Football nostalgia – “Big League Soccerâ€
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Football nostalgia – “Big League Soccerâ€
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Who remembers, as a kid during the 70s & 80s, watching �Big League Soccer� (yes, it was called soccer back then) on the telly on Sundays from 11am � 12 noon? It was a weekly British programme (can�t remember whether it was BBC or ITV) made especially for overseas fans I think. It would review the previous weekends games from the English (& sometimes Scottish) league. Half an hour highlights of a feature game & about 10mins highlights of 2 other games. Also, it had letters from fans from around the world & during the season the programme would nominate several cracking goals for viewers to rank.
Who use to buy �Shoot� magazine!? Remember that one? It was a weekly that use to be about 3 months old by the time it got to NZ (that�s how long the boat took to get here - hehe). Now it�s all airfreighted or on the internet. And what about �Roy of the Rovers� comic!?
Those were the days eh.
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Ah, that takes me back.
Yes, I remember as a kid the Sunday morning ritual was listening to the results at 9am on the radio and then Big League Soccer at lunchtime.
It wasn't always BLS though, it all depended on which programme TVNZ bought for that season. I remember there was also The Big Match some years.
Yes, I used to get Shoot too. I had a subscription at one stage and we didn't need to change my bedroom wallpaper as the walls were covered in the fold out posters from the centerfold.
Ahhhh, memories!
Yes, I remember as a kid the Sunday morning ritual was listening to the results at 9am on the radio and then Big League Soccer at lunchtime.
It wasn't always BLS though, it all depended on which programme TVNZ bought for that season. I remember there was also The Big Match some years.
Yes, I used to get Shoot too. I had a subscription at one stage and we didn't need to change my bedroom wallpaper as the walls were covered in the fold out posters from the centerfold.
Ahhhh, memories!
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Great memories. I hated Manure back then too and sent Brian Moore a sh*tty letter as to why he featured them almost every week when other teams were doing better. He got hate mail on my behalf for about 4 weeks after that. I caught up with him in 1980 when he attended a QPR game and I had the seat next door to him in the directors Box. Suffice to say revenge was sweet for this kiwi boy when I told him who I was etc. Still, he ran a good programme which I still miss. I enjoyed watching the lower league highlights and the "letters" despite what he did to me.
As for "Shoot", when I was 17 in 1978, I started collecting them and went to back issues collecting. I managed through various second hand stores etc to collect all but 3 issues going back to 1970. I reckon the first ever issue would be worth a mint today. Alan Ball, Keegan, Gerry Francis as columnists.
Those were very much the days. I reckon there was a better atmosphere at matches too. It was certainly cheaper to attend and you could "Stand".
Lonegunmen2008-05-22 00:37:15Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
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Who use to buy �Shoot� magazine!? Remember that one? It was a weekly that use to be about 3 months old by the time it got to NZ (that�s how long the boat took to get here - hehe). Now it�s all airfreighted or on the internet. And what about �Roy of the Rovers� comic!?
Those were the days eh.
I remember big league soccer
I also remember when I was 17 and use to go out and come home about 2-3am and my dad and brother would be watching the FA Cup games so I would sit up and watch with them
Shoot Magazine.....my kids love it
they get it sent from Nana and Grandad in England and their wals are nearly covered too
they sometimes get "Match" as well but they like Shoot better
I remember my brother having the league tables on his wall with little pull out cardboard team names and each week he had to update it depending on their results (that was a Shoot/Match offer)
As for "roy of the rovers" my brother in law use to do those cartoons in shoot....not sure when he started doing them...certainly wouldn't of been way back then though
football_mum2008-05-01 14:02:00
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Who use to buy �Shoot� magazine!? Remember that one? It was a weekly that use to be about 3 months old by the time it got to NZ (that�s how long the boat took to get here - hehe). Now it�s all airfreighted or on the internet. And what about �Roy of the Rovers� comic!?
Those were the days eh.
I remember my brother having the league tables on his wall with little pull out cardboard team names and each week he had to update it depending on their results (that was a Shoot/Match offer)
I used to have those league tables as well and used to rearrange them every week after the weekend results. It was a great way of learning about all the lower division teams and how they were getting on.
I used to get Shoot magazine as well for probably 6 years. I can't remember what I ended up doing with them. I remember them doing a "Focus on" Wynton Rufer when he was supposed to sign for Norwich.
