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For those of my generation..........


downendcity

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Spent a ridiculous amount of my early years from about 7 to 14 kicking one of these around the streets of St. George.

Remember the newsagents opposite my junior school (Summerhill) selling them.

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I remember getting one for Christmas but it would rarely last into the new year.

Stupidly we’d play with it in our road, everyone had thorny privet hedges and it wouldn’t be long before it burst. I do remember the hot knife trick but can’t remember how successful it was.

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2 hours ago, downendcity said:

Does this bring back memories of Christmas/birthday wish lists?

wembleyfootball.jpg.76dc67c987b9f9fef0aecad62c580812.jpg

As I remember it was a bit too bouncy on Oldbury Court school playground, , but stung like mad if it caught your thigh ( we all wore short trousers in those days!) on a cold day.

Also remember trying to mend with a hot knife to weld the plastic together after a puncture on the rose bushes around the play ground.

 

Great post Downend. More than anything I remember the square cardboard box and the smell of the new plastic. I too was kicking these around Oldbury Court playground. I left OC in 1976.

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27 minutes ago, Simple Red said:

Great post Downend. More than anything I remember the square cardboard box and the smell of the new plastic. I too was kicking these around Oldbury Court playground. I left OC in 1976.

Bit earlier for me SR!

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Those were the better, heavier ones . I remember one of our lot hitting one of these into an overflow pipe and bursting it. Left us with the cheap ones that the wind would take even when there wasn't any wind, like below ...

 

Screenshot2024-01-03at13_21_09.png.4cda97a8b3837859ed43404746c0bc65.png

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29 minutes ago, ralphindevon said:

I remember getting one for Christmas but it would rarely last into the new year.

Stupidly we’d play with it in our road, everyone had thorny privet hedges and it wouldn’t be long before it burst. I do remember the hot knife trick but can’t remember how successful it was.

The hot knife trick started as a good idea, but just a slip and you ended up with a hole bigger than the one you started with!

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17 minutes ago, downendcity said:

The hot knife trick started as a good idea, but just a slip and you ended up with a hole bigger than the one you started with!

That’s because you were doing it wrong, in KW it was a hot poker 🙂

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27 minutes ago, downendcity said:

The hot knife trick started as a good idea, but just a slip and you ended up with a hole bigger than the one you started with!

You were meant to use it on the football

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@downendcity  Great post!

I do remember getting through what seem like 100s of these back in the day.   Cost my poor dad a fortune.

I hope this post pricks the conscience of the grumpy bastards that kept the ball when you accidentally kicked it into their back garden.  Miserable sods! 

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20 minutes ago, Open End Numb Legs said:

Kicking one of those around the school playground at break time was fraught with danger. Not because of the ball, because of the platform shoes some kids wore to school. A sprained ankle just waiting to happen (ligament damage in today's language).

Ahhh I remember my Bay City Rolllers shoes well , you wouldn’t kick a ball around in those bad boys ….:laughcont:

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I think I have told this story here before but when I was a kid,Alan Dicks was at a school fete. (QEH.My cousins went there.I only got to St George!).This was when City were in Division One in the days before Sky invented football. I won one of those paper thin footballs that when you kicked it,it went about three feet forwards,then the wind took it half a mile behind you.I got Sir Dicks to sign my ball and proudly took it home.Once home I jumped out of the car and me and my chums prepared for a kick about.First kick the ball majestically glided forward for three feet then boomaranged back under the car with a still hot exhaust. The knife trick was never going to work on this one as once I had peeled the ball off the exhaust  what remained was more hole than ball.

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I had one of those footballs and loved it. 
I lived opposite my local primary school and me and a few mates would go into the playground and play football at the weekend when the school was closed. 
Ah the 70s - City in the top flight, plus some decent music around back then too!!

Edited by bcfcredandwhite
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36 minutes ago, Open End Numb Legs said:

Kicking one of those around the school playground at break time was fraught with danger. Not because of the ball, because of the platform shoes some kids wore to school. A sprained ankle just waiting to happen (ligament damage in today's language).

