We played away at Newcastle in the early 80s when we lost 2-1 to the Keegan/Waddle led Geordies. It rained heavily alll game and i was soaked sitting back on the train home. Swindon away was very wet too but luckily i was in the seats for the Yeovil deluge and wind.
Plymouth away (cup match 81 or possibly earlier) strong winds, not too bad until they picked up the corrigated steel sheets stacked on our terracing and one by one, they came scything across in our direction. That was worrying for a while.
I was at that one, Nicky Johns played them on his own in the first half. Half time the wind dropped a bit, Paddy scored direct from a corner early 2nd half, Killer did the rest in the last minute. Happy days.
The same season we got a total drenching at Pompey in a night game, had the shirts off conga line up and down the terrace towards the end, a gruesome sight...
Huddersfield away around 69/70 . Paul (wally) Went sliding off the pitch on his arse with the ball between his legs looking quite amused . The pitch was thick mud and pissing down and blowing a gale . The game wouldn’t be played these days . I remember getting there early on the “ aggro” coach and getting free tickets off the players outside outside the stand
Orient in the late 70’s, the game was abandoned at halftime. Much worse than any of the above. I’ve never seen puddles as wet as those on the pitch since.
My first ever match! I've got no memory of the condition of the pitch though, all I remember is that I saw half a match and no goals
Looked at BBC weather - it can change but currently showing light rain until 2pm, then heavy rain until 7pm. Winds will be around 40mph from 11am rising to 43mph at 3pm and again rising to 51mph by 5pm. Then we will have high winds 50mph plus all evening.
I'm guessing the game will be able to start but conditions will deteriorate throughout. I know it can't be done and woukld mess some about if it could, but it is a shame the game couldn't be brought forward to 12:30 or 1pm.
WBA in the cup..... puddle diverted ball into the net!!
I'm convinced that the fixture would have been called off any other time ... but it was one of the matches on Match Of The Day (lower league side at home to First Division, ahem, giants) that night.
This was back in the day when the Football League coverage was only on ITV, so the FA Cup was rather important to the BBC (much as it is now for live club football) and you didn't have cameras at every game.
If the game had been (rightly) postponed it would have left a big hole in MOTD and there's only so much waffling Des Lynam, Jimmy Hill, et al could do to fill in time ...
West Brom away 1994, midweek. Rainstorm not a windstorm. Though back then it will have been called 'weather'. With no roof above the terracing everyone standing got a drenching. The sensible ones, who had paid £2 extra to sit in the seats in the stand, were perfectly dry.
Getting there I missed Betty's coach by 1 minute - saw it drive off at the Bexleyheath pick up point. Wanting to protect a run of not missing a league game that season I legged it to Bexleyheath station, no mean feat in itself. Train, tube, train, running in between each. Cab from New Street. Got to the turnstiles 1 minute before kick off. What a huge effort - made it! My punishment was to take an instant and absolute soaking, the like of which I'd not had before nor since, with a limp 2-0 defeat thrown in for good measure.
West Brom away 1994, midweek. Rainstorm not a windstorm. Though back then it will have been called 'weather'. With no roof above the terracing everyone standing got a drenching. The sensible ones, who had paid £2 extra to sit in the seats in the stand, were perfectly dry.
Getting there I missed Betty's coach by 1 minute - saw it drive off at the Bexleyheath pick up point. Wanting to protect a run of not missing a league game that season I legged it to Bexleyheath station, no mean feat in itself. Train, tube, train, running in between each. Cab from New Street. Got to the turnstiles 1 minute before kick off. What a huge effort - made it! My punishment was to take an instant and absolute soaking, the like of which I'd not had before nor since, with a limp 2-0 defeat thrown in for good measure.
Orient in the late 70’s, the game was abandoned at halftime. Much worse than any of the above. I’ve never seen puddles as wet as those on the pitch since.
Was there. Never been drenched as much at a game and that includes Swindon away!
Looked at BBC weather - it can change but currently showing light rain until 2pm, then heavy rain until 7pm. Winds will be around 40mph from 11am rising to 43mph at 3pm and again rising to 51mph by 5pm. Then we will have high winds 50mph plus all evening.
I'm guessing the game will be able to start but conditions will deteriorate throughout. I know it can't be done and woukld mess some about if it could, but it is a shame the game couldn't be brought forward to 12:30 or 1pm.
