FOOTBALL AND FRIENDSHIP

Printed in the National League South game v Aveley on Saturday 9th September 2023  We won 2-0 in front of 615

A book about a couple of goalkeepers who competed for the no 1 jersey at Brighton and Hove Albion fifty years ago wouldn't usually be on my reading bucket list. So many football books are one dimensional but Spencer Vignes manages to weave social history into the stories he tells, bringing to life not just the people he's writing about but the era they grew up in.

One of those goalkeepers is Eric Gill, who maintains a place in the Brighton history books for not missing a game for five years, making 247 consecutive appearances for the club between 1953 and 1958. This was some feat especially as Eric points out : ‘in the 1950s the footballers were heavier. The goalmouths were muddier. The challenges from centre forwards were heftier. You try fielding cannonballs with your bare hands or string gloves while standing ankle deep in muck waiting to be assaulted.’

The other goalkeeper is Dave Hollins. Signed from non-league Merrow based just outside of Guildford in 1965, Hollins arrived at the Albion as a teenage apprentice. He cleaned the boots of first team players and swept the terraces of the Goldstone. But to become Albion number one in the not-too-distant future he would have to displace Gill who was in the middle of his history-making run. Hollins eventually got his chance at the age of 20 when Gill was taken ill before an away game at Coventry City in March 1958.

They recall how they dodged Hitler's bombs before pitting their wits against some of sport's most iconic names: a list that includes Stanley Matthews, Pele and George Best not to mention their shared nemesis, Brian Clough - who Hollins once took out with a punch after having had enough of his shithousery!

What is refreshing is that this isn’t a rose tinted view of the past but highlights how players were virtually slaves to their clubs, had little say when they were transferred, had to hope National Service didn’t injury them for life. Goalkeepers would get battered on the pitch, there was no player welfare and not much medical help beyond a bucket and sponge.

There’s plenty to complain about in the modern game and hark back to the good old days; and while the top clubs are busy trying to eliminate all competition it used to be nigh on impossible to get promoted to what was then Division Two with just one promotion space apiece from Division Three North and South. Finally after missing out a number of times, the Brighton manager wrote in the programme ‘that tonight is the night for the Albion Roar.’ 57 years after after being formed in a local pub, Brighton had been promoted for the first time ever with Eric in goal, while Dave as the reserve goalkeeper looked on.

However, promotion to Division One was a piece of cake compared to the closed shop of the football league. Dave ended his career at Guildford City and you wonder what might have it been for clubs like them who were continually applying unsuccessfully until they slid down the leagues, went bust, lost their ground and are now reformed at a soulless athletics stadium playing in front of less than 100 people a week.

I think football, like most things in this world, has progressed and got better,’ says Eric. ‘I reckon the teams of today could beat the teams of yesterday. The way footballers are looked after, the way they eat, the way they train, it's all improved. They are no longer slaves like we were. They no longer play ankle deep in mud and puddles but get to stroke the ball around so it gets to go exactly where they want it to go. The goalkeepers get more protection.’

However Dave talks about how football is slow to change when needed - like crowd safety and dementia in footballers ‘Football is quick to move when there’s a European Super League to discuss or sponsorship deals to be struck or any kind of money to be made,’ he says. ‘When it comes to more serious matters, such as the well-being of the fans, its almost nowhere to be seen…You had all these events and more year after year and nothing was done. Until, that is, after Hillsborough, when stadiums became all-seater. Ever since then it has become more and more expensive to go and watch football. Something that was done in the name of safety became, to all intents and purposes, a money-making exercise. The ordinary bloke in the street cant afford to go anymore. What was a working class sport has become a middle class sport. The modern game has lost its human touch.’

And don't get them started on VAR…’Football is all about movement. If you're stopping that movement on a regular basis to try to establish something so borderline that it’s still dividing opinion after umpteen replays, then football stops being football as we know it. It’s certainty not entertainment.’

Dave had all the attributes to become a football coach mentoring many professionals when playing at clubs but also in his spare time including one of Sloughs former goal keepers Trevor Porter. Trevor used to deliver papers to Dave parents and one day his dad went round and asked if their son could give him a few tips. ‘That turned into us meeting every Sunday at 10am for practice sessions. Trevor said : ‘I couldn't believe it - I was one of the few goal keepers at the time, even among professionals, who had a coach. That lasted from when I was 13 through to when I signed apprenticeship forms at Fulham as a 15 year old, right the way until I tuned pro at Brentford at 17. Dave had a huge influence on me and still does to this day. And Ive got to tell you this, he never took a penny off me or my dad for all the time he gave. Just think about that - a top class Welsh international goalkeeper giving me the time of day. I’ve got so much in my life to thank him for.’

Their unique friendship started as a rivalry. Seventy years later they remain the best of friends, having lived long, eventful lives bookended by the horrors of World War Two and the Covid-19 pandemic.

This really is a gem of a football book.

‘Eric and Dave’ by Spencer Vignes Pitch Publishing 2022