Big League Soccer was great. I think I still have some episodes on video somewhere. My dad probably has them.
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Yes, the "Shoot" league ladder!! Each division (1 to 4) teams came out in weekly installments but the team tab holder came out 1st. Each team tab had the team name, shirt colours & home ground. I had to rely on the (then) Evening Post to print the league standings to adjust all the teams after the weekend games.
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The league ladder, letters to Jimmy Greaves, 'Ray of Rangers'....class....
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Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
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Great memories. I ahted mnure back then too and dsent Brian Moore a sh*tty e-mail as to why he featured them almost every week when other teams were doing better. He got hate mail on my behalf for about 4 weeks after that. I caught up with him in 1980 when he attended a QPR game and I had the seat next door to him in the directors Box. Suffice to say revenge was sweet for this kiwi boy when I told him who I was etc. Still, he ran a good programme which i still miss. I enjoyed watching the lower league highlights and the "letters" despite what he did to me.
As for "Shoot", when I was 17 in 1978, I started collecting them and went to back issues collecting. I managed through various second hand stores etc to collect all but 3 issues going back to 1970. I reckon the first ever issue would be worth a mint today. Alan Ball, Keegan, Gerry Francis as columnists.
Those were very much the days. I reckon there was a better atmosphere at matches too. It was certainly cheaper to attend and you could "Stand".
you had e-mails back then?fk me.
ive got a song that wont take long, Adelaide are rubbish.. the second verse is same as the first.. ADELAIDE ARE RUBBISH
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I meant snail mail! old habits.
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
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I had my photo in an old shoot magazine. I went to a Trevor Brooking Soccer School in Essex for a week, and won a penalty competition which was sponsored by the magazine on the last day. Got the Shoot the next week and there was a picture of me with the great man (and a comment that I had come all the way from NZ to attend the school).
It made it to NZ about 6 months later.
All I do is make the stuff I would've liked
Reference things I wanna watch, reference girls I wanna bite
Now I'm firefly like a burning kite
And yousa fake fuck like a fleshlight
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Wow that's bought back memories - 9.00am listening to the UK soccer results and then waiting for the Sunday religious hour (Big league soccer). The old man waking you up at 2.00am for the FA Cup final. I can even remember going to the movies to watch a film of the highlights of the 1970 Mexico World Cup - in colour would you believe. No TV coverage then. Can also remember the first European game televised live - FC Bruge and ??? At the time an amazing contrast to the rip sh*t and bust of 70s UK football - almost seemed to be played in slow motion.
He dribbles a lot and the opposition dont like it - you can see it all over their faces. (Ron Atkinson)
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Thanks LG for the trip down memory lane with the clip from BLS. I
vaguely remember the theme music & I even remember some of the
action from the opening shots. That was the 1st time I've seen the
start of BLS in over 30yrs!! To think, I followed Wolves back then.
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Hey guys, don't get too semtimental - you sound like Ron Manager:
"It's a far cry from small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. Isn't it? Mmmmm. Marvellous."
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Wow that's bought back memories - 9.00am listening to the UK soccer results and then waiting for the Sunday religious hour (Big league soccer). The old man waking you up at 2.00am for the FA Cup final. I can even remember going to the movies to watch a film of the highlights of the 1970 Mexico World Cup - in colour would you believe. No TV coverage then. Can also remember the first European game televised live - FC Bruge and ??? At the time an amazing contrast to the rip sh*t and bust of 70s UK football - almost seemed to be played in slow motion.
The results were on the national programme who got them off the BBC World Service. They were read out usually by James Alexander Gordon of the BBC World Service but somethimes by a New Zealander who didn''t know how to pronounce some teams' names and made it funny!
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
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shoot - i used to plague the magazine shop folks both in Hull and Whakatane incase it had come in a day early
in whakatane my entire room (including hanging down from the ceiling) had football 'posters'
later in christchurch a mate got shoot emailed out by his 'rich' grandparents, in pre-internet days we were well up on all the British football goss that hadn't reached nz yet
he other way of getting news was that my grandad used to post out football clippings (airmail) and the entire Sportsmail by seamail
any football on tv was a real highlight in the 70s, what was that programme on thursday ? nights presented by someone ?Allinson?
there's a great piece about the british football results in Euan Mccabe's book, in our house it was like a religious ceremony - it was amazing how you could use the announcer's intonation to try to guess the result as the voice moved from the home team to the away team
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small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts.
