When it wasn't easy finding out results

The radio was the worst for away games ... “and theres news of a goal in the sheep vs Rangers game at Pittodrie, but first let’s goto east end park”
 
Previous to having sky and the tinterweb my dad used to speak to his mum on a weekly basis on the phone. We were only in southern England but it was brutal having to wait ‘til the next day to get one of 10 daily records in our newsagent to get the scores. We had a bang and olufsen tv without teletext that was older than me (only got rid of it 6 years ago).

It kinda went; “alright mum, you well?... good. How did The Rangers get on”. My brothers and I would sit watching his face for a smile. We’d get the actual score after the phone call.
 
Shortly after I arrived in Russia back in 1993, did a weekend in St Petersburg. We were playing at Somerset and the filth were at Brockville. Could not get the score until back in Moscow until the Monday. It was worth the wait as we progressed 2.0 and Falkirk ended their season. Moscow was easier to get the scores although not always. Could not get through on the phone on a few occasions - Scottish cup semi against Killie and a league cup quarter at the piggery come to mind. Both wins. The win at the piggery was the super ally header - got the score on this one from the brief highlights on CNN World Sport in the early hours. Changed days.
 
ao2 said:
I was in New Zealand at New Year 1998 and it took the best part of a day to find the result of the game v Them at the piggery. It wasn't good news :(
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I landed in Australia on the day of the game at the piggery in November 98 and was persuaded by my wife's brother in law to go round to a fellow Bear's house to watch it live on his telly. It was f'n torture. Later in that holiday we played Parma at Ibrox in the UEFA Cup and it was three days before I got the score.
 
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Ceefax page 312 or Teletext 410 (I think) for me. Also the Pink Paper and I’m not even that old (34).

I remember not understanding the teletext at the time and asking my Papa who John Robertson (pen) was as he had been listed twice in one game in the early nineties.
 
Remember the time I was in Gran Canaria about 35 years ago .
Feck all phones about and the papers arriving 2 days later.
No Scottish papers so I bought what I thought would be the best alternative...
The Sunday Sport
 
I can remember trying to tune into away European games on LW radio since they were not on TV or local radio. If you got lucky and found it, it may have been forgeign commentators and you were never truly sure of the score until you got the newspapers the following day!
 
I remember Parma away when we lost 3-1 in the UEFA cup, must have been a strange kick off time as I was at school during the game. The school janny stuck a bit of paper above the door with the score on, after myself and others pestered him for the score. Thought he was at the wind up until I got home and checked teletext, was gutted!
 
I recall sometimes not knowing a score until the Rangers News arrived. Mid 90s and I didn't even have teletext
 
The 70's was mad trying to find out a result, firstly no internet,mobile phones or radio sports programmes that they have now. At half time had to watch 2 wee guys push a wheelbarrow to the back of each goals with numbers in them. You had letters on the wall which corisponded to the other games so you had to find someone near you with a program to see who was who and the guy would put the scores in. Then at full time in the town somebody would buy the Pink Times with all the scores in to read on the way home although prob half of them were missing. Happy Days would love to go back there every game Saturday 3pm
 
Being on holiday in Spain in the 1980's and having to phone home to get the fitba results, then relaying them to your mates standing by the pay phone...someone would shout "what was the Dundee score" - who gives a f.uck :D
 
I lived in Africa from 1975 to 1984 so there were many occasions we had to wait, make expensive phone calls, checking Reuters, but one of the more memorable matches was when Aberdeen won their first league title under SAF
We were working in Botswana on a mine at the Kalahari Desert, no phones available but some guy had a wee dodgy wireless & eventually we found out the sheep had won 5-0 denying the rotten mob ,what a night we had no Aberdeen fans on the site but more than a few bears & enough bead rattlers to wind up
 
Always hated listening to the game on the radio. It was the Evening Times (pink Sports Edition) in my parents house. Seem to remember the half time scores were printed as latest scores in a panel on one of the pages.

I was in Portugal on holiday years ago and we were playing Forfar in the League Cup at Dens Park during midweek. Phoned my parents house from a phone box the following morning. My Dad was out at work and my Mum said she did not know the final score but remembered my Dad had said something about the game going to penalties. The line then went dead!! Took another 8 hours after my Dad got home to find out we had won.
 
