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A
Day in the Life of a Harrow Borough Fan
by Adam Hills
Unfortunately there are becoming less and less Harrow Borough fans.
In the future they'll probably be a thing of the past and appear
on postage stamps. But, for now, while they are here, we look into
the life of some on a matchday. I personally prefer away trips to
matches where the ground is easily accessible by train. This article
was taken during Saturday 23rd September when we visited Dulwich
Hamlet's, Champion Hill.
My
Saturday morning ALWAYS starts the same. Up at 9am to watch Soccer
AM with Tim Lovejoy and Helen Chamberlain. But for once, not today.
I took my first steps in my refereeing career. I was the man in
black for my school's Year 8 team (but still playing for Borough
is my main priority). After that I met my friends at Moor Park station
and a barrage of mobile phone calls confirmed that 5 were on their
way and 4 more would meet us at the ground.
The
train journey took us from Moor Park station to Moorgate on the
Met' Line and then along the Northern Line to London Bridge, narrowly
avoiding a loud cheer when passing "Borough" station. As we got
off at London Bridge, 3 men glanced at the famous red & white kit
of Boro's and one said to his mates "Yer. It is 'arrow Boro. I considered
asking who he supported but with fear of him saying 'Wealdstone'
I decided against it.
Going
through the various national stations in London, you always see
a number of teams kits and today it was mainly Spurs & Man City
who met at White Hart Lane. At London Bridge I was horrified to
see hundreds of Millwall fans kitted out in the blue and white and
then I recalled passing The New Den on a previous visit to Dulwich.
Again, many of them passed with a quick glance at my Boro shirt,
but they were more concerned with finding an Oxford fan to pick
on. (That's Oxford Utd not City). On arrival at Dulwich we walked
through the park and set up camp.
A
40 minutes of Harrow Boro' fans V a Dulwich VII occurred with Boro'
winning 7-2. In other words we played some other kids at football
in a park. 15 minutes to kick off and we then visited the Sainbury's
next to the ground. A quick sandwich to keep us through the first
half and then into the ground. Dulwich have got to have the smallest
gap in the turnstiles and a much larger person may find it quite
difficult to gain entry to the ground. With 3 minutes to kick off
Boro enter the field of play and are greeted by the Boro fans with
paper, toilet roll and chants of "Come on Boro".
There
were not many Boro fans at the game, probably about 30 in total.
But the small numbers didn't stop us getting behind the goal and
giving Les Cleevley in the home goal plenty of stick. Half time
0-0 and we felt we should be well ahead. We were rewarded when Frank
McCormack or "Frankie Mac" as we call him fired in a cracker to
joy the away fans. Always after a Boro win we congratulate the team
off the pitch. We have nicknames for several Boro players; Patty
G (Pat Gavin), named after comedian Ali G and The Lyon King, (Oli
Lyons) just to mention some.
Then
a load more phone calls are made to find the Watford score and other
Premiership scores. The train journey home is great fun as we've
won and we celebrate with a well deserved McDonalds. "Well, three
weeks till Gravesend lads." Is the talk as we head home.
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