I'LL GO FAR FOR FORFAR; Fan Barry's 750-mile trip to watch cup tie on television.AN ENGLISH football fan travelled 750 miles to watch his favourites Forfar play - on television in a hotel room.Barry Stevens Barry Stevens is the name of the following people:
But he couldn't get a ticket for love nor money and the BBC's live broadcast of the game was shown only in Scotland. That left Barry to make the journey from his home in Chandlers Ford, near Southampton, to watch the match on TV. He got up at 4.30am on Sunday to head for the Travel Inn in Lockerbie, where he stayed for just three hours. He decorated dec·o·rate tr.v. dec·o·rat·ed, dec·o·rat·ing, dec·o·rates 1. To furnish, provide, or adorn with something ornamental; embellish. 2. the pounds 42-a-night room with banners and scarves scarves n. A plural of scarf1. scarves Noun a plural of scarf1 to try to create a big match atmosphere. Barry said: "I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Forfar played well and it was actually a pretty good result. "The goalkeeper had a good match and it could have been much worse as Rangers missed a penalty and lots of other shots. "I would definitely make the trip again. Even if they lose 20-0 every match it will always be worth it." Barry began supporting the part-time club, who usually attract crowds of 400, out of sympathy when they won only one league game in the 1973/1974 season. Now he gets all the club's programmes and local newspaper the Forfar Despatch posted to his home so he can follow the team. And the madcap fan travels to Forfar whenever he is able to make the three-day round trip for a home match. He said: "Everyone supports Manchester United these days and I don't think there's any fun in that - which is why I decided to support a team with more spirit. "Everyone at Forfar treats me like royalty Adv. 1. like royalty - in a royal manner; "they were royally treated" like kings, royally and it was great to see my team on television for the biggest game in Forfar's history." The trip was an expensive one - the hotel alone cost Barry pounds 25 more than the pounds 17 tickets for the big game. After 18 hours driving in his Ford Fiesta The Ford Fiesta is a mid-class supermini car designed and built by the Ford Motor Company in Europe, and also manufactured in Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, China, India and South Africa. , with only the three-hour break for the match, he admitted he was "tired but happy". Barry, who is a storekeeper for Hampshire Fire Service, admitted his friends give him lots of stick for supporting the team nicknamed The Loons. The father of two said: "Everyone thinks I'm mad for making this journey just to watch television but this was a game I couldn't possibly miss. "I tried to get a ticket for the match but it was just impossible. "It was the first time Forfar have ever been live on television and I've tried every avenue to get BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Gaelic: BBC Alba) is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London down here. "But the match was only broadcast to places with a Scottish postcode postcode Noun a system of letters and numbers used to aid the sorting of mail Noun 1. postcode - a code of letters and digits added to a postal address to aid in the sorting of mail postal code, ZIP code, ZIP so I had to take rather unusual action. It could be the only time Forfar are ever broadcast live so I decided to make the most of it and I even asked the club to video it for me so I can watch it again." Barry, whose wife Christine, 39, does not share his passion, added: "I usually sit in front of the TV on Saturday watching the score on teletext teletext: see videotex. A broadcasting service that transmits text to a TV set that has a teletext decoder. It uses the vertical blanking interval of the TV signal (black line between frames when vertical hold is not adjusted) to transmit about a hundred . "My wife despairs of me. I once persuaded her to make the trip to Forfar with me but she wasn't impressed and has vowed not to repeat the experience." Barry's dedication to Forfar has won praise from club manager Neil Cooper. He said: "In this day and age it is quite easy to support the successful teams. But when they are smaller it can be harder. "To watch the game on TV is the second best thing but to come from Southampton to the Borders is one hell of a journey. "We are delighted to get such great support." Barry has seen Forfar play 75 times but five of his long-distance trips ended without a ball being kicked after matches were postponed due to bad weather. He added: "The first game I ever went to in February 1981 was postponed - not a good start." |
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