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eiffel_71A trip to Southampton Library on Friday, then up early on Saturday to travel to Hertford, for the last chapters in the saga of chronicling every football match I’ve attended on the Futbology app.
The Southampton Echo did a great job of covering women’s football in the 90s and 00s, so the microfilms of past papers allowed me to fill a couple of gaps in my records.
I went to the Leyton v Hemel Hempstead Town friendly on 6 August 2005 - the programme is among one of the boxes of assorted sports souvenirs in my shed - but, alas, many years ago I purged my online diary for 2001-2006 (a decision I have rued many times since), and I have no subsequent Leyton programmes from that season, so had been unable to ascertain the scoreline. Hence Saturday’s visit to the Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies Centre.
The staff there were friendly and welcoming, and one of them showed me how to load the microfilm machine and operate the viewscreen. Happily, the Hemel Hempstead Gazette for 10 August 2005 had an article summing up its home town team’s pre-season friendlies, including that Hemel lost the Leyton match 4-1.
The mission I’d come on was accomplished, but, with time to spare, I checked out the various Hertfordshire newspapers in search of the one match I’d been resigned to being unable to pin down.
15 November 1998. Barnet FC Ladies Reserves. I remember vividly that the team wore a fetching silver kit. I remember some of the individual players - Marie Thomas, Liz Davies, Sally Jobson, Paula Apple and Elizabeth ‘Fizz’ Foley. I remember, in the bar after the game, Liz telling me “Paula wants a birthday kiss” - I planted a peck on her cheek, despite one girl adding “With tongues”.
What I do not recall, alas and alack, is who the opposition were or what the result was.
I think Barnet probably won, because the girls were in good spirits in the bar after. I’d convinced myself that I remembered it was 1-0, because I had a hazy idea that Paula scored the only goal and that that was why they drew attention to her birthday. But really I can’t swear to it hand on heart.
I’d likewise told myself that I remembered that Berkhamsted Town Ladies Reserves were the opposition.
But Friday’s check with the Southampton local papers had shown me that my folk memories were faulty. A game I’d thought I remembered as a 3-0 was a 5-0; one I’d been convinced was a 3-1 was a 6-0.
The truth is I just can’t recall for certain who the opponents were, Berkhamsted or anyone else. An email to my previous contact at Barnet who helped me with their late 90s first-team games a couple of years ago has gone unanswered; her phone number appears on a football stats website but the number is ‘temporarily unavailable’.
So with both Barnet and Berkhamsted being Hertfordshire teams, I checked the different local newspapers for November 1998. But most of them didn’t cover women’s football at all back then and the one that did covered local grass roots cups, but, bizarrely, not second-tier outfits Barnet and Berkhamsted. Dead end.
So my archive on Futbology contains all the 1800-plus football matches I’ve attended. They’re all listed in full, clubs and result … with one exception.
15 November 1998. Barnet FC Ladies Reserves v ‘unknown team’. With the score listed as 0-0 because you have to put something.
And that anomaly haunts me. It’s like an otherwise very beautiful woman with one prominent bodily blemish.
A damn shame.
Another deflation was to come on the train from Hertford back to London. A notification flashed across the top of my phone. My notification flashes contain the beginning of the message, followed by three dots to indicate that there’s more.
The notification was from WhatsApp, from an unfamiliar phone number. It read “Hi [eiffel_71]. My name is Nat…”
Of course I wanted it to say “My name is Natasha. You may remember me from QM.” Natasha was one of the Legendary Ladies.
Or “My name is Natalie. You may remember me from Tranmere” would have been good.
No such luck. It was from a bloke called Nathan I’d met at the D-Day beacon ceremony, wanting to add me to the WhatsApp group for the local branch of the political party were both affiliated to.
The Southampton Echo did a great job of covering women’s football in the 90s and 00s, so the microfilms of past papers allowed me to fill a couple of gaps in my records.
I went to the Leyton v Hemel Hempstead Town friendly on 6 August 2005 - the programme is among one of the boxes of assorted sports souvenirs in my shed - but, alas, many years ago I purged my online diary for 2001-2006 (a decision I have rued many times since), and I have no subsequent Leyton programmes from that season, so had been unable to ascertain the scoreline. Hence Saturday’s visit to the Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies Centre.
