Rangerslion
Well-Known Member
I've seen other do this and wasn't sure if I should but thought it would be nice to tell the story.
My papa was never into football. For 84 years of his life he couldn't tell you much apart from Rangers where the blue ones and that mob where the greens ones. To be honest the only thing he ever done football related was a very long time ago, he used to make flags and sell them to fans coming over from Northern Ireland. As a Northern Irish man himself he had loads of friends and family who came over for the football regularly so knew there was boat loads of people.
He's was an army man, served his time and told me many a story about the soldiers in his regiment singing football songs. One story in particular always brought a smile to my face. He was posted in Malaya in the 1950s and they were all terrified and always trying to cheer each other up. One night as the camp was quiet as a mouse, everyone settled down and most of them getting ready to go to sleep. They heard a lone piper at the other side of the camp strike up a song on the bagpipes. It was non other than the Sash which most of the camp got a right good laugh at.
Anyway later in life around his late 70s my papa ended up in a wheelchair due to health issues. Due to this I started spending as much free time with him over the last 8 years roughly as possible. He would always ask me where I was going when I used to leave and a lot of the time it was me going to see the football with the boys.
Around 3 years ago, he started asking me questions about Rangers. Who you playing tonight? Is wee Morelly playing? He seems to score quite often eh? To which one night I said if you'd like papa I'll tell the boys I'll give it a miss and stick it on the telly for us to watch here. That was around 3 years ago and from that first match my papa was hooked on us. He'd watch every game, even watch that mobs games hoping they'd drop points, read all the papers and Google everything about us. At first my family would crack jokes because at 84 years old never having watched a game in his life they were surprised how he'd started watching it so late in life. As time went by and they seen how passionate he was and how he'd shout at the telly like he was there and celebrate every goal they knew football time was serious and we'd religiously watch every game together.
This Season he was buzzing because of how great we've been. He was always talking about us and you could see the excitement about how we were going to win the title this season and how much he was looking forward to it. Me personally I was over the moon that I'd get to celebrate a title with my papa as I've seen us win plenty, but never with the auld boy and every point closer we got was another step towards that first title he'd see us win as a fan.
Unfortunately my papa had loads of health issues as I said earlier. Testicular cancer, skin cancer, cancer in his spine, senile dementia, blood clots, you name it he had it, but still fought on and was always smiling. Last week he got took into the hospital for a sore stomach which we all thought would be dealt with quite fast, and he'd be back out in time for the second leg. Unfortunately that sore stomach was severe acute pancreatitis which he fought for around 8 days and past away this morning.
As heart breaking as it is that I know he never got to see us lift the title. I wanted to tell his story about how he became a fan at the grand old age of 84 and was as passionate about us as anyone I know.
Sorry if that's too long guys it's late and I just kept typing.
My papa was never into football. For 84 years of his life he couldn't tell you much apart from Rangers where the blue ones and that mob where the greens ones. To be honest the only thing he ever done football related was a very long time ago, he used to make flags and sell them to fans coming over from Northern Ireland. As a Northern Irish man himself he had loads of friends and family who came over for the football regularly so knew there was boat loads of people.
He's was an army man, served his time and told me many a story about the soldiers in his regiment singing football songs. One story in particular always brought a smile to my face. He was posted in Malaya in the 1950s and they were all terrified and always trying to cheer each other up. One night as the camp was quiet as a mouse, everyone settled down and most of them getting ready to go to sleep. They heard a lone piper at the other side of the camp strike up a song on the bagpipes. It was non other than the Sash which most of the camp got a right good laugh at.
Anyway later in life around his late 70s my papa ended up in a wheelchair due to health issues. Due to this I started spending as much free time with him over the last 8 years roughly as possible. He would always ask me where I was going when I used to leave and a lot of the time it was me going to see the football with the boys.
Around 3 years ago, he started asking me questions about Rangers. Who you playing tonight? Is wee Morelly playing? He seems to score quite often eh? To which one night I said if you'd like papa I'll tell the boys I'll give it a miss and stick it on the telly for us to watch here. That was around 3 years ago and from that first match my papa was hooked on us. He'd watch every game, even watch that mobs games hoping they'd drop points, read all the papers and Google everything about us. At first my family would crack jokes because at 84 years old never having watched a game in his life they were surprised how he'd started watching it so late in life. As time went by and they seen how passionate he was and how he'd shout at the telly like he was there and celebrate every goal they knew football time was serious and we'd religiously watch every game together.
This Season he was buzzing because of how great we've been. He was always talking about us and you could see the excitement about how we were going to win the title this season and how much he was looking forward to it. Me personally I was over the moon that I'd get to celebrate a title with my papa as I've seen us win plenty, but never with the auld boy and every point closer we got was another step towards that first title he'd see us win as a fan.
Unfortunately my papa had loads of health issues as I said earlier. Testicular cancer, skin cancer, cancer in his spine, senile dementia, blood clots, you name it he had it, but still fought on and was always smiling. Last week he got took into the hospital for a sore stomach which we all thought would be dealt with quite fast, and he'd be back out in time for the second leg. Unfortunately that sore stomach was severe acute pancreatitis which he fought for around 8 days and past away this morning.
As heart breaking as it is that I know he never got to see us lift the title. I wanted to tell his story about how he became a fan at the grand old age of 84 and was as passionate about us as anyone I know.
Sorry if that's too long guys it's late and I just kept typing.