Peter Carney

PETER CARNEY
Football Activist
www.soccerinthecity.co.uk

It's just started that I was born a Liverpudlian.  My dad used to take me as a kid and put me on his shoulders.  He worked part time in a pub in Kirkby collecting glasses and last orders them days was three o'clock and they'd thrown out by half past three and I used to meet him at the pub so when he'd done last orders, he'd go round collecting the glasses and then we'd get the bus, and if we'd done well, we'd get into the ground at half time and two of us through one click on the turnstile for half price.

If it wasn't quick then we would go in for free at the three quarter's gate, the last 20 minutes of the match and he used to put me on his shoulders.  He done it for the other two as well like, I've got two older and he done it for them as well.

Yeah so yeah that was my first introduction to going to the match.. and the first time I went on my own my Auntie was getting off the bus, was playing football with my mates, January '66 (and Liverpool won the FA Cup on my sixth birthday, first of May '65, this big party in the street and all that like and the third round of the cup they drew Chelsea, 22nd January 1966) and me Ma's mate Margaret Murphy, she was me’ ‘Auntie’, you know what I mean, she used to come round and she was always good for sweets you know what I mean? Bag of sweets, turn up with a bag of sweets, cake what have ya.

So I'm playing football with my mates, see Margaret Murphy getting off the bus goes running over.. 'Here y're lads I know you're playing footie with your mates, here y'are lads."  Gives me two bob.  You wouldn't know that, ask your Dad, two bob, in fact your Dad would do well to know, he didn't know, no he would know he's older than me and yeah and then there's a bus come along, thought what shall I do? Spend this with me mates.. so I jumped the bus, went the match, yeah yeah.

Six years of age, yeah.

And that's one of the stories I tell on my tour, but nowadays you know you can't get in the ground on your own unless you're 16.  I was six, yeah.

Yeah the five was to get there, a shilling to get in the ground, left me with seven pence but I knew I needed five for my bus fare back, the only thing I could afford in the cafe was an eccles cake, tuppence and you know an eccles cake, dead fly pie and yeah.. so middle of January all I had to eat all day was a dead fly pie.

Liverpool got beat 2-1 by Chelsea and gets home, me Ma says 'Where've you been? I said "Been at the match errrr".. I said "I've been playing football with Perry" and she says "I've just seen Perry and he said you got off ages ago" and I said "I was playing hide and seek".

I didn't tell her I was hiding amongst 54,000 people.