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Author Topic: Final Games  (Read 14570 times)

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Timbo

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Re: Final Games
« Reply #75 on: Sun 13 Sep 2020 14:44 »

On the old site, we have :-

[https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/ratetheref/bradford-city-disaster-t8266.html]

"This is not correct. If you look back on the I Spy Old Refs thread, you will see that Don Shaw was due to referee the game but had to pull out due to tweaking a muscle a few days previously at OT. When I wrote to Don on another matter, he very kindly wrote back and confirmed the above in his letter. He had previously confirmed his absence in an article in the local press (Crewe/Sandbach) on the 25th anniversary in 2010. He was not sure who refereed the tragic game at Bradford but agreed with our suggestion that it could have been Mr N Glover from Chorley. In Upton, Don is shown as continuing on the FL for 3 more years until 1988 whilst Mr Glover is shown as coming off the list in 1986, although it is possible that he did not referee during the 1985/6 season. I have to say that the anniversary of the tragedy had passed my mind as well, and I am sorry that there was not some sort of commemoration over this past weekend. RIP"


The story as I understand it is that Norman Glover did the middle at Valley Parade, and then stayed on the list for one further season. However, he was effectively traumatised by Valley Parade, and suffered flashbacks. The 1985/86 season was about his tenth on the middle of the FL, but he had a difficult time. I was subsequently at a meeting were Norman described writing his letter of resignation from the League list on the evening of Friday 2 May 1986 and then posting it on the way to his game on Saturday 3 May 1986, which was the last day of the season and his final game too. What I do not know is whether Norman anticipated being removed from the list and hence jumped before he was pushed.

What I cannot remember is what game Norman did on Saturday 3 May 1986. If we have a list of fixtures for that day, it should be ascertainable from local newspapers. What I can recall, some thirty-plus years later, is that it was a nondescript lower division game in the North of England. And there was no fanfare either, as only Norman knew that it was to be his last game.

The photograph attached is from https://imsvintagephotos.com/norman-glover-1028913, and shows a relatively young Norman Glover in action.