In my case, it's how you came to become a regular. My old man would not allow me to go to Pools. He went with his mates and made a day of it, me and my brother were forbidden, resulting in the need to go just to find out what I was missing. On the other hand he loved his cricket and in the summer he'd drag me along to Park Drive . Now apologies to those of you who love the game, but as a kid it booooooooored the pants off me. He loved it, even my sons love it, but I just yawn at it.
The end result being going to Pools to see them play York with one eye open for the old fella.....we got beat but the foundations were well and truly laid.

The first game I remember was Pools v Norwich in the fa cup 1949. They were a big 3rd Div South team at the time. We drew at home and hammered in the replay.

Appropriately, April 1st 1972. Pools 1 Scunthorpe 0. Pools were bottom four Scunthorpe were top.

24th November 1990

Hartlepool vs Scarborough

Pools won 2 - 0.

Can't remember the first game I went to, the first game I remember was the home draw with Bournemouth in the FA Cup.

29th March 1997

Hartlepool 1-0 Colchester

Chris Beech scored

http://www.inthemadcrowd.co.uk/UI/Match.aspx?oid=3744


Went to a few games each season after that but got my first season ticket in 2004 I think.

August 19th 1967. Beat Brentford 2-0 at the start of our first promotion season. 50 years supporting Pools.

Mid 70,s
Cant remember the opposition like.

pools v halifax town 1953. first away game the return fixture. watty moore my childhood hero.

August 1970, Pools 1 Workington 1.

It says in the book that Pools goal was an OG, but it wasn't. Ralph Wright scored it...the Ws defender tried to stop it going over the line and wellied it into the roof of the net. I can still see it now in my head.

It was one if the first games that the new Mill House stand was open .

I'll have been 4 or 5 so late 70's. Dad hadn't started taking me, my mum used to drop him at match then go shopping with me and my sister in town. One day mum locked keys in the car so went to the ground and got my old man called on the tannoy to come and help. Very vague recollection is watching at that barrier that used to be on the Clarence Road side/Rink End while we waited for him. After that I begged to stay at the match and that was it a regular from then.

Don't know exactly what match it was of course. Early memories involved sitting behind goal with legs dangling over the wall (imagine them letting that happen now), people spitting on the opposition goalie when he came to retrieve the ball for a goal kick and sliding up and down the concrete base of the floodlights.

One of my earliest specific memories was the cup game against Derby in the early 80's, we changed from Town End to Rink End at half time and as usual my dad walked me behind the Millhouse Stand, it happened to be just when 2 bunches of hooligans were charging at each other throwing bricks etc. The main Poolie hooligan saw my Dad and sorted of shouted 'how .... stop' then let my old man get out of the way with me before they started kicking the shit out of each other again. It was probably the first big crowd I'd experienced at that point and it was enthralling (the atmosphere and the violence!!!)

Ralph Wright Remember him playing with a pot on his arm.

Pools 1-2 Port Vale 1979....a gang of us Old Towners were playing down the docks and 1 of the oldest decided we should all nick in Pools!!!! I got a pog up!!!!

Away to Carlisle in September 1990, lost 1-0 thanks to a Keith welwyn goal if I remember correctly! Still we got promoted in my first season so I must have brought some luck!

Vs Wigan in Nov 1980
Won 3-1 with I think had Houchen and Newton scoring

October 1965 Pools 1 Barnsley 2. Stood on standless muddy bank millhouse. Amby Fogarty sent off, Harrison scored crowd 4 and a half thou. Clough took over soon and the rest as they say... Cornish born but an honory Poolie since that day.

I used to work with Ralph and got into quite a few conversations about 4th division football in the seventies. He made it sound like a war zone which of course it was. He always made a point of giving any tricky players a good dig in the first ten minutes apparently. He was still playing up until about ten years ago, him and Mick Tait in central defence for a Northern league team. Jeez... you wouldn't have wanted to be facing those two psychos.

1991 at home to Chesterfield. Won 2-0, Allon and Tupling the scorers. I was hooked after that. Then I started working for a living and it's got in the way ever since.

Around 89 I think. 2-0 home win against Rochdale.

He played in the same team as John Gill, so in relative terms he'd have been a camp flower arranger. Mind, he looked like a hungover Viking after the fight.

15th April 1995

Hartlepool 1 - Torquay 1

We scored in the 89th minute and Torquay went straight up the other end and equalised infront of the 6 or so travelling fans.

Boxing day 92
Pools vs Hull, won 1-0 Lenny Johnrose the scorer

Went to a few more games the next season, then got season ticket for the 2 after that

Derby County FA Cup 1st Round November 1984.

Won 2-1. They had Ex-Forest players Kenny Burns and Jon Robertson in their team.

