The olden days , photo.

[1960maaan]

Apparently the last "derby" at Eastiville , for those under 25 you can Google "derby match" .
1986:  1-1 . Neville for us , John Scales for that lot. Under 10,000 so nothing changes there. Lester Shapter was Ref .

I love the state of the pitch, and this was before kick off !
This could have been the game where the locks were cut on the Tote end , and replaced . Possibly more forgeries going around than real tickets too. Bobby Hutchinson was a player I really loved playing, all action . This is a great photo.

And if you're bored , here's the game.

 

 

[Mendip City]

Thanks for posting. Those were the good old days! But blimey that footage makes me feel old!! 

[slartibartfast]

Pretty sure there were more City than gash, Muller Rd and most of the South enclosure  (where I was ), a lot of them from the South Enc, invaded the pitch when we scored .

[Ronnie]

Lester Shapter the referee. Think he came from Torquay. He used to run around the streets to warm up for the game.

[Davefevs]

38 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Lester Shapter the referee. Think he came from Torquay. He used to run around the streets to warm up for the game.

He did. His niece was in my maths class. 

[GrahamC]

1 hour ago, slartibartfast said:

Pretty sure there were more City than gash, Muller Rd and most of the South enclosure  (where I was ), a lot of them from the South Enc, invaded the pitch when we scored .

Me too, pretty sure lengthier footage after Neville’s goal would have shown me on the pitch..

Just brings it back what an absolute dump that place always was..

[fisherrich]

I was there in the south enclosure with many City. This was when Bristol City was in the Premier league of football firms - and Rovers knew it!!

[Redtrojan]

Yes it was a dump,but I have mainly good memories of it compared to the crap that was going to Bath to watch the derby games ,when Nigel Martin usually ensured we had nothing to celebrate.

At Eastville I can so easily remember that 1-4 victory ,the infamous 1-0 down 2-1 up cup game(possibly my favourite ever),and the many and varied shenanigans associated with derby day and the precarious walk back to near Stapleton road station where my dad usually parked the car.
I liked going to Eastville and although we haven’t played them much since they left ,the mem i associate with watching Bristol(rugby),is nowhere near the same.

Glad I saw those times ,happy days.

[Oh Louie louie]

Brian Williams good player,won the fans over, I think I heard some singing about trevor Morgan being a certain part of a horses body being sung though,

[redkev]

59 minutes ago, Redtrojan said:

Yes it was a dump,but I have mainly good memories of it compared to the crap that was going to Bath to watch the derby games ,when Nigel Martin usually ensured we had nothing to celebrate.

At Eastville I can so easily remember that 1-4 victory ,the infamous 1-0 down 2-1 up cup game(possibly my favourite ever),and the many and varied shenanigans associated with derby day and the precarious walk back to near Stapleton road station where my dad usually parked the car.
I liked going to Eastville and although we haven’t played them much since they left ,the mem i associate with watching Bristol(rugby),is nowhere near the same.

Glad I saw those times ,happy days.

I know what you mean about the dump eastville ( tbf everywhere they have played have been dumps ) use to love the walk from old market where city fans use to meet and the walk up Stapleton road and shenanigans that went with it 

[Norn Iron]

My memory of this game was trying to do an oil change for my MG Metro car in the morning. Trouble was I messed up the thread for the oil sump bung. I had to drive to a garage in Avonmouth who fixed it!  

 

[pongo88]

Eastville was a run down place even by the standards of the day but it had the advantage that you could easily wander from one part of the ground to another. That was the same as a lot of grounds in those days. Wandering was helped by the fact that crowds were small. 

[SecretSam]

I was at that game! My first away match. Every time I go to IKEA or Tesco I think of it

[Miah Dennehy]

1 hour ago, Redtrojan said:

Yes it was a dump,but I have mainly good memories of it compared to the crap that was going to Bath to watch the derby games ,when Nigel Martin usually ensured we had nothing to celebrate.

At Eastville I can so easily remember that 1-4 victory ,the infamous 1-0 down 2-1 up cup game(possibly my favourite ever),and the many and varied shenanigans associated with derby day and the precarious walk back to near Stapleton road station where my dad usually parked the car.
I liked going to Eastville and although we haven’t played them much since they left ,the mem i associate with watching Bristol(rugby),is nowhere near the same.

