Daniel Danaher (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-Canada)
In 1943 after been sent from pillar to post as an evacuee, my brother and I finally ended up in DERBY- Yes! We lived with a great family (Mr and Mrs Shaw at 8 White Street just off Keggy Road)
Of course at school (St Marys' I think) all the kids used to talk about the Rams. So one Saturday afternoon we went to the BBG and got hooked. In those days (being wartime) all teams used guest players i.e Pros who happened to be stationed near Derby, that's how Derby first got Doherty and Carter.
The Rams were almost always seemed to be playing against Midland teams, my biggest fear in those days was Stoke , 'cos they had Stan the Man ,big Frank Soo (the only Chinese defender ever to play for England )
At that time there was a game at the BBG almost every Saturday, if it wasn't Rams , it was Army v Air-force, all pros like watching international matches. We only had daytime games (Floodlights weren't invented)
I've now been a Rams fan thru thick and thin for 57 years ,so there!
There was many a year while in Canada we had no TV games like today, the papers ignored the beautiful game so I might have been lucky to see results weeks and weeks later.
Today it's different, we now get 2 games every Saturday - 1live , 1delayed and a live game on Monday at 1pm (usually). Plus this year we'll get every Euro Cup game...we are now spoilt.
c2001 Daniel Danaher