Our Away support in the 70's. Were we a bad lot?

[upgotheheads]

I live in Ayr now and have been  hearing for years that our away support casuals were a right bunch of hooligans. I have just been defending us against allegations of thuggery in the early seventies when a pincer movement ocurred between our crew and them when some of our support got off the train at Newton on Ayr while others got off at Ayr station and ambushed the Ayr support somewhere near the ground. Naturally I can't believe this and suggested they must have done something to really annoy us. I didn't travel to many away games in those days, so would appreciate any information that would help me refute these allegations.

[Turkishcap]

Pivot always gentlemen.

 

Actually yes at times!

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Turkishcap
lies

[i8hibsh]

Just better times

 

 

 

[davemclaren]

Just now, i8hibsh said:

Just better times

 

 

 

You miss the violence?

[22games nro]

Flares (trouser type 😎)

Edited July 29, 2022 by 22games nro

[Clerry Jambo]

Thankfully no JKB back then 😇

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

 

 

[davemclaren]

Just now, 22games nro said:

Flares

Flairs. 🥸

[22games nro]

Lol, been that long since I had them 😬😬😬

[davemclaren]

Just now, 22games nro said:

Lol, been that long since I had them 😬😬😬

Loved my loon pants. 

[GYL]

1 minute ago, davemclaren said:

Flairs. 🥸

Yes....yes i do.....that and come and have a go with the Gorgie aggro....oh the Shed ❤️❤️

[jimbojambo]

It wasn't just us though as the seventies were crazy and I was on buses at places like Morton and Airdrie where every window was tanned. Weird times though as music was a great period and inflation around 16%. Power strikes, Thatcher v the miners, Vietnam Gorgie aggro, Pints not fancy bottles, those were great days bro..... 

[mark2000]

Hooligans in the seventies - yes we had more than our fair share - but casuals we’re an eighties thing…….

[Fxxx the SPFL]

I remember a game against Alloa in the seventies and after the game heading back to supporters buses some nut job launched a stone through a living room window and there was a young woman with a kid in her arms behind hopefully they weren’t hurt 

[troy]

With a p and an I and a vot 👍

[upgotheheads]

1 minute ago, mark2000 said:

Hooligans in the seventies - yes we had more than our fair share - but casuals we’re an eighties thing…….

 

Flair enough (see what I did there) but I'm looking for Ayr related incidents in particular.

[Jambo-Fox]

Ayr Utd away was always mayhem in the ‘70s & ‘80s and we seemed to play them all the time!

 

We had a midweek cup replay one season mid ‘70s - 18,000 attendance mostly Hearts fans! It was absolute carnage! Think it went to ET and Hearts won!!

 

And I’ve never forgiven them for relegating us for the first time ever a couple of seasons later!

This thread brings back really bad memories! Probably because one match day coincided my record daily beer intake - 21 pints 🤮 
 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Jambo-Fox

[baron of ness]

SQBBL also a mental supporters bus.

[briever]

34 minutes ago, upgotheheads said:

I live in Ayr now and have been  hearing for years that our away support casuals were a right bunch of hooligans. I have just been defending us against allegations of thuggery in the early seventies when a pincer movement ocurred between our crew and them when some of our support got off the train at Newton on Ayr while others got off at Ayr station and ambushed the Ayr support somewhere near the ground. Naturally I can't believe this and suggested they must have done something to really annoy us. I didn't travel to many away games in those days, so would appreciate any information that would help me refute these allegations.

 

Wasn't just the away support, I used to shite myself at Tynie some weeks.

[Seaside jambo]

24 minutes ago, troy said:

With a p and an I and a vot 👍

The buses to Aberdeen were mental ,left at midnight just crazy 😄

[willie wallace]

13 minutes ago, Seaside jambo said:

The buses to Aberdeen were mental ,left at midnight just crazy 😄

Best fixture of the season😎

[Paris 84]

There were NO casuals in the seventies.  There was trouble, but certainly no casuals. 

[andythejambo]

12 minutes ago, Seaside jambo said:

The buses to Aberdeen were mental ,left at midnight just crazy 😄

 

12 minutes ago, Seaside jambo said:

The buses to Aberdeen were mental ,left at midnight just crazy 😄

Sometimes later than that !! Remember the time the bus driver got lifted for being drunk. We had to wait for the coach company to get another driver up to Aberdeen, and got home at 6am on the Sunday 😀👍🍺🇱🇻⚽️

[Paris 84]

34 minutes ago, Jambo-Fox said:

Ayr Utd away was always mayhem in the ‘70s & ‘80s and we seemed to play them all the time!