Ah that fine tradition of jerseys for goals - can't recall too many arguements over in or out.
Another fine tradition was stone paper scisssors for which team would be skins and which would be shirts - didn't seem to matter it was a cold southerly and 6 degrees.
Many a mid-winter after school match at the local park being followed by the old duck going off when you came home with your school shorts caked in mud - the joys of the slidng tackle.
He dribbles a lot and the opposition dont like it - you can see it all over their faces. (Ron Atkinson)
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yeah i remember when we used to use a barbarian's head as a soccer ball, and get blood caked in our sandals...then go watch some Jews being persecuted...
I like tautologies because I like them.
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I remember shoot mag all too well. Wasn't there another called 'Match' or somthing. For some reason I always remember reading two footy mags.
And then when the local newstand started supplying the City mag i was in heaven.
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Blimey, BLS at noon on a Sunday. Brian Moore and ManU. It was like a religion. The old man would know the scores because he'd done the pools the previous Sunday. Then you'd make a trip to the post office to get a "postal order" for a couple of Pounds Sterling to cover the next few months pools.
There was one Sunday morning on National Radio, the news reader was saying a couple of thousand had died in flooding in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) and the old man says "get on with it, its time for the pools result."
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Blimey, BLS at noon on a Sunday. Brian Moore and ManU. It was like a religion. The old man would know the scores because he'd done the pools the previous Sunday. Then you'd make a trip to the post office to get a "postal order" for a couple of Pounds Sterling to cover the next few months pools.
There was one Sunday morning on National Radio, the news reader was saying a couple of thousand had died in flooding in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) and the old man says "get on with it, its time for the pools result."
i shouldn't laugh, but i did 
all to familiar ,
,
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any football on tv was a real highlight in the 70s, what was that programme on thursday ? nights presented by someone ?Allinson?
[/QUOTE]
Murray Allison was the fella. He tried hard to make it work.
[QUOTE=2ndBest]I remember shoot mag all too well. Wasn't there another called 'Match' or somthing. For some reason I always remember reading two footy mags.
"Match" Was an expensive and very much thinner mag than "Shoot" but it was full of awesome posters! I have two Stan Bowles posters from that magazine. Both are laminated and both occupy walls of my residence as I type.
Recently, I found an old scrap book which I kept through 1975 - 1978ish. Full of clippings from various mags. I'd thought it had been tossed out years ago. I wonder if it ranks as an historical document now??
Lonegunmen2008-05-04 16:52:41Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
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I use to collect war comics (not PC now) as well - War, Battle, Air Ace, Battler Britton & Commando series. I was envious of a school mate because he had the 1st issue of the Battle series called "Rats of Tobruk". Learnt alot of German reading them!
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was that schoolmate the 'infamous' poster "Stevo"? 
Stevo seems to have blasted all evidence of anti-war PCness from the face of the earth
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I use to collect war comics (not PC now) as well - War, Battle, Air Ace, Battler Britton & Commando series. I was envious of a school mate because he had the 1st issue of the Battle series called "Rats of Tobruk". Learnt alot of German reading them!
Gotten himel? Handi hock? Commando comics had a picture of either a Wrestler, a Boxer or a Footballer in the back inside cover!
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
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"Match" Was an expsenive and very much thinner mag than "Shoot" but it was full of awesome posters! I have two Stan Bowles posters from that magazine. Both are laminated and both occupy walls of my residence as I type.
Thankfully my parents paid for them back then.
I remember being stoked everytime a city player had a poster. Think i had Neill Quinn and Gary Flitcroft on my wall.
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I remember seeing a Colin Bell one and a Denis Tueart one.
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
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I think i'm gonna cry...
E + R + O
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I use to collect war comics (not PC now) as well - War, Battle, Air Ace, Battler Britton & Commando series. I was envious of a school mate because he had the 1st issue of the Battle series called "Rats of Tobruk". Learnt alot of German reading them!
"Actung, zee limeys are coming, run!!"
"Take that Fritz, you squareheaded coward"
or better still...
"Chew on that, slanty-eyes".
How did they get away with it?
