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[thegazelle]

it was frightening just about everywhere in the 70's and early 80's as it was fairgame to hit anyone who supported the opposition, the wild days before casuals,mobile phones and scarfers etc. Singing for your team was therefore a dangerous occupation at most away games and some home games . with hindsight being a large mouthed drunk probably didnt help either maybe i should have taken the streetwise SW policy. However the drunken lout option has left me with many happy memories and a couple of scars.
i think sw has picked out the top few terryfying moments the walk back to the train at tottenham has to be up there but i didnt let that stop me going in an offy and ina dick  vandyke cockney accent ordering "6 tins of longlife and 20 fags please guv with yer apple and pears plates of meat on yer manna "
Runcorn indeed was fueled by revege for the "massacre" on stamford park in the first leg, me and bagshaw stood in their end because it was safer and when we scored we looked at each said f!!k it and went ballistic we never got touched i think all the idiots were in our end or they thought we were crazy. Wycombe ozzy the punk got arrested for his own safety i got hit on the head with a cider bottle luckily it missed my brain by six foot spent all the match stood next to policemen as i was wearing a red and white shirt in the days befor eit was fashionable to wear them so i really stood out
Bizarre places to be frightened include Buxton we got the coach bricked, some of ours were  threatened with knives at ryhope, mossley i had to hold the emergency door shut on the coach because we were under attack ended up on the pitch at bangor to get out of the scuffling.
Coming out at rotherham after our win to find the alleyway blocked by thugs obviously not from alty running towards us, alty fans turn to run only to be told oi were you going were from barnsley weve come to congratulate you and taunt the rotherham fans. Similar at doncaster for the scarboro replay, i have always had a soft spot for donny after that night of hiding behind there fans.

Even in those days i think the only place i never skulked out of in the dark was northwich as it was never frightening did leave macc quietly a couple of times though

oh the singers of today you dont know yer born

[Railway Alty]

I was at the Bishop aukland match and yes it was a bit tasty. There was a really bad atmosphere in the NWS after the match, then as they were leaving it kicked off between the players and a couple of fans, one of which was me, as i was using the exit at the time and got caught up in it. A couple of galsses were broken (thrown) and a bottle or 2 were being brandished. all in all a pretty scary situation.

[Jacko]

Think i was there at the bishop auckland game,i do remember it being volatile even in the main stand between the older fans!!!
sheperd was a knob even though he played for alty, i think there fans were on something a bit harder than lager that day they were going up to horses and punching them in the eye, think thats the most discraceful thing ive seen, oh and poor hugh cooper gettin bullied at last seasons so called freindly against fc inbreds!

[Aussie Bob]

when i was a youngster in the Golf road and you used to get the surges to the front...nearly tripped over and went down ..got grabbed by someone had a few nightmares about that for a few weeks after that....Scarborough in the never ending Fa trophy semi was a poisonous atmosphere at moss lane and unsegregated !!!.......Rotheram was hairy got rescued by a cop after the game....Sheffield united in the cup at the end of of the game they were being kept in chequers end until after the home fans had gone and they were trying to jump the fence and start rumbling down the pitch i couldnt get out of the golf road quick enough,mounted police stopped them the sheff united fans were feral that night .......the late 70's / early eighties was great to watch Alty on the field....but the crowds were something else was always a chance of something kicking off....

[JTH]

Ditto to a lot of the above, but I remember Blackburn away 73 being a bit silly, as was Halifax 75 and Sheff Utd away 81 (we got chased and hid in a curry house for a couple of hours so not too bad really). In terms of non-league you could always rely on a few nutters from Wigan, Scarborough, occasionally Boston, Mossley, Runcorn, Macc not forgetting Vics in the APL when they were the Boxing Day / New Year derbys. As Gazelle says in the 70s there was a chance of trouble anywhere - does Brian Flynn remember leaping into front gardens at Gainsboro for example - first game of the season too!

Without doubt though the scariest was Frickley away in the cup mid Miners Strike - I'll never forget a couple of mounted police chasing a bunch of blokes across the slag heap in the 2nd half . If I remember rightly it really kicked off when some Met coppers turned up after the game had finished, maybe we were instrumental in the dismantling of the Trade Union movements traditional shock troops by virtue of a jammy Phil Gardner mis-hit - no probably not.

[joe]

Colchester away in 90-91 wasn't very pleasant.Home end was packed so they decided to let a load of latecomers in the away end who then thought it would be fun to start T**tting anyone supporting Alty,regardless of age!

