Paul Butler

So I have been a football fan pretty much since I could walk however it wasn’t my Dad who got me hooked on football. Growing up in a poor housing estate in Edinburgh all we did as kids was play football, I didn’t support a team until I was 7 years old when my Uncle decided he would get my into watching football. So on Sunday 15th April 1984 I was taken to Tynecastle Park, the home of Heart of Midlothian FC to watch them in a friendly against English giants Arsenal which included a player I knew…Charlie Nicholas who used to play for Celtic.  Let’s just say Hearts and Celtic don’t like each other. Walking to the ground the fans were singing, klaxons were going off and this got me intrigued on what happens when I get in the ground.  Once in the ground I was in awe of the size of the stadium and the number of people there.  I was 8 years old and was part of the 10500 crowd, I remember nothing of the game other than we won 3-2 and I gave Champagne Charlie abuse for 90 mins!! On the way home I couldn’t stop talking about the game, I was hooked I was a Hearts fan no doubt about it. 

However later that summer in pre season my Dad’s friend was a supporter of our geographical rivals Hibs and he took me to Easter Road to see them play Chelsea.  Hibs won 5-0 however it didn’t feel right and I felt dirty!!! Since the 90’s I have been a season ticket holder and seen the high’s and low’s of supporting and loving a football club. I have seen the following with Hearts:
​
Win 3 Scottish Cups including hammering our geographical rivals 5-1
Beat Bayern Munich at Tynecastle in the UEFA Cup
Go 17 & 22 games unbeaten against those city rivals
Beat many top European teams
Been on shed loads of European tours
Watched our club almost die at the hands of an egotistical foreign owner
Go into Administration
Then get relegated
Be part of the Foundation of Hearts which bought the club back along with Ann Budge
Win the Championship league at a canter from Rangers and Hibs

Would I change any of this?  No chance it just makes the high’s and success even sweeter. If you are ever in Edinburgh during the football season get yourself along to a game and view the stadium and brand new museum. There is so much I could tell you about the history of the club but that may be for another day, but I will mention the players who sacrificed their lives to sign up for Macraes Battalion in WW1 when the team were top of the league by some distance from Celtic.  Football clubs and players were under pressure from the public for not signing up to the cause.  Our players done this off their own backs and many players from other clubs followed.  Lest we forget boys.

Now back to my childhood and if I wasn’t playing football then I was playing Subbuteo 4 or 5 of us had sets.  I got mine for my 10th birthday and if memory serves me well it was the ‘club’ edition.  When I got the set there was an issue how could I get a flat hard pitch….easy the old man worked on the tools and came home the next day with plywood at 7’x5’.  Pitch tacked down we could have tournaments with my mates in the bedroom.  In the winter and the rainy summers we would have tournaments in each other houses which consisted of about 10 kids.  Normally the matches were keenly contested without fuss but if there was a debate then usual our mum’s had the final say or we were all sent packing, so we never argued.

In Edinburgh we had a shop in the city centre call John Menzies which had a huge section with Subbuteo teams and accessories.  Nearly every weekend I was in the shop and always made a beeline for that section.  While I was never interested in the stands and spectators I was very much into getting the best goals and footballs.  Notably the Adidas Tango ball and Mexican Square goals which came courtesy of Mexico ’86. In terms of teams the first 2 teams came courtesy of the set and I vaguely remember a team colour that resembled Hull.  From my birthday money I bought the Hearts team, Scotland & Liverpool.  For Christmas, I got the rivals Hibs, Brazil, England and Chelsea.  As kids we played Subbuteo until we went to High School then other things took over, I gave my teams and pitch to a young lad in the estate so he could feel the love of table football. Like many things these days computers, technology and social media has taken over and the social aspects of football seem lost. Kids now play football against other kids they have never met via the internet, they do not interact in the same way as we did which is sad as you cannot share the highs and lows that football brings.

Many will remember the 90’s at football and publications fondly known as fanzines which were a great way for fans to give opinions, share stories and take the mick out of their rivals.  Now we have forums which can be very cringe worthy. So my mate had an idea to start up a fanzine to see how it went.  So a Hearts fanzine Unknown Pleasures was born and 12 issues on we now make 3 fanzines a season with 300 copies easily selling.  All proceeds go to either charity, Hearts Ladies or the club itself.  The best part is explaining to teenagers what a fanzine is.  Follow us on twitter @UPFanzine1874 or Facebook Unknown Pleasures.  Finally in case you are wondering it comes from the famous album by Joy Division. Thanks for reading and enjoy the memories and traditions of football.