Glad I saw those times ,happy days.

That 4-1 was my first ever derby- we went 1 up as well I think? I still shudder about that and the - in my eyes- 1 nil up 2-1 down.

The OP being a bit sniffy about the attendance, may do well to check other crowds of the time. Yes, City have always had the bigger crowds, but just under 10k in 1986 would have been a good attendance by most clubs standards.

 

[ralphindevon]

9 minutes ago, Miah Dennehy said:

That 4-1 was my first ever derby- we went 1 up as well I think? I still shudder about that and the - in my eyes- 1 nil up 2-1 down.

The OP being a bit sniffy about the attendance, may do well to check other crowds of the time. Yes, City have always had the bigger crowds, but just under 10k in 1986 would have been a good attendance by most clubs standards.

 

True about the crowds, I saw something on facebook recently from around that time that gave all the matches and attendances on a certain Saturday. I’d forgotten just how dreadful attendances were. I think we lost at Wolves in front of about 3,800. Our current average would see us in the top 10 in the country back then.

Ive such vague memories of this game. I was definitely there as I’ve been to every derby game, bar a couple of the Paint trophy ones, since I started going to games in 76/77. I remember travelling up from Minehead and going in the Rovers end but not much else.

Ive much better memories of Eastville from the FA cup game and the game where the wind was blowing the greyhound track in our faces all day.

[Oh Louie louie]

If I remember rightly the home game against them that season was quite a small attendance,

[1960maaan]

31 minutes ago, Miah Dennehy said:

That 4-1 was my first ever derby- we went 1 up as well I think? I still shudder about that and the - in my eyes- 1 nil up 2-1 down.

The OP being a bit sniffy about the attendance, may do well to check other crowds of the time. Yes, City have always had the bigger crowds, but just under 10k in 1986 would have been a good attendance by most clubs standards.

 

Just a friendly little dig 

The 4-1 was my first League derby , I did go to the Glos Cup game at Eastville we won on Pens . Possibly 72/72 .  

Interesting about the attendances , yes they were poor across the board. We averaged 6k+ , your lot 4k+ and , one for @ralphindevon , Wolves Just over 4k. Plymouth were doing well with around 8k all in the same Division. Wolves were relegated that year , and beat us 2-1 up there.  

10 minutes ago, Oh Louie louie said:

If I remember rightly the home game against them that season was quite a small attendance,

12, 300  ish I think . If you meant the G*s and not Wolves.

Edited March 24 by 1960maaan

[ralphindevon]

A Quick Look in my old box of programmes and this one was near the top.

TC’s notes tell us we were confident of beating Hereford to secure a place at Wembley, It was touch and go but we did it. Never doubt the great TC

[ralphindevon]

3 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

Just a friendly little dig 

The 4-1 was my first League derby , I did go to the Glos Cup game at Eastville we won on Pens . Possibly 72/72 .  

Interesting about the attendances , yes they were poor across the board. We averaged 6k+ , your lot 4k+ and , one for @ralphindevon , Wolves Just over 4k. Plymouth were doing well with around 8k all in the same Division. Wolves were relegated that year , and beat us 2-1 up there.  

12, 300  ish I think

Yes I think Wolves were doing a Bristol City and falling from top to bottom. Of course it was just after Heysel and being a football fan in this country wasn’t easy, we were treated like animals everywhere we went.

How very different things are now, some much better some not so much.

[Oh Louie louie]

The home game in the league, the season before was my first derby game, wasn't a spare seat in the ground 

[slartibartfast]

Does no one remember the 2-1 FA cup replay win at Eastville in 68 ? Galley and Crowe, THAT was a great night, completely took over the Tote. All ticket game, they sold any tickets to anyone, no segregation in them days !

[ralphindevon]

6 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

Does no one remember the 2-1 FA cup replay win at Eastville in 68 ? Galley and Crowe, THAT was a great night, completely took over the Tote. All ticket game, they sold any tickets to anyone, no segregation in them days !

That sounds nuts. Was there an area where you were expected to go in the ground as an away fan or did you just go anywhere?

I can remember going to a Brentford v Exeter game in the 70’s where fans just swapped ends at half time and even that dog without a few scuffles .

