I caught this on BT Classics the other day, and the memories came flooding back. I've heard 
@Flav ask a few times, when chatting on the Podcast to older supporters what it was like as Spurs back in the day, and what the difference was between now and then. This match encapsulated perfectly what footy in the 70s was all about. Kids sitting and straddling the hoardings around the pitch side, long haired young scallys in groups laughing, joking and generally being lairy whenever the camera was on them, a sea of scarves on show after every goal and that ripple effect you had when the fans surged forward dow the packed terraces.
Particular highlights were:
● the amount of young kids - from about 9 years upward - going to The Lane in a group with mates, under no adult supervision.
● cops lining the perimeter on the pitch (to stop the inevitable pitch invasions).
● Youths being led along the touchline with their arms held back behind them by a cop for misbehaving (generally being involved in a punch up of some sort). In one particular instance, a lad of approximately 16-18 yrs was being lead away as described when a wayward ball left the pitch and was going to run off just behind him. In spite of his arms being restrained he makes an attempt to extend a leg out behind him to trap the ball. I nearly pissed myself laughing.
● after a goal, there's a shot of Terry Naylor with two young interlopers, one hugging Naylor around the waist while another has jumped up into his arms, and Naylor rubs his hair affectionately. In fact, after every goal scores of youngsters run onto the pitch and grab and pat the Spurs players closest to them.
● the amount of black kids in attendance. Not particularly noteworthy you might say, but this was the period when the National Front was at it's peak and most football grounds had groups of NF thugs hanging around and in the case of teams like Millwall, Chelsea, West Ham etc had vociferous racist chanting from the terraces. Tottenham was, in the main, highly resistant to this anti black/brown bullshit, and in fact often had Anti-Nazi League pamphlet sellers outside the ground.
At the final whistle, Anarchy ensued. Hundreds of spectators ran on to the pitch, mobbing the players, police and stewards battling to hold them back and pretty violent scenes as fans are flung to the floor, fisticuffs between fans and the stewards while 10 year olds run up to gurn into the pitch side cameras. To top it off, a horde of early to mid-teen kids are mobbing Colin Lee - a 4 goal scoring debutant in this match - and then attempt to chair him off the pitch, but the kids being of diminished height and strength can only manage to lift him about 2 feet of the ground.
As we approach 2017 and the forty year anniversary of this game, the stark juxtaposition of the match day experience as it was then compared to today's sanitised, homogenised, highly regulated (and all seated) affair makes for sobering contemplation. Football has certainly changed, but not always for the better.
@Flav ask a few times, when chatting on the Podcast to older supporters what it was like as Spurs back in the day, and what the difference was between now and then. This match encapsulated perfectly what footy in the 70s was all about. Kids sitting and straddling the hoardings around the pitch side, long haired young scallys in groups laughing, joking and generally being lairy whenever the camera was on them, a sea of scarves on show after every goal and that ripple effect you had when the fans surged forward dow the packed terraces.Particular highlights were:
● the amount of young kids - from about 9 years upward - going to The Lane in a group with mates, under no adult supervision.
● cops lining the perimeter on the pitch (to stop the inevitable pitch invasions).
● Youths being led along the touchline with their arms held back behind them by a cop for misbehaving (generally being involved in a punch up of some sort). In one particular instance, a lad of approximately 16-18 yrs was being lead away as described when a wayward ball left the pitch and was going to run off just behind him. In spite of his arms being restrained he makes an attempt to extend a leg out behind him to trap the ball. I nearly pissed myself laughing.
● after a goal, there's a shot of Terry Naylor with two young interlopers, one hugging Naylor around the waist while another has jumped up into his arms, and Naylor rubs his hair affectionately. In fact, after every goal scores of youngsters run onto the pitch and grab and pat the Spurs players closest to them.
● the amount of black kids in attendance. Not particularly noteworthy you might say, but this was the period when the National Front was at it's peak and most football grounds had groups of NF thugs hanging around and in the case of teams like Millwall, Chelsea, West Ham etc had vociferous racist chanting from the terraces. Tottenham was, in the main, highly resistant to this anti black/brown bullshit, and in fact often had Anti-Nazi League pamphlet sellers outside the ground.
At the final whistle, Anarchy ensued. Hundreds of spectators ran on to the pitch, mobbing the players, police and stewards battling to hold them back and pretty violent scenes as fans are flung to the floor, fisticuffs between fans and the stewards while 10 year olds run up to gurn into the pitch side cameras. To top it off, a horde of early to mid-teen kids are mobbing Colin Lee - a 4 goal scoring debutant in this match - and then attempt to chair him off the pitch, but the kids being of diminished height and strength can only manage to lift him about 2 feet of the ground.
As we approach 2017 and the forty year anniversary of this game, the stark juxtaposition of the match day experience as it was then compared to today's sanitised, homogenised, highly regulated (and all seated) affair makes for sobering contemplation. Football has certainly changed, but not always for the better.
