Two Stories Of Contrast From Older Supporters

[Steve1872 4]

HEARTWRENCHINGWe will call him Willie, primarily because that is his name. Willie is only nine years older than me, but that nine years holds more to it due to what I recount below. He tells this story now with the same face from whence I first heard it. There is a kind of emptiness behind his normally laughing eyes. I was going to pen my own words for this part of the story, but as he has already had articles printed for him in various publications, I will leave it to an article that the Herald printed a few years ago. By his own admission it is the better of all the articles he has been a part of and one which he can still read. Here is an excerpt of the article below.

http://www.vanguardbears.co.uk/article.php?i=88&a=two-stories-of-contrast-from-older-supporters

[The Real PapaBear 0]

the first one is a 'must read'.

[andy steel 0]

Best thing I've read in a long long time.

[biggordy 0]

Our Club's reputation has been slandered, manipulated and hijacked continously over recent years until it's core values are no longer recognisable.

Whether it's been our enemies who have always tried to damage us with the pen and the sword, or greedy individuals using our huge, loyal following to make money, we are simply not the Club we used to be. But then, time marches on.

These great stories, and there must be thousands more, (I myself arrived back in Kirkintilloch after "that" game oblivious to the ensuing catastrophe to be met by anxious parents}, must be gathered from those supporters who lived it and kept for posterity. It is living history.

 

Thanks Stevie for posting this.

[chilledbear 16]

Thanks for posting Steve.

 

The first story brings back a lot of memories, my mates and myself always exited at these stairs, when we got near them the crush was so bad we decided to run down the banking next the stairs. We must have ran down the slope and not one of us noticed anything amiss, not till we got back to the bus and listened to the radio did we realise.

 

I remember my brother phoned from London about 8 in the evening, he had been trying for 2 hours, but the volume of traffic on the phone network was said to be worse than a New Years Eve.

[foggy dewhurst 0]

I remember the stairway thirteen accident like it was yesterday a younger and stronger foggy was one of the fans trapped and at times fighting for air and life it would go very quiet and then there would be a moan from some poor fan in pain a terrible experience the metal fences buckled the wooden fence didn't yield an inch I lost both my good shoes small price to for my life when I was taken out by the saint johns and firemen they had started covering the bodies behind the goal area I was given a quick once over by a doctor and allowed to go after someone gave me a pair of sand shoes I still think of the fans that never came home that night