A Hammer in Swansea…keeping the faith

Swansea based Jeff and family keep the faith in Swansea

I write this from my living room in Swansea, tidying up after my youngest’s birthday sleepover (who is the only one of my four children to be born in Swansea!)

My first memory of supporting West Ham was the 1980 FA Cup final vs Arsenal. There was a lot of passion in Leytonstone, E11 and as an 8 year old I had no idea what was going on! My parents are from Hackney, but mum was very West Ham, my dad not into football at all! My rebellious big brother upset mum by becoming a Gooner somewhere along the line, so this would be interesting! I don’t remember Brooking’s winning header at Wembley on the day (apart from seeing TV clips), but remember all the West Ham flags around my area and the open top bus being shown on the news.

A couple of seasons later mum took me to Greenwoods in Forest Gate to buy my first West Ham kit (I still get the shirts online, but not the shorts and socks anymore thankfully!). It was the Adidas one and mum made me get it too big to “get a couple of years worth” out of it!

As an 11 year old, mum got me to go to the Bobby Moore football school that summer at Forest School (a secret plan to get me to go there but I refused and went to Lake House & Tom Hood). I have autographs from Mervyn Day, Ray Stewart, a ref Dan Vickers, and the late great Bobby Moore. I’m ashamed to admit I had no idea who he was at that time!

Another couple of years went by and I would finally make my debut football supporter season at the Boleyn! My ex brother in law and I would roll up to games in his Ford Capri 3.0L (usually missing the kick off to find parking!). I was in awe! My new heroes “Frankie Mac, Ward and Cottee in the flesh, my first game was at Loftus Rd, the Boys of 86 season – the memories! Georgie takes no what? I learn’t a few new words in those days and the referee in the middle was a very nice man apparently!

Drunken 20 stone Geordies trying to beat me up as a kid, getting crushed against the wall queuing outside and crush barriers inside the North Bank, burgers, cheap programmes, £3.50 or so to get in, 8-1 vs Newcastle – wow the memories!!! What an amazing season, and we finished our best ever – 3rd, I trust one day we will better this! There’s been a lot of ups and down along the way – fans peeing on the terraces at Orient in the winter and steam rising all the way down to the front for one thing!

Fast forward many more years, I meet my future wife, from Swansea! I introduce her to my beloved Hammers watching in a pub vs Wimbledon in ‘98… We were winning 3-0 I think and she said “you’ve won this!” – my reply was, this is West Ham (way) and we lost 3-4! We get married in Swansea and lose to them in the cup, sell Hartson (my father in law knows his dad) to Wimbledon, all on our honeymoon! All four of my newborn babies are photographed with me in a West Ham shirt of that era, start them off young!

A little known fact is that I started one of the original Internet fan sites back in the 90s – it was small, but united fans around the globe. “The Rev” – Club Chaplain Elwin Cockett, Ken Allen living in Canada (on C&H, and who I met on a visit to London) and others chewing the fat, all things West Ham, a few of us met up once at a pub too, all wearing our West Ham gear! This was the future, a great way for fans to meet and chat “virtually”. So when I find Claret & Hugh all these years later, it’s brilliant! Great founder, great stories, great people commenting (you have got to love Bubs & Matti’s gang) and the Facebook forum with Carol & Co. We are one big family. I’ve been known to help Hugh on the techie side from time to time too.

So, what does the Swansea game mean to me? 2006 FA Cup final I have the “only West Ham towel in the village” hanging out of the window – thanks Scaloni…. My oldest, a boy, grows up in school surrounded by Swansea Jacks but loyally keeps the West Ham faith.

We’ve sat with Swansea fans down here (torture when they equalised), met other Welsh West Ham fans (customers of mine that are now good friends!) and watched games with them. Over 10 years living here, we have suffered a lot of smug comments when the Jacks have finished higher than us, but this year it is different, we have got our West Ham back. Thank you Mr Gold & Sullivan, thank you Slav, thank you Noble, thank you players, thank you fans! We are proud. Let’s go out and beat the Swans!This Easter we made the special trip home for Mark Noble’s Testimonial. I took my boy and oldest girl to say our farewells. Singing Bubbles for the last time was so emotional for me, biggest lump in my throat. But, I got last minute tickets for the Farewell Boleyn Tour. This was amazing and I recommend it if you can get there. My best Boleyn Memory? These pictures of my mum, son and I (pre haircut)! #coyi #farewellboleyn