Bunch of old bastards on here like.

FA Amateur Cup Final 1905 (Shepherds Bush)

Hartlepool 3 Clapham 2

Sickening innit.

March 1989 away at Rotherham we lost 4-0.

We sat in the main stand at Millmoor and my grandad spent the full game calling Tony McAndrew (who was playing in midfield for Pools) worse than shite. About five minutes from the end the bloke who had been sitting next to us got up to leave and introduced himself to us as McAndrews Dad

Crewe Alexandra (away) in 1985, we lost 2-0, think a youngster called David Platt scored for them.
But unfortunately I was there also, when we lost 8-0 in some cup game, though we did have 2 goals disallowed !!

Humphreys debut wasn't it?

January 6th 1967.
Lost 2-1 against Sarfend in what was, I believe, the first floodlit match at The Vic. Attendance was over 9500 according to "In The Mad Crowd". Snow on the pitch and Ted being pelted with a blizzard of snowballs, as he walked round at half-time wearing billboards, is what I remember most.

I remember being absolutely nithered. Never been so cold in my life. Missed both of pools goals as I was buying Bovril. Went to qunite a few games that first season including the last game of the season where we won promotion.

Sometime in the mid 80's, managed to get my dad to take me to pools, not sure of the exact year but I'm sure we got dicked about 3-1 off Exeter.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Me and my mates from yakker central (Trimdon) were football daft and started going on the bus to games around the North-East in the mid-60s.

I saw Pools a fair few times but not a huge amount registered - at the time I didn't think of myself as a Pools fan.

For some reason I remember seeing short-arsed clogger Ray Yeoman playing for Darlo against Pools in a Christmas fixture at the Vic. Looking at ITMC, that was probably the game on December 27th 1965.

I also remember seeing a game where the opposition goalie jumped to catch a cross and Ernie Phythian shoulder-charged him and the ball into the back of the net. The goal was given! Thanks to the miracle of the interweb I know this happened in the home game against Wrexham on 22nd February 1966:

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/dr ... -1-1034694

A shocking 0-0 v Cambridge United 1st May 1971. After that player manager Len Ashurst was my hero he could kick a ball further than anyone on the field! Highlight was tipping over a award shot from a Cambridge player that floated into the rink end and running onto the pitch at the end.
The next season I was hooked and 1971-1972 is still for me a 'great escape' under Len should we say at least the equal of Ronnie's sterling effort in 2015 because we won the last 7 home games of the season on the bounce and my first experiences of 6,000 crowds.

1989 Grimsby Town at home. First and only time I went with my dad. He said it was the worst thing he ever did as a parent after seeing me effortlessly evolve from shy and starry eyed youngster to lairy loudmouth in a small minority of idiots in subsequent years. We won 4-2 and Buller Clarke bought me a pie. Salad days indeed...

Oh I think the Ashurst escape is far more important. In those days once you were down there was no coming back. Think of equal teams who went down: Barrow, Workington and Southport for example.

Oddly enough my first game was home to Workington in 1974 and was televised on Shoot! With Ken Wolstenholme commentating. I believe we won 2-1.

Remember it well. We also had two disallowed goals. I thought it was 4-1 until I read the footy mail.

31st August 1985
v Orient. Lost 2-1 with John Bird braking his leg.
We only lost two home games that season and finished 7th. Would have made the play offs if they existed at the time.

Late 60's at home against Shrewsbury, with me tweed coat and me flat cap ! remember getting a leather ball of Gus Mclean , kicking it was murder, heading it completely out of the question.

1969 pools 5-2 bradford park avenue...how could you not go back after that

I remember the game well. Les Green in goal, no Millhouse stand just crumbling terracing. An extra 6000 people paid in just to see the new floodlights when you could see them from all round the ground.

My first game was v Bradford Park avenue 1959, can,t remember the score but was sat on the wall in the Rink end.

Tatie picking week, utter slave labour. Back breaking work from first light until it got dark for a quid a day.

Hands up if you worked in the chicken factory!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wouldn't have got much done otherwise

I mainly remember being nithered - up at daft o'clock, you had to work to avoid hypothermia.

One year the farmer gave us half a bag of tatties at the end of the week as well as our money. Still remember the look on my mam's face when I dragged them in the back kitchen - I felt like king of the hunter-gatherers.

FA Cup 15th December 1975 against Marine 6-3 win.
Big bearded Marine supporter sat behind us in the Mill House ringing a big hand bell.

My first game was in the 1990/91 season but I don't have any real memories of that season even though it was quite an eventful one.
My earliest memory was Brian Honour scoring in a night game against Stockport from what seemed like the half way line although my memory has probably exaggerated that over time. Think it was around 1993.
Can anyone else remember the game or goal???