Erimus,
Thanks for the kind words and sorry about the lump lol but seeing you enjoyed it I might have another one for you.lol.
Coming from a football mad town to a city that only talked about rugby league, it was difficult to find anyone to talk about what the locals called wogball.
Even worse there was no live matches televised except for the FA cup final.
For me to keep in touch with my beloved Boro and other scores, all I had was the BBC world service radio.I had a huge one piece 3 in 1 radiogram which had the short and medium wave radio.Unfortunately, even with the volume at maximum, I could barely hear a thing, even with kneeling on my hands and knees and my ear pressed against the speaker. I found that if I squat next to a speaker and stretch my arm behind it and into the centrepiece, I could actually touch with my fingertips the aerial, and lo and behold, it increased the volume.Only slightly,probably by only one decibel, but hey, it was better than what I had.
As loyal as a servant, there I was at midnight the dreaded KO time here in oz with my arm stuck up the a**e end of the radio when my wife appears from the bedroom.She said what in hells name are you doing. I'm listening to the match.
What is Middlesbrough on? No it's Chelsea and Burnley. What are you listening to that for then? Because at half time they'll go to a few grounds and get a few half time scores and we might get a mention.But, I will get all the results at full time around 3am.
She didn't have to explain the look that she gave me. I knew full well what she was thinking.Something along the likes of My good god, Iv'e married a XXXXXX.
I gave a look that I felt that left nothing to explain also.Something along the likes of Well get used to it baby, cos there is no chance in hell that I'll be sleeping whilst the Boro boys are playing.
She shook her head in total disbelief and went back to bed.
Win, lose or draw, there was nobody that I could share or was remotely interested in my passion. Not for many a year. Not until the Aussies, the likes of Cahill, Kewell,Bosnich and our very own legends Schwarzer and Viduka came to the fore.
By the time I started to work on the Sydney harbour bridge in 1990, football was becoming more popular not only because of the live games due to sky but it was a much safer game for their kids to be playing.
There were a lot of Europeans working on the bridge, Greeks, Italians and Poles mainly and at the very least, they also loved football and at last I had others to share my passion.
On every girder, crossbeam and panel was the name of a company that my Dad, one grandad and great grandad had worked for.
Not only the familiar name of Dorman Long but also the magical name of Middlesbrough were stamped everywhere you looked. After working there for years and thinking that I had covered every inch of the bridge, I unexpectedly found several pieces with the
word Skinningrove on them.
I took great pleasure bragging to my workmates that that's my hometown that's my football team and they're my roots and that my family have worked for that company in England and one day in the near future they'll get to see firsthand how much they mean to me.
Sydney was to have the Olympic games in 2000 and when the engineer told us that we were soon going to be delivered the Olympic rings and that we would be erecting them.
Nobody in our hierarchy had given any thought whatsoever about how and where it was to be displayed apart from the fact that it will be displayed on the eastern side or told us that they would arrive in a multitude of semi circles.Nor did they tell us that it all had to be done at night as we needed to close a traffic lane.
Interest was losing very quickly by me who was going to be the crane driver and also my rigger workmates as this was going to be an unenviable job due to the lack of planning.
We told him about all the obstacles on the eastern side and asked him if there had been any thought about what we were supposed to hang the rings on and there's also the problem of the expansion joints.
His reply, you're riggers, you'll work it out. AND I dont want the slings to be visible, they need to be hidden behind the structure.
It was a nightmare, not so much for me as a crane driver but for the riggers.
Trying to make slings to the mm exactly,if not, they're not taking weight.
For two months we chopped and changed things and eventually, it was done.
All that was left to do, was get all the miles of cabling up the arch and positioned and the tons and tons of fireworks spread all across the entire length of the road deck and the top arch.
The night that the electricians wanted to test out the lights within the rings, the engineer drove me and my crew to a reservoir in the eastern suburbs to get a great full on view of the bridge.
We were standing there for half an hour or so chain smoking waiting in anticipation for the lights to come on but so far,nothing.
Then one by one, there they were, all the lights on the bridge had been turned of and only the rings alight.It was a beautiful sight after all the hard work.
The boys roared and jumped and yahooed.
And there was me, rigid, tears streaming down my face, nose running,shaking like a leaf, a blubbering mess.
What's up mate?. Look, Look what we've done. Mate what's wrong?
I couldn't get the words out. How could I explain. They were hugging me, wrapping their arms around me. Mate c'mon what is it. Some were starting to laugh now.
They wouldn't understand. They didn't know that I was thinking of my Dad and how proud he and my grandparents would be if they were here. Or that I was feeling the same emotions that I shared with my Dad on that wonderful Ayresome night.
All I could say was its okay, I'm alright.
The engineer said to me. Well, I wasn't expecting that, what was that all about are you alright?
I answered. Believe it or not but it's about a football team, my Dad and my roots.
He looked at me curiously and left it at that.
Stay safe
Regards fro Oz
UTB
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tears running down my face redblood!!! cracking read!!!
Thanks for the reply Dan.
It's difficult to put into words, how and why I was so overwhelmed with emotion.
I guess it was all down to so many years of being so isolated from my beloved Boro and Dad.
Also with the knowledge that the bridge that all Sydneysiders adore so much and so proud of, was designed by a Boro boy which transformed the Sydney skyline.
The entire job from start to end was overseered by Mr Ennis, a Boroboy and all the steel manufactured by Boroboys.
Knowing that three generations of my family, all Boroboys, worked for Dorman Long and possibly my great grandad took some part of it.
Then there's me, another Boroboy who if only for a short time, had transformed the Sydney skyline.
Standing on that reservoir that night when those lights came on, all I could see was Boro.
Boro, Boro, Boro .Everywhere I looked.
All I could see and feel was my Boro, my Dad, my grand and great grandads and my roots and pride.
Something just had to give and so it did.
Take care all, stay safe.
Love from Oz.
UTB
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red blood - stirring stuff, fella , truly from the heart.
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Great memories redblood, nice reading them too
I've been on this forum a few times of late just to read your memories
Lovely stories Redblood, sounds like you have travelled a bit too!!
Erimus 74 will be on another planet if we get many more like this, plus we probably need something at the mo to take away the blues
NZBoro1
Erimus74 as well as a few other posters replies were my inspiration for starting this thread.
In particular, when he said that he would sooner sit down with a cool beer and read stories such as mine.
I feel exactly the same and hope that there will be plenty of others that will too.
So much so, that they decide to regale some of their tales.
Like you say, we probably need something like this at the moment to take away the blues.
I can't think of anything better than a feelgood thread to get us all closer to each other by opening our hearts
and sharing our experiences, emotions, highs or lows and telling their stories.
Stay safe
Love from Oz
UTB