Remember when...
...We Could Go To Games
By Nigel Davies
With more than a hundred years of often turbulent , sometimes terrific Swansea Town & City history, it’s easy to forget some of the colourful events of the past. Our Remember When feature helps you recall the remarkable and the ridiculous through the decades. But its just a twelve month journey back in time in this issue as we reminisce about that almost forgotten feeling of watching the Swans live……..
When Conor Hourihane’s rocket shot hit the back of the net to put the Swans 2-0 up against table toppers Norwich City, I jumped out of my seat and celebrated maniacally…
…sadly it was my office chair and not my seat in the East Stand of the Liberty Stadium.
I was sat in my home office – hastily developed when Covid closed down my place of work last March – with only a number of Twitter followers for ‘virtual company’ as I watched the Swans dismantle their rivals for an automatic promotion place.
Oh to have been in the Liberty stands drinking in the atmosphere and discussing every kick of the ball, every aspect of play and every dodgy decision with my friends and fellow fans around me. And then discussing them all over again over a beer in a bar after the game.
Sadly, the Covid crisis put an end to attending football matches and every kind of event close to a year ago – and it will be months before the restrictions are lifted and we are back in our stadium.
For me there’s a huge chunk of irony in all of this; by the time the Swans played their last home game before Covid closed everything down I’d lost all enthusiasm for football in general and watching the Swans in particular. I just wasn’t enjoying what was being served up by Steve Cooper’s side at the time and I was simply going through the motions.
I’d enjoy my pre-match pint with friends and fellow fans and then head over to the Liberty more out of obligation than enthusiasm.
When the curtain came down after the West Brom bore draw on 8th March it felt more like a relief to me than a disappointment. And as the Covid crisis deepened football became the last thing on my mind.
When the action resumed I was ambivalent. And yet I still found myself logging in to Swans TV to watch the games – and slowly but surely my enthusiasm started to return.
A big part of that is down to the all round improvement in the quality of football that Steve Cooper is overseeing these days; we’ve got better as this season has progressed and whilst we don’t always play flowing football there’s enough of it on display to get me enthusiastic and excited about watching games again.
And I’ve got used to watching games at home on the iPad or the Mac, with a strong cup of tea in my Vetch Field Memories mug or a weak can of cheap cider in my Swans plastic tankard.
Yes there are some problems with watching online…the sound and vision aren’t always quite in synch on Swans Player and there’s always Wyndham’s over excited commentary to contend with on occasions.
On the whole though the club have done an excellent job of looking after the fans during the Covid period. The provision of free Swans TV for home games in lieu of season ticket money for those that wished to leave their money in the club was welcome.
The range of alternative options for those that wanted a refund was equally welcome and the Supporters Trust deserve a big shout out for their part in shaping those alternatives.
And the offer of next term’s season tickets at a quarter of their normal price is fitting recognition and reward for fans that left their cash in the club despite being locked out of the stadium.
But of course what the enforced exile has revealed to me, and I guess many others, is that I took the whole match day experience for granted.
And I cannot wait for the time when the health crisis is over and I can march down the road to Boss Brewery, sink a few pints and then saunter over the road to the Liberty to watch the Swans live – win, lose or draw.
It won’t happen this season, and the European Championships are almost certainly going to be played behind closed doors. But hopefully the vaccine programme will have reduced the threat enough for at least some fans to be back in their seats for the start of the 2021/22 campaign.
