When this Legacy fixture was announced as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations I didn’t really have much interest. I anticipated a few old blokes wandering around the pitch in front of largely empty stands. Initial sales were higher than I’d expected at around ten thousand or so and then they announced that Juninho would be playing.
The participation of the little fella was enough to spark Tom and Soph’s interest and so I thought I might as well go along as well. The bump in sales after the announcement seemed to create momentum and the day before the game it was announced that the stadium had sold out. Astonishing really, as whilst sales are generally good, we don’t usually reach capacity for league games.
Harry, Soph and I arrived early, conscious that there might be queues to get in and that there would be pre-match player introductions on the pitch. We met up with Tom and Nolan and headed around to the North Stand to take our seats. This will be Nolan’s third football game, despite not yet being a year and a half old. Maybe I should keep a record for him in case he has inherited the groundhopper gene.
There were long queues at the turnstiles, mainly because they weren’t well managed and due to many people attending for the first time with digital tickets. Thankfully we got in with sufficient time to take our seats before the players came out onto the field.
The players walked out onto the pitch in pairs. It really was the best part of the day. Each player was introduced with a brief history of their career highlights and got a warm welcome. There were very good receptions for some recent departees such as Jonny Howson and George Friend. Aitor Karanka and Leo Percovich came on together to a great reception, but the highlight was the entrances of Mogga and Juninho. There were plenty of eyes around me with tears in them.
I think the sentimental side of football is important, recognizing those people that did their bit. In a club that is relatively short on success, it probably takes on more significance than those clubs with more trophies in their cabinets.
The game itself was an anti-climax, but with many of the players in their fifties, it was always going to be. It might have been better if the stands had been allocated a team to support so that we could have had some back and forward chanting. As it was, we all cheered every goal, all fifteen of them in a narrow win for the little fella’s team. He scored a penalty for the loudest roar of the afternoon.
It’s odd to think that at the turn of the next century, Nolan could be chatting to his mates and could honestly tell them that he’d seen Juninho score at the Riverside. Mind you, if there’s another Legacy game for the 175th anniversary, I wouldn’t be surprised if Juninho is on the pitch and scores in that one too.