Nix, Leyton Orient and Alloa Athletic supporting schmuck.
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I got a Goodies DVD lately and it has the episode about South Africa.
You just sit with your mouth open thinking - How. the. f**k.
You just sit with your mouth open thinking - How. the. f**k.
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I've still got a lot of my 70s and eighties Shoot!s. I bought (or my parents did) two of each issue, Match Weekly too. One issue was to cut up and plaster my walls, the other to keep and read. I've still got a photo of my bedroom, the walls and ceiling an explosion of colour. It looked like a rainbow had farted in my room.
I've still got a pile of my Roy of the Rovers too. Favourite was Billy's Boots and Who Is Arrow? Hot Shot Hamish was well cool too until he joined up with Mighty Mouse, who shouldn't have even been playing football as he looked like a morbidly obese librarian.
Match didn't have quite as much reading as Shoot! or the cool columnists, but their game stats were a whole lot better, with player ratings out of ten and a brief game synopsis. I remember Maradona was the first player they ever awarded a 10 to, when he played for Argentina vs England at Wembley in 1979 (England, 3-1).
Nowadays I get 442 every month (the English one, not the Aussie) and BFW (although not every week) and will pick up World Soccer most of the time. When Saturday Comes is sadly no longer available in NZ and I'm thinking of an airmail subscription to it as I miss it, it is a great read.
Finally, I remember Roy of the Rovers having a Sign Please poster of the aforementioned (by LG) Stan Bowles in Orient's strip but have never been able to track down the issue. If anyone has it and wants to sell it, there's $20 here with your name on it.
Nix, Leyton Orient and Alloa Athletic supporting schmuck.
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I remember that photo. It was the white kit with red railway lines on it!
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
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I think all my old Shoot's are prob up in my old bedroom cupboard. There must be a few. They were so out of date my the time they got here it was riduclous - always tried to get them sent over in order to get the up to date ones. Some good boot deals were to be had in them - I always got boots posted over like Patrick and Quasar (my idol Lineker's). Had all the posters up, and made my own comic book from all the comics in them.
BLS theme song was class. In that YouTube clip of LG's it has a geezer celebrating with the one arm windmill - when was the last time you have seen that? (ps it is now my trade mark move this season)
Founder
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Mike Channon was known for the windmill Feverish.
My first ever shoot mag was the 1975 Cup Final preview issue. It also had a Frank Worthington (Leicester City) and a Dave Thomas (QPR) poster in it. It arrived here in Upper Hutt in August after the cup Final!!
A Love affair with the QPR kit was born that day when I saw the hoops for the first time. My favourite colours - except for Auckland yukky colours. Then of course i saw QPR draw with Aston Villa and I thought what an awesome style of play and was hooked.
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
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BLS, Subbeuteo, Shoot (I had a contact in England who sent me the latest copies, so I was THE man for info!) and my desk at South Wellington Intermediate plastered with pics of Gary Lineker and Trevor Steven...happy days...
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I remember that photo. It was the white kit with red railway lines on it!
Yup. It was the second version of that kit, the Adidas one, the first was the Admiral one. Stanley Bowles Superstar played for us in the Adidas version. I've got the Toffs replica which adorns my ample frame on a fairly regular basis. The Os are wearing a version of the tramlines kit again now.
QPRs best kit IMHO was the first Adidas one they had, that Gerry Francis, Dave Thomas, Dave Clement, Mick Leach and Frank McLintock wore, the one with the plain white sleeves, not the later, Flanagan and Allen one with bits of red in it. Very nice kit, and the one that earned them the "superhoops" nickname.
Hoops were rare in England back then. From memory only QPR, Darlington and Reading wore them. There were a few more in Scotland - Celtic, Hamilton Accies, Morton, Queen's Park, Partick on and off. It was considered a R*gby style, just as the V was considered League. In fact, in England only Burnley added the V to the shirt, and that only for a little while in the mid seventies.
I'll stop now, I'm ranting...
Nix, Leyton Orient and Alloa Athletic supporting schmuck.
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nothing wrong with a bit of ranting TJ!!, pretty much fashionable round here.
enjoyed the Flanagan and Allen reference - though they were a bit before my time (in comedy terms)
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Hey Mike Flannagan & Clive Allen were a deadly partnership for QPR.
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
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