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Hard life being a football fan
IT'S hard being a Wednesdayite – ask any one of us.
Having followed the Owls through thick and (mostly) thin, for more than 40 years I can understand just where John Firth is coming from.
His book – I Hate Football – is a true story about a group of mates who, like me, have followed Wednesday home and away for four decades.
It describes the pain, the joy, and the humour we fans, or at least those who follow the also-rans, expose ourselves to.
The book recalls many fond and not so fond memories of the period from 1970 to the present day.
And it inspires the reader to recall their own version of events.
Not just the game, but recollections of the banter and sometimes the trouble before and after game and often the humiliation felt in defeat to the likes of Darlington and Grimsby, as too often has been the case.
It evokes memories of the guy who would stand outside his shop on Penistone Road bellowing "hot pies inside".
His clarion call an indicator that the ground was just a goalie's kick away.
Other memories include the incredible own goal by Charlton's Steve Gritt.
Under no pressure 25 yards out from his own goal he swivelled and crashed a volley into the top corner of the net.
Get in. What a goal, what a game.
Like John, everyone there will have memories of the match.
Mine came courtesy of the future missus who I took to see her first ever game that very day.
I coudn't have chosen a better game – or so I thought.
Forsaking my usual place on the Leppings Lane terrace for a seat in the luxury of the West Stand, was enough to make it an outstanding memory.
But that's not what made it special.
Excitedly leaving the stadium after witnessing that goal and Wednesday coming from behind to win 5-4, I asked my girlfriend: "What did you think of that then?"
Her reply of "bit boring" left me speechless. Just as well it wasn't a 0-0 draw.
The book brings it all flooding back.
John, 47, a North Stand season-ticket holder grew up in Gleadless but now lives in Wakefield.
He was a sales manager in the cardboard packaging industry but gave that up to retrain as a plumber. He's also a qualified pilot and now an author.
His book will score with all fans who have suffered and quietly envied those who follow the bigger clubs but have devoutly stuck with their own.
"Most of it I did from memory," he said. "There were so many occasions when having a pre-match drink we'd remember funny stories and someone would say 'We should have written it down'.
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Once I started I couldn’t stop.
“I didn’t write it for public consumption but when I started reading it through and found myself laughing, I thought I would show it to a couple of people to see what they thought.
“The response was that I had got to try and get it published and it snowballed (like Pat Jennings as he stood in goal during the famous first game of the FA Cup third round marathon against Arsenal in 1979) from there.”
n I Hate Football by John Firth, Peakpublish, is available priced 12.99 at local bookshops including The Star Shop on York Street.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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