Planet Swans ArchivesMy first ever Swans game:
The first Swans game I ever saw at The Vetch (age 7) was Ivor Allchurch’s last at the end of season 1967/68, we were still called Swansea Town in those days and I sat with my father in the upper tier of the West Stand. I can’t remember the opposition but the records indicate that the famous man’s last game must have been against Hartlepool, I do have vague memories of Ivor being carried aloft off the field after the final whistle. My father told me that Ivor was a great player and I do remember his brother Lenny playing for the Swans, he carried on playing for a season or two after Ivor had hung up his professional boots.
East Terrace:
My father sometimes took me on the old East Terrace in the late 60’s, this was constructed of second hand railway sleepers until the new stadium was built in the late 70’s. I remember standing at the front (near the players tunnel) on my tip toes watching the match over a steel railing. Railway sleepers eh! How times have changed.
Dean Saunders:
My father (Tom Phillips) became a director in 1971 so I guess I was a bit privileged and cheeky to sneak into the dressing room before and after some matches. Harry Griffiths was manager at the time and Roy Saunders was a coach, Dean Saunders was only a couple of years younger than me so we used to ask Harry if we could have an old ball to go and have a kick about on the pitch after the matches. Harry and Roy were glad to get rid of us so Dean and I would take each other on across a full size pitch, I’m sure I used to win! I remember the journalists were still in the press box doing their match reports and looking down at these two kids playing football, Dean went on to play professional football I think and I became a builder, I went wrong somewhere!
Boardroom, VP’s bar, players bar:
The old boardroom as I remember it in the 60’s and 70’s is where the Harry Griffiths bar is now under the centre stand. It was quite a grand room in a way with a large table in the middle, a small bar in the corner and there was a smaller side room for club directors to meet and discuss private club matters.
The old Vice Presidents bar was where the boardroom and guest lounge is situated today, it had a long bar I recall and players from both teams would congregate here for a drink after the matches, that’s when I got the chance to see them and grab a few autographs. I met Danny Blanchflower in this bar once. The VP’s bars had a great atmosphere after matches, especially after we won games and more especially after winning consecutive promotions after Halifax and Chesterfield.
In the early 80’s they swapped things around to pretty much as they are today, I think Doug Sharp disbanded the VP’s and it’s members bar in the late 80’s.
The Centre Stand:
I’ve watched many a match from both the directors box and centre stands going back 37 years in all. One of my first recollections of sitting in the centre stand was when my Dad allowed me to bring about 10 of my mates from MartinStreetJuniorSchool, Morriston to watch Swans v Rotherham in March 1971. Someone kicked the ball onto the roof of the stand and we all got covered in rusty flakes from the rusty roof steel members, it caused a bit of a laugh as we brushed it off.
There’ve been some characters that have sat in the centre stand over the years, the ones that shout the loudest are usually the ones who bleat out a load of shite and I often wondered if they ever played football at all. My late Grandfather (Tom Phillips Snr) sat in the VP section of the stand for decades, I think he was 95 when he saw his last match. He used to pick on Robbie James all the time, Robbie was a great player as we all know but Grandad somehow saw some fault in him. Before my Grandad die in November 2002 he told me that he once played a schoolboy match at the Vetch in 1918, he was 13 years old at the time.
I was sitting in the orange seats next to the home directors box the day Max Thompson thundered that goal into the top corner against Arsenal in October 1981, that has to be one of the best goals I’ve ever seen at The Vetch.
I was also sitting in the centre stand when Tommy Smith kicked Ossie Ardiles six foot up in the air in our League Cup match in August 1978, nice one Tommy! I actually met Tommy Smith in June 2004 in Nottingham and I asked him if he recalled that tackle, “Oh yes” he said “That little Argentinian b d had to have it, cheeky b d thought he was f g great coming over here to show off his football skills after winning the World Cup, well I thought I’d give him a welcome” something like that anyway, I was rolling with laughter.
George Best:
Wales v Northern Ireland at The Vetch 1970 (Home International), I think this was the only time George Best took the field at The Vetch. I was only about 10 years old but I don’t think I took my eyes off him all afternoon, everybody was just waiting for him to do something magical with the ball because there wouldn’t be many more opportunities to see him live. I was extremely fortunate to be able to get in the Northern Ireland dressing room before the match and go up to him and get his autograph, I remember that bright green shirt and those bushy sideburns, didn’t see a hip flask in his bag though! The game petered out to a 0-0 draw (I think) and he had a relatively quiet game I recall.
The North Bank:
In the last 15 years or so I’ve spent watching most games from the North Bank, Roger Freestone’s full debut v Spurs in the League Cup was one match that stands out we beat the Cockerels 1-0 that night, he had a short loan spell with us before we signed him I think.
Chester in the play-off semi-final 1997 when we won 3-0, a great night knowing that we were going to Wembley for the final, what an atmosphere. What did sour it a bit was the appearance of an ambulance on the pitch for poor old Steve Jones which resulted in him missing the final with a broken leg.
The North Bank has had some wags down the years, Tosh signed Brian Attley during our push for the First Division. Now Brian Attley wasn’t the best footballer in the world, he was a Cardiff lad too and he came in for a bit of stick when he wasn’t playing well, this guy on the North Bank used to choose a moment during the game when there wasn’t much happening on the pitch and the crowd was almost silent, he’d start singing on the top of his voice “One Brian Attley there’s only one Brian Attley, one Brian Attley there’s only one Brian Attley”. Fans in The Centre Stand were rolling at the sound of this lonely singer.
