S
StaffordBantam
Guest
I remember ringing Argyle up, on the Friday afternoon, to check on the prospects of the match going ahead. I was told that it was still on, but they expected it to be called off early on the Saturday morning.
As I was going to every match, at the time, I decided to risk it, and caught a very early train on the Saturday morning, from my home in the Midlands. Given the bleak prospects, very few Bradford City fans made the journey down, just one coach load, 2 or 3 cars and myself on the train. Little did we know that we were heading into what was to be called the Great West Country Blizzard, the worst blizzard to hit the south west in over 100 years.
To be honest, I was amazed that the match even started. A combination of snow, hail and and a gale force wind (a goal kick nearly curled back out for a corner) made any sort of football match impossible. Around kick off time there was a tannoy announcement, inviting all supporters to make their way round to the main stand, to huddle together, to keep warm.
So, it was little surprise when the match was abandoned, although frustrating as we were 1-0 ahead. The frustration was about to increase when, as they were exiting the ground, the away fans were met by the police, to be informed that all roads out of Plymouth were blocked. For those that had travelled down by road, an extended stay in Plymouth ran to several days. For me, I managed to get out on a train that evening, which crawled through the snow to Exeter, after which conditions improved somewhat and I eventually got home in the early hours of the Sunday morning.
I can honestly say that, it in all the years I have been following Bradford City, it has to go down as one of the most memorable matches, or non-matches, as of course, it has been struck from most records (try looking it up).
Whilst there are many photos and records of the Great West Country Blizzard of 1978, I have not been able to find any photos of the match itself.
This is a link to an old BBC story on the blizzard http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/arti ... ture.shtml Sadly, the video and most of the photos seem to have been archived and are no longer accessible.
As I was going to every match, at the time, I decided to risk it, and caught a very early train on the Saturday morning, from my home in the Midlands. Given the bleak prospects, very few Bradford City fans made the journey down, just one coach load, 2 or 3 cars and myself on the train. Little did we know that we were heading into what was to be called the Great West Country Blizzard, the worst blizzard to hit the south west in over 100 years.
To be honest, I was amazed that the match even started. A combination of snow, hail and and a gale force wind (a goal kick nearly curled back out for a corner) made any sort of football match impossible. Around kick off time there was a tannoy announcement, inviting all supporters to make their way round to the main stand, to huddle together, to keep warm.
So, it was little surprise when the match was abandoned, although frustrating as we were 1-0 ahead. The frustration was about to increase when, as they were exiting the ground, the away fans were met by the police, to be informed that all roads out of Plymouth were blocked. For those that had travelled down by road, an extended stay in Plymouth ran to several days. For me, I managed to get out on a train that evening, which crawled through the snow to Exeter, after which conditions improved somewhat and I eventually got home in the early hours of the Sunday morning.
I can honestly say that, it in all the years I have been following Bradford City, it has to go down as one of the most memorable matches, or non-matches, as of course, it has been struck from most records (try looking it up).
Whilst there are many photos and records of the Great West Country Blizzard of 1978, I have not been able to find any photos of the match itself.
This is a link to an old BBC story on the blizzard http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/arti ... ture.shtml Sadly, the video and most of the photos seem to have been archived and are no longer accessible.
