Memories & Nostalgia The Birth of a Blue By David Peate 08/05/2024 4 Comments [Jump to last] Share: No, for me it was not a 'road to Damascus' moment. There was no sudden realisation that I should support Everton rather than any other local football team. Nothing shone about me like a light from heaven. There were no encouraging ethereal Blue voices. The fulfilment came about through a succession of rather small items like little acorns that, on their own, would not have persuaded me one way or another. The culmination of these added up to being a Blue. My father, who was born in 1880, played against Everton in the late 1890s, although he would never talk about his time in football. This by itself is a marginal point against but it is emphasised by his being a tolerant Liverpool supporter. On a couple of odd occasions, I accompanied him to watch Liverpool Reserves matches. However, I had no parental influence or preference. This is countered partially by the fact that all my older brothers were Evertonians. The eldest took me to my first full match at Goodison Park in 1943. So, on balance, it should now be fifty-fifty in my allegiance to either the Blues or the Reds. Why were my brothers Evertonians? Well, at St George’s Church of England School, which they attended before World War II, there was a teacher named Mr Green. His brother was a director of Everton FC and he was a shareholder. He was mad about football and he lived and breathed his beloved Everton. He was Blue to the core. It was hardly likely that his pupils could be anything but Blue given his one mindedness and unswerving loyalty. He did not influence me as he had retired before my education dawned but I knew all about him. At about the same time, as I have written elsewhere, I went to both Goodison Park and Anfield Road in the 1940s for ‘three-quarter time’ after school. This led me to visiting Saturday matches at both grounds. Of course, as with all my pals, I stood around the players’ exit to get autographs. This was an eye-opener indeed. George Kay, the Liverpool manager, was more than willing to sign my grubby little book. The same can be said of the ever smiling and obliging Willie Fagin. As for the other Liverpool players, perhaps excluding Billy Liddell, they were either off-hand or refused to sign. Turning to Everton, the situation was quite different. Classy players such as Tommy Lawton, Ted Sagar and Joe Mercer and most of the other players, such as Wally Fielding, Eddie Wainwright and (the much underrated) Cyril Lello, were enthusiastic in giving me their autographs. The stand-out exception was T J Jones. Unfortunately, collecting autographs fell by the wayside when the Liverpool Echo included those of both teams in its pages. However, I was definitely now favouring Goodison. The next turning point was the boys pens. The enclave at Anfield was to one side and at the back of the Kop. It always seemed dark and miserable stuck right up there. I was so far removed from the pitch as not to be able to see much of the game. At the same time, I was learning words from the Kop clientele that I would never have dared to use at home. By contrast, the Boys Pen at Goodison Park was at the end of the Bullens Road stand. It was light, open and far closer to events on the pitch. I was not so close to (what was then referred to as) the dockers' end as to be able to hear words that I was not supposed to know. This was a definite point won for the Blues. A couple of years after the war, I was walking past Goodison on the way to my uncle’s house in Leta Street. For some reason, I had my autograph book with me. Coming the other way were two young men, one of whom was carrying a football in a net bag. I did not know them and I asked if they played for Everton. One of them replied that he hoped to do so and said that he hoped that I supported Everton to which I replied, ‘Yes’. He signed my book willingly. I was committed! I think that I was the first lad to get the autograph of Dave Hickson. By the age of 11, I was finally and completely converted to the Blue cause. The fact that Liverpool were First Division Champions and FA Cup Semi-Finalists in 1947 did not deter me from my steadfast choice. My loyalty has never wavered both in good times and in bad. This leads me to query how other ToffeeWeb members lighted their Blue touch paper? Reader Comments (4) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer () Danny O’Neill 1 Posted 09/05/2024 at 05:57:01 I'll give this a go David.Like you, all I can remember since a very young age is supporting Everton. I didn't know why, it was just installed into me.I'm too young to remember the boys pens.I've stood on the Kop at derbies and watched men urinate on the terrace as the facilities were awful and you couldn't move. Sorry for being overly descriptive. And trying to get out of those 3 exits was