Goodnight Irene

The only result that fits this scenario is a 4-0 defeat against Rovers at Home Park on 28th September 1982. This was part of a run of 4 matches where we scored nil and conceded 13.
It was at this point that Forbes Philipson-Masters left, to be replaced by Lindsay Smith at centre-half, after which results took a marked turn for the better.
That season Rovers finished 7th and Argyle 8th, but there was a 10 point gap between them.

My dad introduced me to the delights of professional football by starting to take me to Eastville Stadium in Bristol Rovers' halcyon days in the early 1950's.
The general opinion amongst Rovers followers and the Bristol sports writers at the time was that 'Irene Goodnight', a popular song from the late 1940's, was sung initially at a 'derby' match at Eastville by visiting Argyle fans, and the song was was subsequently adopted by Rovers supporters as the Club enjoyed previously unparalleled success, winning the Division 3 (South) championship fir the first-ever time in 1953, and several exciting FA Cup campaigns, including an away draw against Newcastle United (Jackie Milburn & Co) in sixth round in 1951 and a 4-0 win over Manchester United's ' Busby Babes' in 1956.
The song is, of course, still a favourite with Rovers supporters, but I think it's popularity with Argyle fans faded quite quickly.
PS: I'm not Gas, I'm a Pirate!

I believe this to be true, or at least I've read a similar account before: http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Reader-s-l ... story.html

According to 'the Talksportbook of football's best ever chants' (p147), started in 1951. The song is about love and suicide. Argyle were 1-0 up and the fans started singing it to the Rovers supporters. Argyle went on to lose 3-1 and the Rovers supporters celebrated by singing 'Goodnight Argyle' to the same tune.

Very interesting. Some parallels with Three Little Birds which Wycombe enjoy throwing back at us. Will they adopt it long term though?

It's quite interesting to read or hear about "visiting" supporters singing in the 50's and early 60's.

I started watching Argyle in 1961 and I don't remember any visiting supporters at Home Park at all until at least the mid sixties. I am not saying they weren't there, but segregation was not enforced until the hooligan era, which I would guess raised its head after the World Cup.

Perhaps Memory Man or Jerryatric J can put some light on when fans started bunching together at away games.

My earliest memories of away games at Cardiff, Bristol City and other such away days aboard the Pilgrim Express were that our fans were scattered around the ground. I remember being on the wrong end of some big boots at both Cardiff and Millwall by opposing fans who were not segregated from me in 1967. I certainly wasn't singing at those games :silent:

I remember when my dad took me to Argyle v Rovers 1970 Home Park we won 2-1 (Latcham and Proven, I might be wrong) and him telling me that Rovers 'nicked' the song from us and have always wondered why we stopped singing it yet they carried on. Oh here we go... the anthem thing again.

See my thread: Goodnight IJeNe on The Football Forum 25/1/16.

We were involved! Apparently we taunted them but got it back right up us! :sad:

Typical Argyle!! :scarf: :lol:

pilgrimB173":1dzs96vs said:

The only result that fits this scenario is a 4-0 defeat against Rovers at Home Park on 28th September 1982. This was part of a run of 4 matches where we scored nil and conceded 13.
It was at this point that Forbes Philipson-Masters left, to be replaced by Lindsay Smith at centre-half, after which results took a marked turn for the better.
That season Rovers finished 7th and Argyle 8th, but there was a 10 point gap between them.

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I remember that night. We were abject and one guy left early, handing me his scarf and vowing never to return.

Dreamgreen":3k628pj4 said:

It's quite interesting to read or hear about "visiting" supporters singing in the 50's and early 60's.

I started watching Argyle in 1961 and I don't remember any visiting supporters at Home Park at all until at least the mid sixties. I am not saying they weren't there, but segregation was not enforced until the hooligan era, which I would guess raised its head after the World Cup.

Perhaps Memory Man or Jerryatric J can put some light on when fans started bunching together at away games.

My earliest memories of away games at Cardiff, Bristol City and other such away days aboard the Pilgrim Express were that our fans were scattered around the ground. I remember being on the wrong end of some big boots at both Cardiff and Millwall by opposing fans who were not segregated from me in 1967. I certainly wasn't singing at those games :silent:

Click to expand...

Oh dear - I hate to say I cannot help and, worse still, wouldn't know where to look to find out. My memory of those late 50s/early 60s is the same as yours Dg, that there were no obvious visiting supporters. Certainly there was no designated place for them that I can recall. It is only an opinion, but I would have thought that the relative lack of wealth would have prevented too many away supporters travelling at that time. I would suspect that those that did travel were likely to sit in the grandstand. However, I have come across a lot of British Rail adverts for football special trains to Plymouth. They would not have run those if there was no demand? That famous Spurs cup match in January 1962 attracted 4,000 Spurs' fans but many were at first reluctant to come and stand, especially on open, uncovered terraces. Only when they realised there were comparatively few seats did they start buying the ground tickets. The Spurs' fans that did get seats in the stand were segregated, but that was just so that Secretary Jess Harper could control the issue of tickets more easily. Several hundred disgruntled Argyle season ticket holders were forced to move. But, back on topic - sorry, for once not a clue!

Whether it is of interest in this thread ? "Irene Goodnight" was made very popular by the Folk/Blues singer
Huddie Leadbetter (Leadbelly) who passed in 1947.

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