There was I at the Shay.

With the Shakers far, far away in deepest Essex or somewhere similar I took the chance to accept an invitation to take a nostalgic visit to the Shay, home of FC Halifax Town and the source of the name of this esteemed blog and it's paper based predecessor.

I wasn't there at the Shay on the Friday evening that named a Fanzine in May 1985, I was camping with my mates in the 10th Radcliffe Scouts at Giants Seat.I was aware of the importance of the game of course and had smuggled my trusty transistor radio to ensure I knew exactly what was going to be needed when my Dad picked me up to go to Gigg the following day. Frustratingly neither Radio Manchester or Piccadilly Radio told me anything other than 'Bury could gain promotion tomorrow...' and it wasn't until the following morning that I found out that Dobson's boys had been promoted without kicking a ball.

Many things had changed since my last visit to Halifax, the club had gone belly up, and been revived by swapping the FC to the front of the name (a useful trick, worth remembering), the old clubhouse had been wiped out and a fancy stand finally completed. The ground itself has been subtly renamed Shay Stadium, maybe since the New York Mets didn’t need the name anymore Calderdale council put in a cheeky bid and acquired the rights? The Shay hotel has been erased from the local pub scene but the art deco charm of the three pigeons and it’s excellent beers from the Ossett brewery remain firmly in place.

I didn’t visit the Shay until 1989, as a Yorkshire based student in my first year I got all the local grounds in that season. One of my firmest memories is the train backing out of Bradford station, an unexpected sensation. I stood in the chicken shed facing the main stand and took it all in, a familiar yet unfamiliar mix of souls whose lives, like mine were destined to follow their team in a roller coaster life sentence.

On the field at Shay stadium it was a bit scrappy, despite Droylsden’s relatively low position defences were on top. Ex Shakers Gaz Seddon and Jason Jarrett weren’t getting much of a look in, and when Seds finally tucked one in at the far stick he was flagged offside for the umpteenth time in the game. Seeing Seddon again sent me all nostalgic for a time when it wasn’t much fun being a Shaker, similarly Jarrett huffed and puffed and when he was eventually subbed off mid 2^nd half he threw a lovely diva strop and launched his jacket just wide of the dugout and just into the stand.

I didn’t visit the Shay as a Shakers fan until 92/3 season. It was the coldest I have ever been on a football ground. Colder than Ice Station Boundary Park, colder than Carlisle, colder than Boxing day when we cleared the pitch of snow for a game that never happened. Someone had daubed BFC on the tarmac mound that housed the away fans, and similarly painted our initials onto the pitch too. Danny Sonner scored to send the freezing hoards home happy but Halifax struggled all season and fell out of the league on the last day, watched by a huge crowd of ghoulish day trippers and programme collectors (all buying in multiple!!) A few days later, while selling the WWYATS? play off issue prior to the York game, one away fan told me ‘have some respect, the team from the Shay just went down.’ He mustn’t have got a programme.

Suddenly I was raised from my nostalgia, I’d been only 44 people off in the guess the crowd sweepstake amongst my friend’s regulars in the stand. Much tutting was going on and accusing glances came my way, fortunately someone a couple of rows in front was 22 closer. It wouldn’t do to win on your first attempt. Thankfully the game was looking up too. Seddon had been involved in a sublime move for the first goal, and a well taken 2^nd had given Town a cushion when Droylsden were woken from their slumbers with a training ground free kick. With 15 mins to go I was enjoying the game.

Non league football doesn’t suit the Shay, it’s a far better ground than that. The chicken shed stand was closed, but the now seated enclosure was ready and waiting for better times. This couldn’t be said for the away end where I’d last visited for a disastrous JPT game in the mid 2000’s when we had our keeper sent off and conceded a pan full. I was amazed to discover that the end had been condemned, the builders had used cheap materials that had rendered it unsafe, so there it stood with adverts hanging from it’s crush barriers, like a grumpy teacher reminding the class, ’if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly’.

A 3^rd Halifax goal prompted Droylsden to bring on a 3^rd ex Shaker. Joe O’Neill didn’t set any pulses racing during a loan spell at Gigg and he didn’t really on Saturday either. My mate was amazed at the amount of Shakers references I’d been able to get into one game, I was a bit concerned he’d laid it all on for me. The 4^th made it a bit one sided in the end but by that stage I was reminiscing again about visits past. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can all ask where were you at the Shay again.