an awful experience for a then small boy. I think it used to hold 20,000 and there were probably a lot more packed in.Back to Goodison. I was tied to "ledge" with a scarf behind the goal as a youngster when I could attend. I did likewise to my middle brother. Probably the best view in the ground!!!Later in life, I liked the Paddock and being close to the pitch. Now, if I'm given a choice, the Upper Bullens, but I'll sit anywhere. I even sat right behind a post last season of the front row in the Upper Gwladys and had to keep moving left and right to follow the match. Fortunately, the person two seats down told me to move into the seat next to him. Apparently the occupant never comes back up for the second half and stays on the concourse talking to his mate!!Last Goodison game of the season. Then one season to go. It's going to be upsetting for most Evertonians even though the new stadium gives us optimism. Eric Myles 2 Posted 10/05/2024 at 07:17:14 For me it was the 1966 FA Cup Final.I was a F1 fan (still am) particularly a fan of the great Jim Clark, but 1966 was World Cup year in England and the whole country was abuzz with footy mania.My Dad (a RS supporter) brought home the collection card for the England team which required the collection of coins depicting each England player to be mounted into the card.So that started my interest in who the players were and what teams there were without having picked one out.My Dad to his credit didn't try to coerce me to the dark side and rarely talked about footy except the times he was actually able to attend games.So along came the FA Cup Final and I didn't even know Everton were a local team! But I listened to the commentary on the wireless with my Dad and when Wednesday we're 2-0 up I decided that Everton were going to be my team.I've done that with other 'neutral' sports that I've attended over the years, backing the underdogs, and is how I claim affiliation with St. Kilda in Melbourne and Internazionale in Milan.And the rest is history as they say. I would always check scores and reports in the Pink Echo (biased towards them lot even in those days) and attend matches when I could, not being allowed to go alone. The highlight of my support has been the 1970 league championship win during which I attended all the home games except the night games, which included the last one when we clinched the title against West Brom.I was working in the sandpits of Saudi Arabia during our '80's glory so don't know much about it as it was pre-internet days. These days I'm very much a remote fan having left Liverpool 40 years ago at the age of 24 and living in Thailand for 30 years before moving to Viet Nam just over 1.5 years ago, I'm currently working in Indonesia. Dermot O'Brien 3 Posted 10/05/2024 at 08:27:43 Thanks David. Growing up in Ireland it could have been any club but in around the late 1980s I was chosen. Up to then, I would have said, only to be like my eldest brother, that I like - spit - Liverpool. I knew little about anything then, and he knew less about football. Then one day my mother came home with new bags for school – a red Man Utd for my other brother, and a blue Everton one for me. That was it. Chance, Luck, Fate, Destiny. I don't remember the 80s glory days, earliest memory is the 1989 FA Cup final. My kids are Blues, needed a bit of coaxing, but they can at least say to their mates they have been to Goodison Park. After nearly 35 years of struggle and hardship, I wouldn't change it. It could have been any team, but really, it had to be Everton. NSNO UTFT Dave Abrahams 4 Posted 10/05/2024 at 09:45:57 David, You describe the Boys pens at Anfield and Goodison perfectly, with the Kop at Anfield right next to the Boys pen all dark and gloomy while Goodisons shone brightly.I actually went to Anfield first in March 1948, They won 4-0 with Albert Stubbins scoring all four in the first half. The next week, March 13th. I went to The Place up those stairs and gazing at the Old Lady in all her glory, we lost 2-0 to Arsenal.Dave Hickson was the easiest player to talk to definitely one of us and he wasnt even from Liverpool, just like talking to one of your mates, although Ive got to say me and Tony, my son, met Seamus Coleman and his wife and kids over Christmas and he was exactly the same, absolutely natural as were the kids and his wife like we knew each other and met every day.Davie Hickson and Seamus Coleman not from Liverpool but Evertonians the same as us and there have been many more, Cyril Lello, as you mentioned, Derek Temple, John Hurst, John Willie Parker, Jimmy Harris couldnt stop him once he got going - Jesus he was worst than me, Andy King, Tommy Eglington to name a few- - - Wally ( Nobby) Fielding was the opposite sorry to say, because he was a cracking footballer, but a nasty so and so. 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