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I am one of those armchair supporters which Dale fans must loathe so much. I’ve only ever actually attended two RAFC matches. My excuse? I live more than 200 miles away in Berkshire and I have only actually visited Rochdale once.
My first visit in March 2005 was as a neutral. With my own team not playing that particular weekend I took a trip up to Spotland with a Wycombe Wanderers supporting friend. We arrived in good time, parked up on one of the side streets with ease and made our way over to the RAFC clubhouse. Once inside we were made welcome, we had a decent pint in this tidy little bar where I was interested to read the decorative memorabilia about the 2002/03 cup run. After finishing our drinks we went over the road to the chippie and we took some rather delicious chips into the away end with us.
The game ended in an unmemorable 1-1 draw but I had thoroughly enjoyed my day. It was an inexpensive, hassle free day at a friendly little club. Paid cash on the turnstiles. Free, easy parking. It reminded me of the game I fell in love with before my own club moved away from their own little ground hemmed in between suburban streets in favour of an all-seater anonymous identikit megaplex on the edge of town without a pub in staggering distance. I liked Spotland. Small but perfectly formed, it seemed to me to be a well-loved and cared-for venue.
RAFC had first properly come to my attention in 2001 thanks to the pen of Mark Hodkinson. I had previously enjoyed his work following the fortunes of Man City during their one and only third tier season in the late nineties, serialised in The Times and later printed as a collection called ‘Blue Moon’. When I noticed a new volume of Hodkinson’s writing in my local branch of WH Smith a decade ago – ‘Life Sentence’, a series of essays on Dale’s play-off near miss in 2000/01 – I bought the book and was fascinated to learn that Dale had gone more than 3 decades without a single promotion! I kept an eye out for Dale ever since then.
In 2007, Dale fan Hodkinson followed up with ‘Believe In The Sign’, probably the best book I have ever read on the subject of football. On his website, Hodkinson describes the book as being about “growing up in Rochdale and supporting my local football team”, but there is a lot more to it than that. I would recommend any true football fan read this book, it had me in tears of emotion at times as parts of it resonated with my own childhood, being taken along to watch an unsuccessful lower division side with my dad. By now, Dale were regularly flirting with the play-offs and – with that ever growing run of non-promotion stretching into a 4th decade – I gave serious thought to going to support Dale at Wembley in the 2008 play-off final. Worried I would be a jinx I stayed at home. Dale lost anyway, with me watching on at home.
The following season saw another play-off disappointment and then the following season with Dale clear at the top of League 2 under Keith Hill I really began to obsess about their results, especially when they began to wobble and lose their place at the top of the division! It felt ridiculous, a southerner who had only seen Dale play once in his life sat at home studying teletext, reviewing the league table and calculating the game-in-hand permutations of promotion rivals. Coming home from watching my own team play on a Saturday afternoon, the first result I began to look for wasRochdale’s.
Then finally, a win over Northampton Town clinched that promotion, and I watched with a smile as SKY Sports News broadcast pictures of the ensuing pitch invasion. Finally, that long period without a promotion was over and I was thrilled to think that two or more generations of Dale fans could celebrate success at last! With my own team’s season over, I even made my way to Underhill, Barnet to watch Dale’s last League 2 match (hopefully last one ever!) and witnessed a rather tame 1-0 loss.
So, bringing things up to date, again I followed the results with interest via SKY and teletext last season and again I became obsessive with the League 1 table towards the end of the season when Dale closed in on a play-off place. Watching the thugs of FC United celebrate their cup win on the Spotland pitch in front of the SKY cameras was a lowlight which exasperated me, but there were some brilliant wins recorded along the way versus big clubs in Charlton, Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton as Dale finished a very creditable ninth place. Keith Hill has now moved on, can Steve Eyre keep this era of success going? Perhaps I’ll even try to attend another match this season!
I hope you've enjoyed reading this guest post from Neil, I certainly have and here's hoping he decides to make an appearance at Spotland sometime this coming season! If you've been to Spotland and would like to write a piece about your visit for my blog then drop me an email at girlonaterrace@gmail.com.
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