[southside]

5 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

Apparently the last "derby" at Eastiville , for those under 25 you can Google "derby match" .
1986:  1-1 . Neville for us , John Scales for that lot. Under 10,000 so nothing changes there. Lester Shapter was Ref .

I love the state of the pitch, and this was before kick off !
This could have been the game where the locks were cut on the Tote end , and replaced . Possibly more forgeries going around than real tickets too. Bobby Hutchinson was a player I really loved playing, all action . This is a great photo.

And if you're bored , here's the game.

 

 

The game where we had the Tote with tickets bought from Rovers and some got in through the broken locks was in Jan 81

[Miah Dennehy]

41 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

Does no one remember the 2-1 FA cup replay win at Eastville in 68 ? Galley and Crowe, THAT was a great night, completely took over the Tote. All ticket game, they sold any tickets to anyone, no segregation in them days !

I suspect some really old ******* remember it

[Miah Dennehy]

33 minutes ago, ralphindevon said:

That sounds nuts. Was there an area where you were expected to go in the ground as an away fan or did you just go anywhere?

I can remember going to a Brentford v Exeter game in the 70’s where fans just swapped ends at half time and even that dog without a few scuffles .

I would imagine fans went anywhere then. Next month sees the 50th anniversary of my first game and there was no segregation at that game.

[handsofclay]

1 hour ago, ralphindevon said:

That sounds nuts. Was there an area where you were expected to go in the ground as an away fan or did you just go anywhere?

I can remember going to a Brentford v Exeter game in the 70’s where fans just swapped ends at half time and even that dog without a few scuffles .

In the top flight days I watched mainly from the East End, occasionally from the Enclosure and several times in the Open End. The away fans mainly congregated in The Open End and there wasn't any restriction on me going in there with my mates all decked in City scarves. 

Also, there were several times away fans got together in the East End to attack it before being escorted to the Open End.

I think when there were big away turnouts the police formed a line down the Open End to form a barrier to keep fans of both clubs apart if it got a bit feisty. Iirc there was also fencing to separate rival fans if needed in the Open End. Although that might've come slightly later.

[ralphindevon]

10 minutes ago, handsofclay said:

In the top flight days I watched mainly from the East End, occasionally from the Enclosure and several times in the Open End. The away fans mainly congregated in The Open End and there wasn't any restriction on me going in there with my mates all decked in City scarves. 

Also, there were several times away fans got together in the East End to attack it before being escorted to the Open End.

I think when there were big away turnouts the police formed a line down the Open End to form a barrier to keep fans of both clubs apart if it got a bit feisty. Iirc there was also fencing to separate rival fans if needed in the Open End. Although that might've come slightly later.

Yes I was around for those days, though I can never remember there not being segregation in the open end, always a double fence with police occasionally stood between the supporters. I never went before top flight days though.

[Lanterne Rouge]

1 minute ago, ralphindevon said:

Yes I was around for those days, though I can never remember there not being segregation in the open end, always a double fence with police occasionally stood between the supporters. I never went before top flight days though.

Just how I remember it, a double fence separating the home and away fans in the Park End. I only went in there a few times - one I recall was the night we relegated Spurs which turned out to be not such a good idea in hindsight!

[handsofclay]

I was in the Open End the night we beat Liverpool 2-1 when there were 38,000 there. There were Liverpool fans behind me and I didn't make out I was a Liverpool fan to get in. Then again it was the same colours. So even though there was some sort of segregation going on it was definitely not rigourously enforced. 

[Davefevs]

22 minutes ago, handsofclay said:

In the top flight days I watched mainly from the East End, occasionally from the Enclosure and several times in the Open End. The away fans mainly congregated in The Open End and there wasn't any restriction on me going in there with my mates all decked in City scarves. 

Also, there were several times away fans got together in the East End to attack it before being escorted to the Open End.

I think when there were big away turnouts the police formed a line down the Open End to form a barrier to keep fans of both clubs apart if it got a bit feisty. Iirc there was also fencing to separate rival fans if needed in the Open End. Although that might've come slightly later.

Yep, my dad took me and my bruv into the open end in the old First Division days…it was cheap.  Armed with his tool box (an old army ammo box) and a “L-shaped” piece of wood for me and my bruv to stand on.  In with the away fans.  No bother whatsoever.