More than 11 years after I attended the last ever match at the
Goldstone Ground, work has finally - finally! - begun on
Brighton and Hove Albion's way-overdue new stadium on the outskirts of the city. Watching
BBC footage on the internet yesterday evening made me slightly homesick but also conjured memories of that incredible final season at the old ground in Hove where the club's supporters came together in
one of the most well-publicised acts of fanpower the game has seen. Back then, as a young and enthusiastic student, I joined thousands of fellow supporters (not just Brighton fans) on marches through Brighton and Hove and central London in protest at the club's directors who had sold the Albion's home without having an alternative site to play matches. The highly imaginative campaign waged against them never let up but on the pitch the team's fortunes went from bad to worse and the club found itself languishing at the bottom of the league staring relegation to non-league obscurity in the face. Each home match featured more drama off the pitch than on it: I was there when fans invaded the pitch and tore down the goalposts after 15 minutes of the York City game at the end of the 1995-96 season; I watched the chief executive being chased from the director's box by furious supporters; and I witnessed the first Fans United event where supporters from across the UK and Europe packed-out the Goldstone in solidarity - and were treated to a 5-0 victory against Hartlepool. I saw myself on BBC's
South Today, was namechecked and quoted in the
Argus and even spotted my woolly hat and glasses in a book commemorating that final dramatic season. In short, I took it all very seriously indeed.
That final game at the Goldstone took place on a cloudy Saturday afternoon. When Stuart Storer scored the goal that gave Brighton a priceless victory against Doncaster I've never wanted to grab the stranger next to me and hug him so much in my life! At the end of the game I rushed onto the pitch along with thousands of other fans, kicked a chunk of turf out with my shoe, put it in my bag, got a train back to Brighton, a bus to Woodingdean and proudly presented my grandad (an Albion follower and Goldstone-regular since his childhood) the clod that had been played on only hours before. He planted it in his garden and for a good year or two after he used to regularly trim it with scissors!
Generations of my family stood on those terraces at the Goldstone, so as far as I was concerned the club was worth saving. Unfortunately, the sale of the ground went ahead but Brighton were saved relegation from the Football League the following week at Hereford. The directors and chief-executive were forced out in favour of current chairman and fellow-supporter,
Dick Knight. With no home, the club were forced to groundshare with Gillingham in Kent for a few seasons before returning to the city's athletics stadium at
Withdean (shamefully, I've never been to an Albion game there - though I did see
Superstars filmed there when I was a kid!). In later years my interest in football has waned, but I still follow the Albion's matches and miss listening to local radio commentary on a Saturday afternoon.
The new stadium at
Falmer won't be the same as the old Goldstone Ground: football is a lot different these days; you can't stand where you like; your flask of half-time coffee is probably confiscated at the gate. But come 2011, when the team stride out for the first time, I really hope I'm there...
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