Saltergate's final Saturdays slip by, certainly my last. A place absolutely shot through - too often soaked through - with a sense of collective memory. Pissy, piecemeal, impossible to replace with shit-for-purpose uniformity.
Gratuitous plumbing shot fitted as standard.
4 comments:
That final image is superb. I went to Saltergate only once - 1991 I think, to watch Spennymoor United (as was) bravely exit the FA Cup (3-2) in Round 1. A coach load of yobs from our town arrived in Chesterfield at 9:30am, went on the 'rampage' in the local shopping centre, and by the time the 'official coaches' arrived, they'd been herded back onto their own - under police guard, and were militarily escorted into and straight out of the ground (policing with a heart). Scientists call that 'Small town mentality'. I still remember the alcohol-led violence of one of the yobs' vomiting - all over his own jacket - nasty. Next minute, he was back up and running about the terraces like an I don't know what. Scientists call that stamina. At the end of the game, about 100 Spennymoor... yobs again, hurdled a barrier, got onto the pitch, and did a lap of honour themselves. And for one of those moments to be cherished... the Chesterfield Yob Squad applauded them as they did so. Scientists call this a sweet and tender moment.
100 yobs? Hmmm. Spennymoor's not that big is it? Or daren't I ask!? Sweet and tender, certainly.
In the 1980s, an ITV (I think) documentary series called Network 7 created a programme on 'gang warfare' - where each town and village had its own brigade of... well, y' know. Spennymoor featured. At the time, places like Ferryhill, Chilton and Bishop Auckland all had their named 'elements'. The names and the grafitto were crucial in the myth-making that went with these groups.
100? Alright, let's say 50 - but it was more than just a few.
That sounds a little like an early version of The Real Football Factories.
If you've not seen it, YouTube it, it's hopelessly postured TV featuring Danny Dire - its saving grace is that there's some genuinely spectacular footage from 'inside the curva' and so forth (in the European episodes at least).
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