In more than 80 years of history the Recreation Ground, Aldershot has welcomed many famous faces, but perhaps none as familiar as ‘everyone’s genial great-uncle’.
Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited the Rec on June 21st 2012 as part of his eight-day visit to the UK.
Journalists call him a ‘god’….of course the Dalai Lama says he isn’t. Many people refer to him as a ‘living Buddha’….but that is received with no more than a shake of the head. In some circles he is respected for his scholarship. In other circles the Dalai Lama is ridiculed for being no more than a low energy light bulb.
Undoubtedly this Nobel Peace Prize Laureate inspires millions, yet at the same time he is accused of being a tyrant who incites violence…..gosh this man could be a football manager.
So just who is the Dalai Lama?
Well, the current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the 14th. He was born in 1935, two years after the death of the 13th Dalai Lama.
When he was three years old, senior monks found the boy living with his family in north eastern Tibet, and declared that he was to be the 14th Dalai Lama.
Tenzin Gyatso began his monastic training at the age of six and was called upon to assume the full responsibilities of the Dalai Lama in 1950 just after China had invaded Tibet.
For nine years the young Dalai Lama tried to prevent a total Chinese takeover of Tibet…..but just after Aldershot lost 4v2 at home to Hartlepools United on March 14th 1959 the Dalai Lama was forced to give up the fight and so began his journey into exile.
The role of the Dalai Lama embodies many layers that can be understood psychologically, physically, mythologically, historically, culturally, doctrinally and spiritually. And each ‘god’ is recognised as the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama…….but this does not suggest that his ‘soul’ has been passed like a relay baton onwards through the ages, only that the new Dalai Lama is not the same person as the previous one, but neither is he a different person.
My lifetime connection with football in Aldershot started on Saturday October 15th 1960, just about a year after the Dalai Lama journeyed into exile.
I remember getting to The Recreation Ground quite early. The streets around the stadium were full with supporters; most of them were wearing blue and white hats, with scarves wrapped tightly around their necks ('Posh' fans).
The crowd was massive, about 12500 - Peterborough United, in their first League season, brought thousands of fans to the game.
I gripped my Dad’s coat not wanting to get separated from him in this big and exciting new world. And the noise of the fans was deafening as we queued up at the historic turnstiles.
Steam trains rumbled over the bridge, just behind the ground, covering the High Street in a blanket of sulphurous smoke. The carriages packed with even more supporters on their way to the game………
We entered the stadium, I let go of Dad’s coat and ran up the steps leading through the gardens to the ground. And there it was. The majestic form of the South Stand, and in the distance the East Bank full of visiting and home fans, bursting with colour. Then away to my left, the calm and serenity of the North Bank.
I stood with Dad behind the goal at the High Street End, gripping the fencing and shaking with the excitement of the occasion.
Peterborough kicked off towards the East Bank…that I can remember. As for the rest of the game…well it was a 1v1 draw and Peterborough went on to become Division 4 champions, beating us 7v1 at London Road on the way…..
More than 50 years on and the Rec really hasn’t changed very much, although we are now no longer allowed to stand behind the goal at the High Street End……
250 seats are planned for development later this year behind the High Street End goal. The proposed ‘tin shed’, a ridiculous Football League requirement, will regrettably destroy the historic parkland aspect.
So as we accelerate towards the new season and our opening fixture with Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Capital One Cup (Football League Cup), I can’t help but worry that Football Clubs just don’t understand the transmigration of emotions between each generation of supporters.
Matthew Gabb is chairman of the 1927 Cardiff Supporters Club ( ’27 the year the Bluebirds took the FA Cup out of England for the only time in the very long history of the competition).....and he wrote in a personal capacity in The Times, a few weeks ago.
’The game used to be about sharing identity, ecstasy and pain. Now it is a case of accepting the assurances of money, crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.’
And the cause of his angst…..Cardiff’s Malaysian owners want the club colours changed from blue to red as part of a ‘supposed’ multimillion-pound investment that will help take the club into the Premier League.
Now I have no doubt the billionaire owner knows his 'stuff' believing that with his money the labouring Bluebirds will soon metamorphose into a fire breathing Dragon, but I do have a sneaking feeling that to labour is permanent and progress built on no more than overseas wealth may prove to be transient.
Aldershot FC were thrown out of the Football League after losing 2v0 to Cardiff City, at Ninian Park in March 1992. The Club were wound up in the HIgh Court a few days later and so started the long road back to the League.
But somehow we did come back….happier…stronger…optimistic…joyful. Consigned to memory the inevitably dismal trip north to Barrow, the open terrace, horizontal rain, barely warm Bovril and a last minute own goal…..to be replaced by the superb Clubroom at Eastleigh and the beautiful ground at Bognor…..and the last minute winner.
And then the 2007/08 season…..Conference Champions and back to the Football League.
The restoration of League football to the Recreation Ground in 2008 was achieved, not by the players and management supported by some generous financial backer, but through the combined and transmigrated emotions of us all – shared hope, friendship and strength..
I guess if the Dalai Lama had been interviewed on his recent visit to the Rec by ‘Tayley’, our pitch-side announcer, and asked to appraise the current state of football in the UK, I’m sure he would have answered, ‘Football must wake up to the fact that fans feelings will not be stimulated by simply developing ‘the brand’ and pronouncing a future encapsulated by a film of professionalism.'
James (Jimmy) Robinson spent his lifetime following the Shots….he sadly died on July 7th 2009.
The memory of Jimmy’s old plastic carrier bag….the contents always a mystery; the lifetime of experiences etched in his face…victory over Aston Villa, Sir Matt Busby bringing Charlton, Law and Best to the Rec in 1970…. ….Jack Howarth and the Cup win over Reading; so many shared experiences.
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