I’ve got two paper football tickets in front of me, 8 years apart, and they tell quite a story about how matchday has changed. Both are West Ham. Paper tickets are gradually being consigned to history (many clubs now send tickets straight to your phone), so here’s what’s on mine before they turn into a curiosity.
The 2005 play-off final ticket
This one is for the Championship play-off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Monday 30 May 2005. It cost £60.00 in the West Ham United area. Gates opened at 13:00, kick-off was 15:00, and the seat was Block M10, Row 13, Seat 8. To find it you needed Gate 5, Stair 29, Level 4 and Aisle 410, which is a set of directions that sounds like a spy film! There was also a coloured strip along the bottom with 7 colours, because you entered by gate colour, and a printed note saying “To be retained”.
West Ham beat Preston North End 1-0, with Bobby Zamora scoring in the 57th minute, in front of 70,275 people. I was there, and it was another of those games where you’re in the lead but it’s very nervous, because you could lose it at any time. There was a LOT of injury time too!
The 2014 Swansea ticket
Eight years later the ticket is a different animal. It’s for West Ham against Swansea City on Saturday 1 February 2014, a 12:45 kick-off, in the Bobby Moore Upper, Block BU6, Row U, Seat 141, via turnstiles 49 to 51. The price was £52.00 for an adult, so 8 pounds less than the final, and it came with a barcode, payment reference and the holder’s name. (I’ve blacked all of that out here!)
I remember it being a real nail-biter, because we had an early sending off, and it’s always difficult to watch a match when you’re ahead but the other team has the clear advantage. On this occasion justice was served and West Ham did win. According to the records it finished 2-0, with Kevin Nolan scoring twice and Andy Carroll the man sent off.
The match I don’t have a ticket photo for
The 2006 FA Cup final was also in Cardiff, and I went with a Liverpool-supporting colleague who ended up sitting almost directly opposite me in the stadium. He knew very little about football and couldn’t locate Liverpool on a map of the UK, but he was full of banter all the same, a proper glory hunter. It did kind of annoy me.
West Ham led 3-2 with about a minute and a half left. Lionel Scaloni put the ball out, thinking a Liverpool player was injured, and instead of giving it back Liverpool took the throw-in quickly. The ball was worked forward and Steven Gerrard hit a shot from about 40 metres for 3-3. Liverpool went on to win on penalties. I had a real sense of injustice about that.
The injustice didn’t end there, because I also got a speeding ticket on the M4. My colleague drove much faster than me, was on the same motorway at the same time, and didn’t get one!
So that’s three matches, two paper tickets I can still hold in my hand, and one speeding ticket I’d happily have swapped with my colleague.