Sara Forsyth
My Brother Stuart persuaded me to join in with this -what a fantastic time I've had reminiscing on why I am what I am today - a very proud and loyal Rams fan !
*Disclaimer * -this may get sentimental you have been warned !
Having a Brother like Stuart who was two years older than me and totally obsessed by all kinds of sport- it was unlikely that I was ever going to get away with a life without any involvement myself. His biggest passions were (and continue to be) cricket and football. This is all very well but ,for those of you who know my Brother will be able to confirm that he is dangerously involved with the tactics and statistics of both of these beautiful games.
Fine you may say- but where do I fit in to this scenario? Throughout our childhood Stuart and I lived in an area that didn't have many children. This meant that when Stu needed to get his sports 'fix' I was always the one to either defend ,take a penno ,attack ,field , bowl or bat as he could never seem to muster a full leleven. I was not allowed on to the 'pitch' however, until I could either name all of the cricket field placings or explain teh intracacies of the off-side rule!
I eventually took up playing football with the local lads team (at the age fo 7) and became something of a local phenomenon-often being picked to play in playground kickabouts before many of the lads. Ah - I digress. To cut a long story short - our youth team "Ashbourne Aztecs" became affiliated with The Rams and I was selected to be a mascot for The Rams against Wrexham -Nov 14th 1981 (I was 9).
As you can imagine from the moment I was met by Colin Addison and got to kiss Kevin Hector as he presented me with my full Patrick kit, I was hooked. The passion and noise of those 10,956 ,as I ran out on to the pitch, alongside the likes of Hector, Jones and someone called Coop ,was indescribable.I could hardly comprehend the feeling of anticipation and expectation that everyone seemed to possess.
As I looked around the ground, each stand in turn,I thought of my Brother sitting now with my Dad by the dug outs and how he'd said just before i held Kevin Hectors ' hand to emerge from the tunnel "You'll never need another team- now that you've got the Rams ,Sis" Nineteen years ,shed loads of tears ,grins heartaches and hoarse throats later and I can confirm he was right - I never needed anyone else .The older I get the stronger my bond.
About the match? Suffice to say that we beat Wrexham 2-1 with goals from Steve Buckley and Keith Osgood although as I recall it was a dour game with Wrexham unlucky not to clinch it.
Since that day - I have had a place in my heart for Derby County there is room for nothing else. Stuart said everything that needs to be said about the beautiful BBG and the Popside-there can be and must be no other team on our minds at any moment throughout the day.
Thanks if you got this far -it's difficult not to get sentimental , but sorry that it did.
c2001 Sara Forsyth