I remember that just too well.  Ambulance and the whole works.

16 minutes ago, Slippin cider said:

Ahhh I remember my Bay City Rolllers shoes well , you wouldn’t kick a ball around in those bad boys ….:laughcont:

I think you mean you shouldn't

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1 hour ago, downendcity said:

The hot knife trick started as a good idea, but just a slip and you ended up with a hole bigger than the one you started with!

Hot knife never worked for me.  Tried sticking cycle inner tube repair patches with with Bostik glue and that was no better and at best, swelled up in a bubble!

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8 minutes ago, Woofyourkipper said:

Adidas Tango was my first proper football,think it was from the World Cup at the time but could be wrong

I would’ve been dead jealous if you’d have come over the school fields for a knockabout with that beaut!!!

I did have this one.

image.png.89ef0c2d502c19ae4d48be0b4007feef.png

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3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I would’ve been dead jealous if you’d have come over the school fields for a knockabout with that beaut!!!

I did have this one.

image.png.89ef0c2d502c19ae4d48be0b4007feef.png

Came into circ about 79 dave i rek... Man utd and ipswich always seemed to be on motd and big match every week with these balls.... 

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What I remember about plastic footballs was the very strong smell...I can still imagine it now.

Also, when you kicked the lighter ones....they would swerve the wrong way. Kick them with the inside of your foot, if you're right footed... they should swerve to the left,  nope they'd go to the right.  Likewise, kick the ball with the outside of your foot, they should swerve to the right... no again, they would go to the left!

Very odd!

 

 

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4 hours ago, downendcity said:

Does this bring back memories of Christmas/birthday wish lists?

wembleyfootball.jpg.76dc67c987b9f9fef0aecad62c580812.jpg

As I remember it was a bit too bouncy on Oldbury Court school playground, , but stung like mad if it caught your thigh ( we all wore short trousers in those days!) on a cold day.

Also remember trying to mend with a hot knife to weld the plastic together after a puncture on the rose bushes around the play ground.

 

Isn’t that the current day match ball the gas use for home games 🙈

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20 minutes ago, Woofyourkipper said:

Adidas Tango was my first proper football,think it was from the World Cup at the time but could be wrong

Same here. Mexico 86 World Cup.

Loved that ball..!

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I remember those footballs well. Got smashed in the face a few times :laugh: even worse when it was cold.

While we're reminiscing, anyone remember those Smokey Bacon 'Football Crazy' crisps made by Smiths.

I put on about 3 stone :laugh: eating about 60 bags to join the Football Crazy Fan Club.

 

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3 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

Those were the better, heavier ones . I remember one of our lot hitting one of these into an overflow pipe and bursting it. Left us with the cheap ones that the wind would take even when there wasn't any wind, like below ...

 

Screenshot2024-01-03at13_21_09.png.4cda97a8b3837859ed43404746c0bc65.png

I remember those! Every free kick would swerve in a Roberto Carlos fashion. Guaranteed to puncture within 3 hours. Happy days!

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6 hours ago, downendcity said:

Does this bring back memories of Christmas/birthday wish lists?

wembleyfootball.jpg.76dc67c987b9f9fef0aecad62c580812.jpg

As I remember it was a bit too bouncy on Oldbury Court school playground, , but stung like mad if it caught your thigh ( we all wore short trousers in those days!) on a cold day.

Also remember trying to mend with a hot knife to weld the plastic together after a puncture on the rose bushes around the play ground.

 

My god your taking me back-

Especially the DIY plastic weld 😆

Happy, happy days..

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4 hours ago, ralphindevon said:

I remember getting one for Christmas but it would rarely last into the new year.

Stupidly we’d play with it in our road, everyone had thorny privet hedges and it wouldn’t be long before it burst. I do remember the hot knife trick but can’t remember how successful it was.

Ahh, hot knives, that takes me back!

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3 hours ago, 22A said:

Look at those boots at upper right.  Didn't get ACL injuries in those days.

No, but the bloke you tackled didn't get up in a hurry!

