Please, no visit from this spirit of Christmas past

By Alan Cummings

Christmas…’s a funny old time of year, particularly in the world of football.

The games come up fast and results can not only be remarkable but unpredictable. As a long-time Hammer I’ve seen plenty of strange festive season results in my time, but whatever happens this Boxing Day, when we’re off to the south coast to play Bournemouth at the Vitality, one thing is almost certain. We’re unlikely to see a repeat of the Boxing Day of 1963, when Blackburn Rovers were the visitors to (fortress) Upton Park for a traditional morning kick off.

It was bitterly cold and there had been some light, overnight snow, but not enough to worry about.  As I walked from my home in Canning Town to the Boleyn, joining the gathering throng of cheerful festive fans along the way, everyone was in a joyous mood.

Didn’t hear anyone complaining about the long walk to the stadium either (unlike Stratford). Rovers were top of Division One at the time, so we knew it was going to be a difficult game. Just how difficult quickly began to unfold. We had a relatively big side at the time and that was definitely not ideal on the tricky, slippery conditions.

On the other hand Rovers had a little footballing wizard by the name of Bryan Douglas, an England international ideally suited to the frozen surface. Like a ballerina on ice, Douglas glided sure-footed about the pitch while the majority of others were slipping and sliding in all directions.

Douglas, the master puppeteer, pulled all the right strings for Blackburn that day. With the visitors 4-1 up at half time, defeat was already inevitable. Season of goodwill or not, Rovers weren’t in the mood to let up after the break.

Despite an attempt at a damage limitation exercise, a repeat of the first half saw a final score line of 8-2 to the Lancastrians. But as incredible and humiliating as that result was, there was some small consolation in the fact we didn’t have the dubious honour of conceding most goals that day.

That unwanted accolade went to Ipswich Town, who suffered a 10-1 thrashing at Fulham. Strangely enough it was an amazing goal fest all round that Boxing Day.  A total of 66 goals were scored in 10 Division One games with Liverpool netting six  against Stoke’s 1 at Anfield, Burnley enjoying the same score line against Man United at Turf Moor, Chelsea beating Blackpool 5-1 at Bloomfield Road and WBA and Tottenham sharing 8 goals at The Hawthorns.

Boxing Day 1963 is certainly one I will always remember!