'Player of colour' or 'mixed race' a better description maybe. Not sure what is acceptable these days. Does that make WFC the first club to field black players? Forward thinking, ahead of the curve WFC with 'family club' and our 'emancipation' credentials.
It didnt work out too well as a lucky omen for the City game! But we can try again. PS Anyone labeling the baggies long ball cloggers should have a closer look at our own history.
It wasn't me m'lud - it was them that dun it. I'm innocent yer 'oner. Well we can't go top if you repost it and we do beat the baggies, but every little helps.
Couple of good pictures: 1 - High res version of one that was posted in the guess the ground thread the other day - our old home at West Herts Sports Ground, Cassio Road, taken in 1932 2 - High res version of Watford v Port Vale, 1949. According to watfordfcarchive.com, it could either be our 2-1 win on April 30th, or our 0-2 defeat on September 10th. The site of our old ground can be seen in the background.
Fantastic! Not seen the bottom pic before. I'm more inclined to go with September because of the growth on the trees but hard to tell really. How did you get hold of such a clear version of the first pic?
1959. There was a smaller covered stand there previously as you can see in this pic from 1932. I wonder why it wasnt there come 1949?
Ground opened Yeah that crossed my mind. I dont recall ever having heard about anything like that though. I'll another read through the Centenary book.
High res version of that picture - if you zoom in there's loads of fascinating details to see that aren't revealed in the low res version, such as the (really) old Rookery stand advertising the greyhound racing. Picture dated August 1932:
It's a bit hard to tell but are those the blackberry bushes on the bend between the Shrodells stand and the Rookery? Apparently people use to eat the fruit in autumn. Also is that the tea hut that was never open (or wasn't from the end of the 60s) next to the rookery? I seem to remember it being further round the bend.
Great photo ! 25 trees in the Vicarage Rd end ! Also is that two corner shops behind the Red Lion? I didn't realise that greyhound racing came before the 1970s.
The Greyhound racing at Vicarage Road was over two periods. Starting in October 1928 and initially ending in June 1969. It's second coming was between October 1974 and October 1978. They do indeed appear to be shops by the Red Lion. Those houses are still there and it looks like the old shop frontages are still visible..
I always thought the blackberry bushes were along the back fence of the bend.. where a young Reg Dwight used to pick them at halftime.. but looking at the aerial shot it seems back then the whole bend had stuff growing on it. I also think the 'Marie Celeste' tea bar was further round on the bend.. at least the one i remember from later in the 70's. Oddly, even though ive got stacks of old photo's of the Vic i cant find one with the tea bar in. It just adds to the mystery!
Actually this pic does show the said tea hut.. and a smaller hut next to it (programmes etc?) The yellow fronted huts far left.. https://www.enjooooythegame.co.uk/s/cc_images/cache_3335473.jpg
Before my time - but is this the elusive tea hut, centre left in this pic dated 1972 when Norwich won promotion?
I think youre right.. cause thinking about it the one in the pic i posted looks well kept and would have served the away fans. I recall it was the home fans talking of the 'Marie Celeste' tea bar which would have meant home fans stood on that corner.. as they were most of the time during the first part of the 70's. Note there also seems to be bramble bushes to the rear of the corner terrace at that time.
Another pic i hadnt seen before finding it today on the Groundtastic Facebook page. I cant remember the nearside floodlight being so far forward of the other one. The old memory playing tricks on me.
Clearing out boxes of old junk, came across one with old CD's. Had a look - one of them had my photos from the open-top bus parade after promotion in 2005/06. Contain a few old favourites, plus some not quite so popular any more!
It's amazing how time flies. That was the third promotion to the top flight for many of us. Feels very much the 'modern era' yet it was 11 years ago! There's some youngsters in those photo's that would have families of their own by now and even the ones sat on parents shoulders would be school leaving age. Scary stuff.
Frightening, isn't it?! So much seems to have happened in the 11 years since. Makes you wonder where the club will be in another ten years time - comfortable, mid to upper table prem team, or back down in the lower leagues. That's why it's so important to enjoy the good times whilst they're here (although last Saturday's game really tests that attitude to the limit!)
Great pic. I was on the bend that day. The building centre left was an open air toilet. Great pic. I was on the bend that day. The building that's centre left was a toilet - open-air, with a slanted corrugated iron roof to keep the worst of the rain off you as urinated against the inside wall. Pure glamour.
Two pics from https://oldwatford.com/1977/08/ - GT's first programme notes, 13th August 1977: And also from https://oldwatford.com/1959/12/ - A picture on the cover of the December 5th, 1959 FA cup match programme against Wycombe Wanderers that shows a partially built "old" Rookery stand:
And a snapshot of a very particularly dull, uninspired era at Watford under Steve Perryman. The Rous stand looks shiny and new, at least....
OK, Jossy, so here's a photo from the Centenary book. It's Johnny Williams against a backdrop of The Bend. (Identifiable by the two chimneys behind - check Stevohorn's photo from August 3rd to cross-reference this.) Behind Williams's right hand is a small hut - which looks like it may be yellow and black. Does this help the mystery?
I'm sure that the hut in this picture was a tea hut. Talking of books and the hut reminds me of the book that Ken Furphy wrote to commemorate the 3rd Division Championship winning season of 68-69. It was imaginatively entitled "Portrait of Promotion", published by the Wobby and was attractively priced at a level that I couldn't afford at the time. However, a few months after the book was produced, during a reserve game, some friends and I discovered around 50 or so copies in a sack behind (would you believe it) the very tea-hut pictured! Although I did keep a copy, all 50 had been dipped somehow in a tarry substance which had dried, covered half the front cover and prevented the first few pages from being opened. This was probably no great loss as the book itself was a cliche-ridden, ghost-written effort which did not grace my bookshelf for very long. Incidentally Portrait of Promotion is on Amazon but, sadly, currently not available.....
To be honest Jimmy - the whole tea hut mystery was new to me, I only learned about it from reading posts on here! I didn't set foot in the stadium until 86, by which time as you know that whole corner had been properly terraced over for away fans. Just out of curiosity, I went back through all the pictures I've collected over the years but couldn't definitively confirm it's location or existence. If you think that's it in the picture you've posted - that's good enough for me! Will be interesting to read what others who were there at that time think. Just one more pic I have to post - I've circled the "suspect" - is it the tea hut or the dodgy toilets you mentioned previously?! (picture dated 1969):
A few random pics.... Ron Wigg (is it just me that thinks he looks suspiciously like Jamie Vardy??!!) 2 old team photos from different eras: And an aerial shot of the Vic from 2006 from http://oldwatford.com - can't help but wonder what the Pozzos would have done to the Rookery had those apartments not been built:
What you have circled is the tea hut - the toilets are just out of shot on the RH side at the top of the bend.
