Happiest place on Earth

This picture was taken in 1999 just after we beat our local rivals Grantham Town 3-1 and secured our promotion back to what is now the National League but at the time was the Vauxhall Conference from the brilliantly named Doctor Martens league. Now I'd love to point out that as you can see there are some fans on the pitch celebrating with the players....I hold my hands up I'm one of them, I jumped the barriers and sprinted as fast as my little legs would carry me into the middle of the players alongside a few of my cohorts before finally I think the whole stadium ended up on the pitch to celebrate. 

For the vast majority of life I was a die hard Boston fan, following them home and away for years, my entire family was what would be called die hard fans. I travelled the length and breadth of the country and I have to admit a lot of the geographical knowledge I have of my own country is derived from these trips. I used to have my own little posse that I used to go to the games with, Dowsey, Patch, Rob, Matty Rayner we used to have our own little spot on the Townend, right at the top of the stand just to the left of the goal and we had our regular neighbours who we'd moan at the state of the team with, celebrate with and is most instances commiserate with after another awful showing. I was that much of a die hard fan that my first day at university I wore my Boston United shirt with pride and it soon got me noticed by a few people who I still call friends today. I was known as the Boston fan as most of them hadn't seen one before or thought we were American and who didn't even know our little market town existed.

Some of the best memories I have of my teen years are tied up with The Pilgrims, trips to Emley, where we got told off by the stewards for singing to loudly and we were keeping the local residents of a nursing home awake during a cup replay. Or when we travelled down to Bath midweek and lost 8-0 with our legendary goalkeeper Paul Bastock getting sent off after about 10 minutes and then to make matters worse the coach on the way home broke down. Times when we went to Dorchester after winning the league and proceeded to dump 15 litres of bubble bath into a fountain and watch the ensuing chaos as bubbles engulfed the road that led to there ground.

There was nothing like being surrounded by fellow fans when you see Phil Brown score a last minute winner to clinch a game 3-2 when you were 2-0 down like we did against the mighty Colwyn Bay in I think 1997. Or when Andy Kiwomya dance his was through the Burton Albion defence before setting up Mark Rawle for a tap in during a top of the table clash. Or when Chris Withe did his chicken dance when he scored a goal in the last game of the season before his retirement. 

The name of the club had been dragged through the mud by previous owners and it was later proved that we cheated to get into the football league, something which very tarnished the whole thing and it was something that people still bring up to me when the subject of football comes up, a lot of people who I knew back in the day still think I'm the ardent fan who goes home and away, the truth is I stopped going about a decade ago and have seen less than half a dozen games in that time. I know why I stopped going , I felt like it was a part of me that wasn't needed anymore, it was expensive and my family had stopped going as regularly, apart from my cousin Josh who still follows them home and away and very very rarely misses a game. It didn't help that the football became dire and it felt like an expense that I could do without. In short life got in the way and I felt that being home and being a present husband was more of a priority than watching teams come and play for a draw on a cold winters night. Jemma never made me stop going it was very much a decision I made on my own and for I what I still feel are the correct options.

I've been to the new ground a couple of times and it just doesn't feel right to me, the stadium although very clean and efficient doesn't feel right to me. I don't have any close affiliation with it and it just feels wrong watching a game there to me. I've been to other grounds and watched games as a neutral and felt more at home there than at The Jakemans. 

The old ground is currently being demolished to make way for a new health centre and although it's very much needed in our town, it does make me feel a little on the sad side, but I can see the connotations to my own life. The old making way for the new. Sometimes though I do drift off in my own little world remembering the time that Paul 'Gyppo Van Nistelrooy' Ellender scored a volley from the edge of the area against Cardiff or when Anthony Church scored the winner against Bradford Park Avenue at there ground to win the playoffs and secure a promotion and sometimes I think I could go back but as I've learnt you shouldn't spend to much time in the past. Yes you should acknowledge it and reminisce but at the same time you have to look to the future whatever that holds. Maybe one day I will go back and become a fan again, never say never as the old saying goes.