A lot of us remember our first game, the feeling of stepping out to a world of football holding your Dads hand as you go up the big steps that lead up to the top of the ground and joining the thousands of fans who come to the ground week after week.
Can you name all the Charlton players who have worn these shirt numbers? I bet you cant but feel free to prove me wrong!
Unfortunately for me I don’t remember my first game, however I do remember my first away game which was on the 24th of October 2001 at Villa park.
So we start off the day having some breakfast with my Dad, Uncle and my Cousins in the local café, discussing what the score is going to be whist my Dad substitutes his beer for a coffee as he is the one driving us all up there, something I’m sure was a first for him!
We are now on the way up to Birmingham as the night starts to close in on our way up the M1 in my Dads Rover whist him and my Uncle are in the front trading jokes to each other as they are laughing their heads off at each other in the front. However me and my cousins are causing mischief in the back of the car arguing on who is going to be playing next on the Gameboy. Unfortunately for me I was the youngest out of the three and everyone knows when you are a kid age is everything so it was a unpleasant journey for me, but did it matter? No because I was going to see my beloved Charlton Athletic!
The final part of the journey on the way there was the best, we could see Villa Park coming over the horizon and the excitement was buzzing through my bones.
We quickly jumped out the car in excitement hoping to see a player or two, but that was meant for another day.
We get inside Villa Park and we can just smell the atmosphere, beer, singing, the smell of old cigarettes and of course the smell of the freshly cut grass, all of those smells and feelings all come together and tell you it’s football day!
We get inside the stadium and it’s a very cold night for the 18:45 kick off as the players make their way on to the pitch and I was loving every second of it….until Villa scored in the 9th minute through Hassan Kachoul. Even though we were 1-0 down and looking like a beaten team we all still sung throughout and gave the team a lot of support.
Charlton walked away 1-0 losers but it did not take away how special this game is to me it’s the first one I remember it may not be my first but it definitely gave me some memories to share with you all today.
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