Often do this in the States for baseball games. Often at quite short notice
Brighton away 1975. We won but you have never seen anything like it. The puddles were so deep that Keith Peacock looked like he was sinking. The only thing missing was a dingy to bring the physios on. It would never be played today. Will find picture from my scrapbook as its a classic.
Huddersfield away 98 I believe live on sky between Christmas and New year it was cold that we brought the stewards coffee and they kept the bar opened second half to serve hot drinks. Think it was the coldest I ever been.
West Brom away 1994, midweek. Rainstorm not a windstorm. Though back then it will have been called 'weather'. With no roof above the terracing everyone standing got a drenching. The sensible ones, who had paid £2 extra to sit in the seats in the stand, were perfectly dry.
Getting there I missed Betty's coach by 1 minute - saw it drive off at the Bexleyheath pick up point. Wanting to protect a run of not missing a league game that season I legged it to Bexleyheath station, no mean feat in itself. Train, tube, train, running in between each. Cab from New Street. Got to the turnstiles 1 minute before kick off. What a huge effort - made it! My punishment was to take an instant and absolute soaking, the like of which I'd not had before nor since, with a limp 2-0 defeat thrown in for good measure.
Remember it well.
Me too. I'd driven up with my old man. I told him we were ok to stand as the terrace was covered. I think it was beginning to be dismantled for renovation so there was in fact no roof. We asked the stewards if we could pay the extra two quid to move to the seats. "No", came the reply. "You'll have to pay the full price again for the seats." So we did. The cash went straight into the steward's pocket. Then we lost.
Plymouth away (cup match 81 or possibly earlier) strong winds, not too bad until they picked up the corrigated steel sheets stacked on our terracing and one by one, they came scything across in our direction. That was worrying for a while.
I was at that one, Nicky Johns played them on his own in the first half. Half time the wind dropped a bit, Paddy scored direct from a corner early 2nd half, Killer did the rest in the last minute. Happy days.
The same season we got a total drenching at Pompey in a night game, had the shirts off conga line up and down the terrace towards the end, a gruesome sight...
Yes, we went on a Lewis coach to that game and one of the windows fell out on the way down there. It was bloody freezing. Then after the game they took us to a pub to wait until the coach returned after having a new window fitted. We were too young to drink alcohol which was a bit of a bummer.
Yep, Killer put away a great header from a classy Paul Walsh pinpoint cross late on to win it for us.
Whilst the friendly against Orient has already been mentioned - the game lasting just five minutes due to a blizzard - it wasn't helped by The Orient players wearing a white kit, and the ball used being white, rather than the yellow option available at that time. We were then advised over the 'tannoy' (as the PA system was then known) that those attending would be given a free ticket to the next home game. Despite being near the front of the queue, it took over half an hour before the free tickets were handed out (and then they were just raffle tickets), and as the blizzard continued with a vengeance, most people gave up as they were on the brink of frostbite or hypothermia. Happy days.
Pre season evening game at Welling a few years ago. It was so wet I left at half time soaked to the skin, even through my waterproofs. The match was pretty dreadful too,
Brighton away 1975. We won but you have never seen anything like it. The puddles were so deep that Keith Peacock looked like he was sinking. The only thing missing was a dingy to bring the physios on. It would never be played today. Will find picture from my scrapbook as its a classic.
Absolutely the worst conditions, I've ever seen a match played in.Pretty sure that it was Peacock that continued running past the ball as he was beaten by the biggest puddle on the pitch. I'm sure that he must be embarrassed to this day, being tackled by a puddle.
Swindon away. Standing on that open bank in the first half I was literally a drowned rat. The wind blew so hard in the second half that by the time we left I was bone dry.
Also remember walking away from Wigan in the Premier League and there being a biblical downpour. Was seriously considering shopping for new clothes back at Manchester Piccadilly.
I remember the Wigan game, Clem (if it's the same one). My boy was the mascot. It poured down and was freezing. Was it not Dowie's last game?
Huddersfield away 98 I believe live on sky between Christmas and New year it was cold that we brought the stewards coffee and they kept the bar opened second half to serve hot drinks. Think it was the coldest I ever been.
