Why am I hooked on Burnley?
It is a question I have often pondered over the years. There is no easy answer: perhaps it
is because I left Burnley as a youngster and the club provided a tangible link with the
past; perhaps it is due to the fact that my parents, grandparents, uncles, aunt and
cousins all are or were mad on the team; perhaps it is a general love for the game which
just happens to manifest itself in support for the Clarets. Whatever the reason, the club
has become like a drug - every so often I need a fix and the more I can get of it, the
better I feel (is there some strange sexual relationship here?!).
I think I got closer to the truth of why I became a fan
on New Years Day 1994. That was the occasion when I introduced my five year old son Andrew
to the Turf Moor. experience for the first time. His excitement, joy and wonder (and
incessant bloody questions) took me back to my first game almost thirty years ago. I
cannot remember much about the game. Burnley lost 1-0 to West Brom; John Talbot made a 30
yard run with the ball the wrong way (I remember that because he lived next door to my
grandfather who took me to the game) and that's about it. Apart from, that is, our arrival
onto the terraces. All the noise and all the people, I'd never seen anything like it. That
more than anything left a lasting impression. I was hooked! Will my son now be hooked, I
wonder? He has had a better start than me: Burnley won 3-1 against Blackpool and the
atmosphere was terrific. I'd been worried he'd get bored or wouldn't understand. My wife
Fiona suggested he was perhaps just a touch young.
The way he has followed the football results since
suggests there is a fair chance he'll become addicted just like me. Going to that match
made me reflect on the change since my first game. I haven't a clue how much it cost to go
onto the Turf 30 years ago, but I know the facilities are much better now. At the West
Brom game I stood on the Cricket Field End, on New Year's Day we sat in the stand. The New
Year game was second (nee third) division as opposed to first (premier), but at least the
Clarets are now on the way up again.
Being a Burnley fan has certainly been an endurance
test. The sink down the divisions was long and painful. I thought it might eventually help
me kick the habit. But just when I thought it was no longer worth the fix, along came
Jimmy Mullen. Who will ever forget the scenes after the FA Cup match at Derby in 1992?
Jimmy put the passion back into Burnley and that game at Derby made me realise that while
the club may not be great anymore, it is still very special and might be great again one
day. I hope Andrew doesn't have to go through what I and Burnley went through in the
1980s. After all, Burnley isn't like a drug, it is a drug, and we all want the very best
for our children, don't we?