 

We had a midweek cup replay one season mid ‘70s - 18,000 attendance mostly Hearts fans! It was absolute carnage! Think it went to ET and Hearts won!!

 

And I’ve never forgiven them for relegating us for the first time ever a couple of seasons later!

This thread brings back really bad memories! Probably because one match day coincided my record daily beer intake - 21 pints 🤮 
 

Donald Ford’s header got stuck between the net and stantion. 

[Ray Gin]

52 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

Flairs. 🥸

 

Flair comment.

 

[Under the floodlight]

Remember we did the Legio IX at an undisclosed location, no one ever saw them again.

[Francis Albert]

20 minutes ago, Seaside jambo said:

The buses to Aberdeen were mental ,left at midnight just crazy 😄

I was on a few of those with the Colinton Mains branch. I was too young to fully participate in the evening's entertainment Gordon Marshall Sn the great goalie's dad ran it and looked after me. The trip home was quite peaceful as few were awake.

[bairdy]

Never mind the 70's.

In the 60's we used to be met by the police at the train stations at a few grounds, and were 'escorted' to the grounds !

Most of our group came from Pilton.

Some crazy days ! 😆

[Seaside jambo]

22 minutes ago, willie wallace said:

Best fixture of the season😎

The trip to Dumfries was good Scottish cup game. 
bus went home half empty, again after midnight 

some  journeys on that bus for sure 😄

[i8hibsh]

1 hour ago, davemclaren said:

You miss the violence?

 

 

just the fashion

 

[maggieb]

1 hour ago, 22games nro said:

Flares (trouser type 😎)

I think you’ll find the Levi Stapress was the call back then , absolutely not itk but flares went 74/75 ? The pincer movement was more 76/77 ,generally a dance move used by guys trying pulling lassies from bar to dance floor on a Friday night then still wearing the same [cool] stuff Saturday ?

[Perth to Paisley]

Casuals- No

Scarfers - without a doubt

[Rudy T]

Definitely not the casuals they were much later. I actually cringe now when I hear skinny wee Stone Island clad pubeless laddies shouting CSF. They have no idea what the pre casual and Casual days were like. A lot of them would have turned up once ran home folded the stone island gear into a drawer and quickly nipped into Next for a new wardrobe.

[willie wallace]

5 minutes ago, Seaside jambo said:

The trip to Dumfries was good Scottish cup game. 
bus went home half empty, again after midnight 

some  journeys on that bus for sure 😄

That was some battle in and outside  some pub later on that night.

2 full buses went down.Plenty room to spread out on the way back😀

[John Findlay]

1 hour ago, jimbojambo said:

It wasn't just us though as the seventies were crazy and I was on buses at places like Morton and Airdrie where every window was tanned. Weird times though as music was a great period and inflation around 16%. Power strikes, Thatcher v the miners, Vietnam Gorgie aggro, Pints not fancy bottles, those were great days bro..... 

Thatcher v the miners was 1984/85.

Scargill thought he could do to her what he had done to Ted Heath in 1973/74.

What he hadn't calculated for was Thatcher having far bigger balls than Ted Heath.The Hearts support quite rightly had a bad reputation in the 70s, it was earned and fully deserved.

Edited July 29, 2022 by John Findlay

[Seaside jambo]

1 minute ago, willie wallace said:

That was some battle in and outside  some pub later on that night.

2 full buses went down.Plenty room to spread out on the way back😀

It was not about the violence it was the laughs , There was violence nearly everywhere at the football and the city’s where full of gangs it was sort of just the way it was , even my school had a gang culture 

so glad it’s not like that anymore, it sounds funny but had a ball in the 70s 

[davemclaren]

19 minutes ago, i8hibsh said:

 

 

just the fashion

 

The seventies are my favourite decade. Turned thirteen in 1970 so all the years of my youth were in that decade. 

[i8hibsh]

4 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

The seventies are my favourite decade. Turned thirteen in 1970 so all the years of my youth were in that decade. 

 

 

Was just a sprog in the 70s but I am very much a 'before my time' kinda guy.

[norrie1952]

For me the fun times were the late 60s.Definetly no casuals,no organised gangs(there weren't).Just us meeting up home and away.I had a ball.

[jimbojambo]

14 minutes ago, John Findlay said:

Thatcher v the miners was 1984/85.

