.png)
Pic from Hereford FC
Harwood Bull along with his father-in-law went to pre-match hospitality at Edgar Street last Saturday.
'The F.A. Trophy match against Fylde on 10th January was a special one for me. Not because of the football, but because Sarah, my lovely wife, arranged for me to be the ball sponsor for the match as a birthday present. This meant that I, and my father-in-law John, got the pre match hospitality, a signed ball and a chance to meet the man of the match after the game.
We arrived at the Hereford Suite just before 12:00, and were greeted by Martin Brain, Hereford FC’s commercial manager, and Dave and Nicky White who run the hospitality area. We were immediately made to feel most welcome. Martin explained how the afternoon was going to go, asked me a few questions about my time as a Hereford United and Hereford FC supporter and asked if I’d be happy to answer the questions up on the stage later.
At that point we headed for the bar. We were the first there but the room soon started to fill up, and we were soon in conversation with others at our table. Chris Hare, “The Mind Boggler” moved among us with some clever and entertaining card tricks, all pulled off in a slightly bumbling manner reminiscent of Tommy Cooper.
Martin took the stage and introduced a short video with some memorable HUFC and HFC moments. I was invited onto the stage to answer a few questions:
· Favourite all time player – my immediate answer was Dixie McNeil although there were quite a few others featured in video that it could have been. There was something about McNeil, he just made scoring look easy, with great positioning and reading of the game, always in the right place at the right time.
· First game seen: A 1-1 draw with Cambridge City back in 1965 or 1966 I think.
· Most memorable game: there are two; the play off final at Leicester and the win at Brentford when we clinched promotion. I lived in London at that time and was able to walk to the match. What about the Newcastle game you might ask? Well, I skived off maths to queue for a ticket (my maths teacher was next to me in the queue), but the game was postponed to a date that clashed with me going to Sheffield for a university interview, so I sold my ticket to a friend. What a bad decision that was, the game was postponed again to a date when I could have gone, and I no longer had a ticket.
· I managed to get a mention in for Bulls News, explaining that I now live “up north” and write match reports for some of the games in my area.
Then it was the turn of the match sponsor to take the stage. Mark Bond has become a bit of a celebrity as his large contingent of mates had set him up to be a mascot complete with shirt number 60 on the back to celebrate his birthday. It was a complete surprise to him but he took it very well and got a great cheer when he took the field later. Unsurprisingly Andy Williams refused to hold his hand when they walked out. The story has made the BBC News website and some national papers.
Martin then invited some other speakers to the stage. We heard from Ben Bowen and George Webb on the difficulties in keeping the pitch playable and the number of unpaid hours Ben puts in doing so. The damage to the pitch resulting from the floodlight installation is well documented but it seems that the drainage system for the whole pitch is reaching its end and has to be replaced and the whole pitch relaid in the close season. Chris Ammonds spoke as well, and was, by his own admission, a bit on the defensive when commenting on some of the
criticism that has been directed towards him and fellow directors, pointing out the amount of unpaid time that they put in to keep the club functioning.
We were then treated to a very tasty two course lunch served by Nicky and Dave’s team. Everything ran extremely smoothly and we were soon being led to our sets in block D for the game.
The less said about the first half the better. We were second best in all aspects of the game and went in 2-0 down with the game looking beyond us. The second half was a different story. I missed the D’Ath goal as I was still making my way back to my seat, but I’ve watched the highlights and it was well taken with a cool finish. The Bulls put Fylde under a lot of pressure and Hudson got a well deserved equaliser. A couple of spectacular efforts came close winning it for Hereford but it wasn’t quite enough and it went to penalties.
Remaye Campbell’s pen was saved, and sadly for D’Ath, who had an otherwise outstanding performance, his was so far above the bar that it probably ended up in the back of someone’s Range Rover in the Waitrose car park. Theo made a good save and Jaiden White’s cheeky Panenka style kick kept hopes alive briefly but the final Fylde kick was smashed high into the net and that was that.
After the game I was given a signed ball. Mainly indecipherable squiggles but a few of the players had helpfully put their squad numbers on as well. We were taken to the stand to meet D’Ath who had deservedly been given the man of the match award. He said “I’m sorry you had to witness that!” I replied that it was largely down to his performance that we stayed in the game and were able to take it to penalties. He seemed a very nice guy, we had our photo taken and then it was the turn of Mark Bond and his crew.
Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable day. Martin Brain was an excellent host, the catering was good and Nicky and Dave and all of their team did a fine job. Massive thanks to all of them, and most of all thanks to Sarah for arranging my birthday treat.'
Huw Williams a.k.a. Harwood Bull