[thegazelle]

The following we had at blackburn was massive and very frightening the one and only time i have seen "alty fans"rampage, it was like a whose who of the nutters of alty with a sprinkling of sale and wythenshawe thrown in  


we played frickley in the league shortly after the cup game and alledgedly one of the people being chased up the slag heaps (can still remember his white pants in the gloaming) had been killed on the picket line. there was a minutes silence for him at the game. our bus/car arrived late and we announced our selves into the carpark/ground with a large alty chant not knowing the minutes silence was on which set the scene for a frosty reception from the locals made all the worse when Brian Taylor proclaimed "fancy having a minutes silence for a f****football hooligan"at the very top of his very loud voice. woops

another friendly night out at frickley was had when the local youths kept us under a barrage of snowballs some with stones inside. i lost my rag when one hit me in the face and ran at them expecting them to run away only to be surprised that they stood their ground. as i leapt in the air to avoid the first kick i slipped and fell over,took a couple of kicks before help arrived bagshaw then took a hit straight in the eye with a stoney snowball givingn him the best shiner i have ever seen (an event that still gets a mention to this day)

 and on a lighter note one year when travelling on the team coach we stopped at the chippy in the village and on pouring salt onto my chips the lid came off and salt all over my chips , nice chap behind the counter changes the chips and aploogizes i then put vinegar on the new lot and the lid comes off "you can p1ss of your doing it deliberatly" says the nice man so i turned away to avoid confrontation and look at the next person in the queue a certain mr King . draw your own conclusions, funny at the time but perhaops you had to be there

[Ballers]

Colchester away in 90-91 wasn't very pleasant.Home end was packed so they decided to let a load of latecomers in the away end who then thought it would be fun to start T**tting anyone supporting Alty,regardless of age!

Wasn't any more present the season after either. THe police came and picked us up on the way back to the station after we'd had mither, and took us a few stops down the line. It became apparent why, when we saw what was waiting at COlchester station.

[baldrick]

As some of you know last season was my first at Alty after moving up from London so i have never seen any trouble at this level. But i see a few mentions of Tottenham so i thought i would tell you my experience of them.  In the early 70's they had a bad reputation. Arsenal had done the double the season before with a win at White Hart Lane and they were out for revenge. I was living in South London and my mum had decided it would be a good idea to drag me and my brother right across London to visit a mad aunt on the day Arsenal were playing Tottenham at Highbury. We were sitting on the swings at Finsbury park(Arsenal territory) and we noticed a large group gathering outside the Manor House pub about 500 yards away. The group was getting bigger every minute until there were about 1000 of them. We just sat there watching as they came towards us. They were all chanting and waving sticks/bottles/bricks etc. Most of them ran straight past us but one idiot stopped and asked what team we supported, without hesitating my brother said Millwall. This clown just smiled and said oh i thought you were Arsenal. Then he joined the others and we heard the police sirens. The group ran down Blackstock Road(completely Arsenal territory) they were smashing shops/cars/pubs and anything else in their way. We never saw any Arsenal resistance.
BTW The most violent game you will ever see is Millwall v West Ham, it makes Rangers v Celtic look like a friendly.

[mr f.trucker]

agree  with joe, colchester was a bit dodgy,seem to remember some mither at leek,and macc away on a tuesday night was always fun.

[Jacko]

seem to remember barnet causing problems in the town centre before a game??? anyone got a better memory of that?

[altyusa]

Who remembers the 2nd leg of the Runcorn FA Trophy semi back in '78?   As I recall lots of Liverpool fans  causing us grief.  Remember having to climb the perimeter wall at one point to avoid the aggro and being on the touchline for a couple of mins.   Then my first time seeing police dogs protecting Alty coaches from the natives......as a 13 year old it made the trouble the season before with Scarboro seem almost quaint!

[SW]

Certainly the Runcorn away leg had tasty potential I went by coach but wisely left my scarf inside, got a lift back from The Gazelle's mates, Another SW if I recall so lost my treasured Alty silk scarf.

I remember now an incident with Mossley fans on my train home to Dane Rd, some of them targetted me and some other Alty fan I didn't know but some boys got on at Sale and kind of got involved, suffice to say the problem was dealt with.

Gazelle, misty memories but didn't we have some minor bother at the mighty Great Harwood once?

[Cheshire Terrier]

The worst one for me was not long after I had moved to London going back a bit now. I was at the first game against Spurs in the FA Cup and some mad friend of mine got me a ticket but in the Spurs half of the ground. I was alright till the 80th minute when Jeff Johnson equalised when we got the 1-1 draw, the only problem was I was the only one in the stand who leapt up.I am still here to tell this story, but cannot tell you some of the language used towards me due to forum regulations.

[altyf]

barrow in the trophy match, couple of seasons back...i remember walking down with about 400 barrow fans behind me singing...then there was loads of banter between the fans in the second half, when we moved down the other end. I remember loads of stuff being thrown and the police coming down, couple of barrow fans who had come over towards our fans were taken out and as the replay looked imminent, they started to sing "you'll never walk in barrow". It made it even more sweet when we scored that last minute goal! Wasnt at all the scariest because there was segregation and no real threat but still..