My father first took me to White Hart Lane, the world famous home of the Spurs, when I was four. I spent most of the game curled up asleep in his lap, so remember little about it. The loud, aggressive, sometimes frightening atmosphere of English football in the early ‘80s isn’t an ideal place for […]
Memory Lane
My father first took me to White Hart Lane, the world famous home of the Spurs, when I was four. I spent most of the game curled up asleep in his lap, so remember little about it. The loud, aggressive, sometimes frightening atmosphere of English football in the early ‘80s isn’t an ideal place for a child to nap but, from my first game, The Lane had become a second home. I belonged there.
As I grew, I fell in love with the area that surrounds the ground as well. After leaving university I moved to a flat in Lordship Lane, just off Bruce Castle Park, where I could absorb the people, the culture, the rich ethnic diversity, the rough-and-ready feel of the side streets, and the Victorian skyline, much of which had survived the doodlebugs and V1 rockets of the Second World War.
Many of Tottenham Hotspur’s fans, though, had deserted the area long before I had moved in. Sadly, most followers of clubs in the upper echelons no longer live in the area around the ground. Tottenham is perhaps the most extreme example.
While well-heeled footballers and fans alike drive to the stadium in their Bentleys and Hummers, many locals are unlikely ever to be able to afford the extravagance of attending a match these days.
[linequote]Somewhere in the last 20 years the game sold its soul to an Australian megalomaniac for a bag of gold. A sense of local identity and pride became nothing more than a romantic ideal to reminisce over.[/linequote]
Before Sky Sports got its grubby mitts on the game and the Premier League was formed, football clubs were central to their community. Locals would flock to the ground on match day, supporting the team that bore their area’s name. Nostalgic, yes, rose-tinted, probably, but there is truth there. Somewhere in the last 20 years the game sold its soul to an Australian megalomaniac for a bag of gold. A sense of local identity and pride became nothing more than a romantic ideal to reminisce over.
Yet while White Hart Lane isn’t accessible to the local community, it remains essential to it. Local businesses rely on the match-day flood of Hertfordshire’s wealthiest to survive, and work has already begun on a new 58,000-capacity stadium to further boost the Tottenham economy.
While the new stadium will ultimately be a positive thing for east Haringey, it will serve as a constant reminder of how separate the club has become from the people who live and work near it.
Football has changed but White Hart Lane, from the outside at least, still has echoes of a time before football had ‘economically cleansed’ its fanbase; when four-year-olds could dose in their dad’s lap, safe in the knowledge that they were home.
[box type=”note[/linequote]The Fighting Cock is currently working on a documentary, called Memory Lane, about the history of White Hart Lane and what it means to those who have been there, and those that have lived around it. Contact us to get involved.
All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.
10 Comments
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10/06/2013 @ 11:09 am
What a load of bollocks. Everytime we play Woolwich at home the locals all dress up with their best snide, red shit shirt.
I couldnt care less about where the fans come from.
10/06/2013 @ 11:45 am
NOT a load of bollocks – turn up at a free or cheap event (something like the NextGen Cup), and you’ll see loads of local (black and white) Spurs support; there will be a high proportion of young supporters as well. These future Spurs supporters are now being priced out of the modern game. I first went to Spurs in 1949 at the age of 5. My Dad bought seat tickets because my Uncle came out of the navy, as a special treat. That started a lifelong love of Spurs – taken to the Boys Enclosure until I could go on my own (about 12) then moving into the main ground and standing on the shelf. I now go no more than a couple of times a season, and doubt very much that I will be able to afford a season ticket, when the chance finally comes round. The game is becoming one played by the poor and watched by the rich. BTW – Bush Hill Park is really very local, and I suggest that YOU live on the ‘nicer’ side …..
10/06/2013 @ 11:11 am
I don’t live in Tottenham but I have similar memories – taken to my first game at around the age of 5 I think although like you my memory is faded. However, it was before the 80’s. I do have fond memories of walking down the High Street from Seven Sisters Tube though , amongst all the enthusiastic Spurs supporters wearing the teams colours and of queuing at turnstiles to buy a matchday ticket. My memories include watching Glenn score the goal of the season – a fantastic volley – and watching Trevor Francis have a stinker as he was taunted with ‘what a waste of money . ‘ Yes – and it was affordable back then, even for a schoolboy with just a paper round for income !
10/06/2013 @ 12:55 pm
You don’t have to have lived in the Tottenham area to love the club. I have never lived nearer than 30 miles and now travel 50 for home games. For 4 years I followed what my wife calls “your beloved” from South Africa listening to the last 20 minutes of games on short wave radio – only the Cup Final was on TV there in those days.
My attachment to Spurs started in 1960 at the age of 9. I was lucky enough to enjoy the edgy days of the 60’s and 70’s at The Lane before the dreaded all seater stadiums came in when the life started to be sucked out of football crowds. The now too familiar sight of outsiders there for the “experience”, sitting silently smart phone constantly in hand, really saddens me.
Having said that, my love for the club is, if anything greater, than ever now. My boys, family and friends all travel to many games each season both home and away , despite everything, just to get behind the team, sing the songs and to treasure the great moments. COYS.
10/06/2013 @ 1:21 pm
Like a lot of supporters I was not born in Tottenham however my mother was born
off Seven sisters where all my cousins aunts and uncles came from I was born in Harlesden nw19 and we used to go and visit my cousins etc every fortnight
it was my cousins husband who first took me to White Hart Lane in the1947/48 season
when I was seven years old as I was too young to go on my own I had to wait until 1956 to go regular and have been going ever since and have been a season ticket holder since 1978 season, ticket price for that season? £42-00 and I still have the book, I have seen great sides and great players from all teams at White Hart Lane and hope to see many more Theirs no place like The Lane COYS
10/06/2013 @ 3:58 pm
My friend’s Dad was a life long spurs fan and he took us from Essex to see his beloved Tottenham. in late October 1977 when I was 8 years old. He told us in the car that we were in for a treat. If only he knew! We where in the Old Second Division that year, but I didn’t care. It was Colin Lee’s debut and he scored 4 goals and Ian Moores got a hat-trick with Glenn Hoddle and Peter Taylor getting the other two.The atmosphere was electric. I tried to go to as many home games as I could since then until I moved out of the country and I now get back once or twice a year. Milling around outside the ground for a beef burger before the match, or pint or two afterwards, is a big part of the experience. I will be sad when we leave White Hart Lane but I am pleased that the plans for new ground keep us local to the area. I would have been gutted if we moved to Stratford!
10/06/2013 @ 4:08 pm
Here’s a link to the highlights 9-0 thrashing of Bristol Rovers in Oct 1977 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHazMyKZmRs
11/06/2013 @ 4:53 am
There are FANS driving Bentleys and Hummers to matches? News to me!
Where are these fans who are rich enough to drive them and dim enough to try to park them in the neighbourhood, and how can I marry one and then quickly divorce him and take half his money?
09/08/2013 @ 11:07 pm
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