The staff there were friendly and welcoming, and one of them showed me how to load the microfilm machine and operate the viewscreen. Happily, the Hemel Hempstead Gazette for 10 August 2005 had an article summing up its home town team’s pre-season friendlies, including that Hemel lost the Leyton match 4-1.
The mission I’d come on was accomplished, but, with time to spare, I checked out the various Hertfordshire newspapers in search of the one match I’d been resigned to being unable to pin down.
15 November 1998. Barnet FC Ladies Reserves. I remember vividly that the team wore a fetching silver kit. I remember some of the individual players - Marie Thomas, Liz Davies, Sally Jobson, Paula Apple and Elizabeth ‘Fizz’ Foley. I remember, in the bar after the game, Liz telling me “Paula wants a birthday kiss” - I planted a peck on her cheek, despite one girl adding “With tongues”.
What I do not recall, alas and alack, is who the opposition were or what the result was.
I think Barnet probably won, because the girls were in good spirits in the bar after. I’d convinced myself that I remembered it was 1-0, because I had a hazy idea that Paula scored the only goal and that that was why they drew attention to her birthday. But really I can’t swear to it hand on heart.
I’d likewise told myself that I remembered that Berkhamsted Town Ladies Reserves were the opposition.
But Friday’s check with the Southampton local papers had shown me that my folk memories were faulty. A game I’d thought I remembered as a 3-0 was a 5-0; one I’d been convinced was a 3-1 was a 6-0.
The truth is I just can’t recall for certain who the opponents were, Berkhamsted or anyone else. An email to my previous contact at Barnet who helped me with their late 90s first-team games a couple of years ago has gone unanswered; her phone number appears on a football stats website but the number is ‘temporarily unavailable’.
So with both Barnet and Berkhamsted being Hertfordshire teams, I checked the different local newspapers for November 1998. But most of them didn’t cover women’s football at all back then and the one that did covered local grass roots cups, but, bizarrely, not second-tier outfits Barnet and Berkhamsted. Dead end.
So my archive on Futbology contains all the 1800-plus football matches I’ve attended. They’re all listed in full, clubs and result … with one exception.
15 November 1998. Barnet FC Ladies Reserves v ‘unknown team’. With the score listed as 0-0 because you have to put something.
And that anomaly haunts me. It’s like an otherwise very beautiful woman with one prominent bodily blemish.
A damn shame.
Another deflation was to come on the train from Hertford back to London. A notification flashed across the top of my phone. My notification flashes contain the beginning of the message, followed by three dots to indicate that there’s more.
The notification was from WhatsApp, from an unfamiliar phone number. It read “Hi [eiffel_71]. My name is Nat…”
Of course I wanted it to say “My name is Natasha. You may remember me from QM.” Natasha was one of the Legendary Ladies.
Or “My name is Natalie. You may remember me from Tranmere” would have been good.
No such luck. It was from a bloke called Nathan I’d met at the D-Day beacon ceremony, wanting to add me to the WhatsApp group for the local branch of the political party were both affiliated to.
no subject
Date: 2024-06-18 08:49 pm (UTC)I feel bad that you have that one match among 1,800 that you can't find any info on. It reminds me of when someone wrote a fake autograph on your WWC booklet from (was it 2015?)
How can things be like this, with only one thing missing? It would feel better if there were more than one, but only one...??
Perhaps someone will contact you who really knows the answer. Or perhaps a trip to the club itself, Barnet FC (are they still in existence?) would help, because surely someone there would know what the result was. Is that a possibility for you?
no subject
Date: 2024-06-22 10:05 pm (UTC)Yes, another maddening situation like 2015. Barnet FC Ladies rebranded 10 years ago and are now called London Bees, but they still have close links to Barnet Football Club, and on London Bees’ website the email address given for general enquiries is tellus at thehivelondon dot com (The Hive being the complex where Barnet men play in the main stadium and London Bees play on a crummy 5G next to it). I’ve sent them an email so we shall see…