Probably as cold as I've ever been at a football match. I remember the footpaths on the walk to the stadium were treacherous, like bloody skating rinks.
Orient in the late 70’s, the game was abandoned at halftime. Much worse than any of the above. I’ve never seen puddles as wet as those on the pitch since.
My first ever match! I've got no memory of the condition of the pitch though, all I remember is that I saw half a match and no goals
I went to that match, but I don't think it was stormy/very high winds. There have been loads of matches with heavy rain, but heavy rain and 44mph winds ?
Yeovil A must be the winner, but I still can't remember any storms at The Valley (as defined above), other than the Forest game.
In fact re-reading the thread no one has come up with a proper stormy home game (heavy rain and very high winds).
But soakings were part of watching football prior to that. Newcastle away in 83 was a 3 hour drenching. Man City 1-0 win at home 1983 (Hales header) was a good soak as was Brentford home 83...2-1 win in Milk Cup (lost 4-2 on agg).
But soakings were part of watching football prior to that. Newcastle away in 83 was a 3 hour drenching. Man City 1-0 win at home 1983 (Hales header) was a good soak as was Brentford home 83...2-1 win in Milk Cup (lost 4-2 on agg).
Definitely Yeovil away. Not just very wet but windy too. Couldnt have an umbrella as they just turned inside out. So bad that a mate of mine actually managed to pour water out of his coat pocket during the game.
Only saving grace was that I'd been playing golf that weekend so had a change of clothes with me & once I"d got back to the car after the game spent 10 mins changing out of all my wet clothes into some dry ones. Very hard to put on shirt & trousers in the confines of a Honda.
As already mentioned the West Ham 4-2 game, when Julian Dicks got an absolute roasting all game. The other one I remember was a 1-0 win over Man City in the early/mid-eighties, played in lashing rain with Killer scoring the winner with a diving header from just inside the box.
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The same season we got a total drenching at Pompey in a night game, had the shirts off conga line up and down the terrace towards the end, a gruesome sight...
Fortunately, they are maximum gusts !
This was back in the day when the Football League coverage was only on ITV, so the FA Cup was rather important to the BBC (much as it is now for live club football) and you didn't have cameras at every game.
If the game had been (rightly) postponed it would have left a big hole in MOTD and there's only so much waffling Des Lynam, Jimmy Hill, et al could do to fill in time ...
Getting there I missed Betty's coach by 1 minute - saw it drive off at the Bexleyheath pick up point. Wanting to protect a run of not missing a league game that season I legged it to Bexleyheath station, no mean feat in itself. Train, tube, train, running in between each. Cab from New Street. Got to the turnstiles 1 minute before kick off. What a huge effort - made it! My punishment was to take an instant and absolute soaking, the like of which I'd not had before nor since, with a limp 2-0 defeat thrown in for good measure.
I left at half time and went down the boozer.
It would never be played today. Will find picture from my scrapbook as its a classic.
Yep, Killer put away a great header from a classy Paul Walsh pinpoint cross late on to win it for us.
We were then advised over the 'tannoy' (as the PA system was then known) that those attending would be given a free ticket to the next home game. Despite being near the front of the queue, it took over half an hour before the free tickets were handed out (and then they were just raffle tickets), and as the blizzard continued with a vengeance, most people gave up as they were on the brink of frostbite or hypothermia. Happy days.
Was that the Robbo 25 yard screamer game?
There have been loads of matches with heavy rain, but heavy rain and 44mph winds ?
Yeovil A must be the winner, but I still can't remember any storms at The Valley (as defined above), other than the Forest game.
In fact re-reading the thread no one has come up with a proper stormy home game (heavy rain and very high winds).
But soakings were part of watching football prior to that. Newcastle away in 83 was a 3 hour drenching. Man City 1-0 win at home 1983 (Hales header) was a good soak as was Brentford home 83...2-1 win in Milk Cup (lost 4-2 on agg).
Only saving grace was that I'd been playing golf that weekend so had a change of clothes with me & once I"d got back to the car after the game spent 10 mins changing out of all my wet clothes into some dry ones. Very hard to put on shirt & trousers in the confines of a Honda.
The other one I remember was a 1-0 win over Man City in the early/mid-eighties, played in lashing rain with Killer scoring the winner with a diving header from just inside the box.