Newark-on-Trent
1st June 2000
Dear TRF,
Things got so bad with AFC the season before last, it was getting impossible to avoid newspapers, television, friends and relations reminding me of what I had just witnessed on the Saturday - another thumping at the hands of every team we faced.
There was no option but to emigrate, so last summer I moved south just in time to miss the start of another season - any excuse not to renew my season ticket! Money well saved as 1999-2000 proved to be even worse.
Down here in Middle England, the media and public at large are wrapped up in their own fantasy that theirs is the best league in the world, and that they have a god-given right to host/win every major international championship. As for the reporting of Scottish football, it is minimal and even then only revolves round the Old Firm. (No different from back home, then!) The mention of being an Aberdeen supporter is usually greeted with sympathy, then ridicule, followed by comments like "That's where that MU f**cker Alex Ferguson came from, isn't it?"
Old habits die hard, so I made the trip to Glasgow for the Scottish Cup Final. This may be sick, but despite the result and the dismal performance of most of the team, I am actually glad that I witnessed a spectacle that I suspect will remain long in the memory of many Dons' fans. I hope that TRF will devote some column inches on the game (which is more than can be said for the streaker) and redress some of the biased reporting in the press.
For example, the Scotland on Sunday chose to slate Dons' fans for singing "Sign on, sign on, you'll never get a job", plus there were mentions elsewhere in the press of "that tackle". On BBC Scotland that evening, the only reference to Dons' fans was of the masses who allegedly left when the 4th goal went in. The Red Army out-sang and out-supported the "home fans", but there was no mention of this anywhere. neither was there any serious editorial comment on the fact that 2/3rds of the rangers' end was dressed in orange. This merely confirmed what everybody else already knew - the rangers' support is full of bigots and the club does nothing to quell it. How hypocritical was this, in the week that both Old Firm clubs sent representatives to Northern Ireland in order to encourage cross-community relations through sport amongst school children? Get it right in your own house first, minks!
Anyway, enough waffle. The one source of comfort I have missed since moving away has been TRF. I enclose 32 in return for issues 38 & 39. I would also be grateful if you could let me know of any websites for Dons fans, other than the official afc.co.uk.
Yours,
Urquhart Road Dosser