Scargill thought he could do to her what he had done to Ted Heath in 1973/74.

What he hadn't calculated for was Thatcher having far bigger balls than Ted Heath.The Hearts support quite rightly had a bad reputation in the 70s, it was earned and fully deserved.

You are right about Thatcher being later. I remember Jim Callaghan and the power strike and having to play Thistle on a Wednesday night. I suppose football violence culminated up here with the OF Cup Final and with Hillsborough and Hysel and things were never the same again but the seventies were mental and we were no angels. One Saturday just before Christmas we were on the Forth Bridge when the game v Dunfermline was postponed and everyone went to ER for Hibs and George Best v Rangers where there was three way fighting. We certainly were not scared. 

[Selkirkhmfc1874]

Mayfield and Gorebridge bus back in the day was mental 

[Peakybunnet]

So many stories of battles at most away games. 
 

Dundee in 77. Drew 1-1, back on the buses in a big dusty car park near Dens and we’re ambushed by The Derry. Hundreds jumped out our supporter buses and ran Dundee ragged. It was mayhem with bricks, bottles, sticks, and boots working hard. 
 

There were always a couple

never made the Livi Hearts bus home. 

[henryheart]

1 hour ago, upgotheheads said:

I live in Ayr now and have been  hearing for years that our away support casuals were a right bunch of hooligans. I have just been defending us against allegations of thuggery in the early seventies when a pincer movement ocurred between our crew and them when some of our support got off the train at Newton on Ayr while others got off at Ayr station and ambushed the Ayr support somewhere near the ground. Naturally I can't believe this and suggested they must have done something to really annoy us. I didn't travel to many away games in those days, so would appreciate any information that would help me refute these allegations.

 

I was a regular away traveller in those days and it was challenging being a normal fan.  It peaked in 1977-78 after our relegation. I remember particularly difficult days in Kilmarnock and Dumfries. We visited small town Scotland where all the village idiots appeared when we rolled into town looking to prove themselves. As for pincer movements and organised violence, well that is a figment of someone's imagination. Violence was not organised and things just happened on the day. There were no casuals in the 1970s.

[Under the floodlight]

28 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

The seventies are my favourite decade. Turned thirteen in 1970 so all the years of my youth were in that decade. 

Aztec bars and Naytex jeans😊

[JyTees]

1 hour ago, Paris 84 said:

There were NO casuals in the seventies.  There was trouble, but certainly no casuals. 

 

Certainly not. But yes, Hearts were mental in the 70's, and 80's.

[gar jambo]

27 minutes ago, JyTees said:

 

Certainly not. But yes, Hearts were mental in the 70's, and 80's.

Remember playing killie away in the 70s pure carnage! This nutter got his head cut on the pitch he got it bandaged! And then taken back to the terracing then ran back on for more aggro! 

[22games nro]

1 hour ago, maggieb said:

I think you’ll find the Levi Stapress was the call back then , absolutely not itk but flares went 74/75 ? The pincer movement was more 76/77 ,generally a dance move used by guys trying pulling lassies from bar to dance floor on a Friday night then still wearing the same [cool] stuff Saturday ?

All coming back to me know with the maroon stapress, was it Alexander’s or smiths that was the place to get them ?

[davemclaren]

38 minutes ago, 22games nro said:

All coming back to me know with the maroon stapress, was it Alexander’s or smiths that was the place to get them ?

Smith’s was more 80s I reckon. Cowan tailoring or Jax.  
 

sta-prest. 

[goader]

2 hours ago, baron of ness said:

SQBBL also a mental supporters bus.

Never!!!!   Parkhead on a Wednesday night and brick coming through the bus windows.  The police telling you to get on the buses. aye right.  Daft times indeed. 

 

[iainmac]

When we were relegated in the '70s , the chant was.....

 

 

"We're going up, you're going doon, we're gonna wreck you're f*****g toon!"

 

 

And..............guess what?

[Sherbet]

1 hour ago, jimbojambo said:

You are right about Thatcher being later. I remember Jim Callaghan and the power strike and having to play Thistle on a Wednesday night. I suppose football violence culminated up here with the OF Cup Final and with Hillsborough and Hysel and things were never the same again but the seventies were mental and we were no angels. One Saturday just before Christmas we were on the Forth Bridge when the game v Dunfermline was postponed and everyone went to ER for Hibs and George Best v Rangers where there was three way fighting. We certainly were not scared. 

Afternoon    we won 4 1