembering the games.

 

Well done, sir. Huge respect.

 

Well done, sir. Huge respect, as well.

 

Born in 1935, my first memory of watching Barnsley was travelling with a neighbour to a FA cuptie at Huddersfield, on 11th January, 1947.
Barnsley won 4-3 thanks to a late goal by Jimmy Baxter as he lifted the ball over the Huddersfield goalkeeper (Hesford?) into the goal behind which we were stood. Talking to Norman Rimmington some while ago he reminded me he was in the Barnsley goal that day!

 

Some very special comments on this thread. Memories are wonderful things sometimes. I haven't got the longevity on this that some have but started watching in the 60's as a little lad and can clearly remember my brother taking me to a match at Belle Vue on a Friday night when we wore the amber away shirts. It was autumn /winter, cold and desolate and I was glad to leave. I've been a supporter ever since.

 

I was born in 1948 and my dad took me to my first game at Oakwell in the mid 1950s. We lost to Liverpool . My dad told me to watch out for their Scottish centre forward, Billy Liddel, who scored that day. I remember they had a player called Alan A’Cort whose name intrigued me. That said the Barnsley player that came to be one of my favourite Barnsley players was Arthur Kaye. Strange how things work out 20 years later my wife was at college in Leeds with Billy Liddel’s twin boys and her uncle Keith Burkinshaw was Arthur Kaye’s best mate when they were growing up in Higham.

 

Pity you missed Cecil McCormack, but at least you saw Lol Chappell

 

I can assure that you that his football memory is absolutely incredible and second to none!!

 

Making me feel like an infant, first game in April 1968 v Chester aged 5, dad took me & my brother but he was from Hull and was no reds fan, he preferred taking us to Hillsborough but in 1974 we went to t’well for the first time on our own and from then on there was no conflict, I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a curse…