 

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1 hour ago, candygram for mongo said:

You could get a Wembley Trophy football for 1 book of green shield stamps, 
cue everyone under 50 saying WTF is green shield stamps

Ah, green shield stamps.

Anyone else remember their Dad's driving round for miles, looking for the garage offering quadruple green shield stamps and nearly running out of petrol in the process?

Back then I remember, in my Guinness Book of Records,  that the boss of Green shield stamps was the highest paid man in Britain.

 

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4 hours ago, Oh Louie louie said:

I can recall when Coco cola launched a mini football around 87, and a Brazilian guy coming to the chocolate box shop in Ashton, as part of the promotion and there was loads of us there watching, he did allsorts of tricks

See what you did there :thumbsup:

Remember the chocolate box well - just across the road from Luckwell school

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Remember those and also had the orange captains ball as a kid.An uncle gave me one of the old leather lace up balls , weighed a ton when wet but our lane was lined with hedges .Punctures were no problem though , undo the laces , take out the bladder and stick a bike repair patch on and away you go!

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5 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

Bloody stupid building where the levels didn't seem to match 🤣

Any truth in the rumour that the bloke who designed it’s next project was the Memorial Ground?

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10 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Any truth in the rumour that the bloke who designed it’s next project was the Memorial Ground?

Well there's about as much chance of me going into Fairfax house as there is the Mem , so maybe :yes:

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Posted (edited)
7 hours ago, Son of Fred said:

Fairfax House...

That lift! 😬😆

Paternoster lifts

image.png.891ec0f65b7ed428887ba6383ac95bba.png

The stuff of nightmares - I think I'll take the stairs!

 

  

 

Edited by downendcity
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11 minutes ago, Oh Louie louie said:

Fairfax house, is believed to be haunted, I've read somewhere 

...by the ghosts of shoppers who died while trying to find their way out if the store!

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22 hours ago, downendcity said:

Does this bring back memories of Christmas/birthday wish lists?

wembleyfootball.jpg.76dc67c987b9f9fef0aecad62c580812.jpg

As I remember it was a bit too bouncy on Oldbury Court school playground, , but stung like mad if it caught your thigh ( we all wore short trousers in those days!) on a cold day.

Also remember trying to mend with a hot knife to weld the plastic together after a puncture on the rose bushes around the play ground.

 

Pretty sure I had one of those around 1979-80ish.

Lived in Hanham at the time, and it probably would've come from the shop opposite the old Bus Station in Hanham, which is now a Shaunaks Chemist.

Can't for the life of me remember the name of the shop. It would've been like a cross between a hardware store and a B&M style shop, but on a lot smaller scale.

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18 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I would’ve been dead jealous if you’d have come over the school fields for a knockabout with that beaut!!!

I did have this one.

image.png.89ef0c2d502c19ae4d48be0b4007feef.png

Didn't realise they did footballs, the Stuart Surridge we lusted after was the bat.

Screenshot2024-01-04at08_53_07.png.764246baed9fff33e44456c79553354b.png

Edited by 1960maaan
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10 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

Didn't realise they did footballs, the Stuart Surridge we lusted after was the bats.

Screenshot2024-01-04at08_53_07.png.764246baed9fff33e44456c79553354b.png

My next door neighbour had a “jumbo”…far too heavy for a young un like me.

Someone mentioned “captains” footballs earlier….i recall the “captains” bat more.

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13 minutes ago, Open End Numb Legs said:

Dubbin, deep heat and now linseed oil. The smells of a generation.

An early introduction into looking after footwear. 
I was given a pair of Adidas boots towards the end of Junior school, which was massive as they were expensive . Was instructed how to clean and dubbin them to make them last. I still buy 'good' footwear and look after them now and even enjoy cleaning shoes.

Not the same smell mind.

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13 minutes ago, Roger Red Hat said:

......Horse liniment..

As a kid going to football that smell could seep through concrete 😳
Always trying to hang around parts of grounds you shouldn't, you always knew you were near the changing rooms.

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