Getting the Sunday edition of the Dallas Morning News, pulling apart the sections to get to the Sports section and flicking to the back page / inside back page, heart pounding, to see the Scottish and English Premier League results. The only two leagues they covered regularly.
 
Leeds v Rangers '92, could not find a thing here in Canada. So phoned home to the brother in laws. His wife comes on the phone and says hes still down the pub. So I asked her ' did you hear the score of the game'..............'Hmm, aye, I THINK they won' Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggg !!!!!
 
sheddensbear said:
I delivered evening newspapers in early 60''s. On Saturday, you got pink Evening Times and Green Evening Citizen. The papers arrived about 5pm and the latest scores were in a column (probably ht or just after). The results were also announced at 5 pm on BBC radio, and there were no updates before then.
At Ibrox, along the boundary wall at each end, you had A,B,C,D,E,F etc and at ht, somebody put the ht scores up. A 2 0 B 1 3 etc but you only knew who ABCD etc were if you had a programme.
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I am a bit younger than you mate but I also used to deliver the Saturday Evening Times Pink Edition in the mid 1980’s. I had the benefit of final score on Grandstand etc so knew the results before doing my round.

One of my deliveries was to Peter Equi who owned Equi’s ice cream parlour and fish and chip restaurant at Peacock Cross in Hamilton.

Every Saturday he used to give me a litre of Vanilla ice cream from the chest freezer in the garage next his house as a tip. Was probably worth as much as my ‘wages’..!
 
Used to have the teletext and ceefax numbers ingrained so as I could get the Rangers page in almost 5mns on a quick day.
Had to listen to the bbc World service at 6:45pm on a Saturday in Israel to get the results, but a bonus of listening to the second half of an English game before it.
Also phoned home several times whilst living down here in the 80s. The best you could hope for with a mid week game was ITN news mentioning it, and the Scottish papers were at least a day old.
 
Albertz89 said:
I remember Parma away when we lost 3-1 in the UEFA cup, must have been a strange kick off time as I was at school during the game. The school janny stuck a bit of paper above the door with the score on, after myself and others pestered him for the score. Thought he was at the wind up until I got home and checked teletext, was gutted!
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It was during school hours as I was performing in my primary school play at the time! Kept going to the stairs where my mum was listening to the game on the radio to check what was happening (She was a teaching assistant at the time).
 
Remember as a kid being dragged 'up the town' by my mum. Sometimes I'd be allowed to take my radio and headphones but mostly not, so I had to rely on stopping outside shop windows to check the scores on the telly's inside.
The only time I remember being away and not knowing a score was in 95 when we played Famagusta and Gordon Durie scored in a 1-0 win while I was in Gran Canaria.
 
Mid seventies mid week games i can remember phoning up Easter Road to ask the score against us.
 
AirdrieBear said:
Younger fans will never have had this struggle, but what are your memories of finding out a score?

We never had teletext on our telly and it was obviously before the internet. The anticipation of waiting on a result on the tv news/radio was brutal at times!

I suppose my main memory of it could still be the case today as it was on a flight home from gran canaria. We were playing the tims and I was having palpatations waiting on the score only for the pilot to announce we won 3-1 que a big roar on the plane! :))

Pilot obviously a good guy!

It was the game albertz scored a rasper into the bottom corner and erik bo scored a double!
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Hahaha. I was at that and I’m surprised you couldn’t hear me roaring from Gran Canaria.
 
- Watching the scores on teletext in Dixon’s or Curry’s on a Saturday afternoon.

- teletext for midweek scores. By the 90s you could bring up a page and then his a button that let you watch TV. If there was a goal in a game on that page the page number flashes up on the screen - panic set in.

- not knowing the score of the opening games of 98/99 v hearts in Cyprus. Had to tune into the world service from the radio in the hotel room. Probably could have phoned home though.
 
Maxi1872 said:
As a younger supporter having never had this problem some of these stories are brilliant
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Same, count ourselves lucky to be honest. It’s amazing how fast technology has developed in the past 50 years. The next 50 years will even be more mind blowing.
 
In a tiny wee bar in Praia de Rocha listening to 5Live’s commentary of Vladikavkaz away and got talking to another Bear (only about 4 folk in the bar) and it transpired we had been stood beside the same set of public phones in Universal Studios in Orlando at the same time waiting on final whistle in the Famagusta away match to phone home for the score :)):))
 
1975 a ten year old dublinbluenose is lying in front of the tv on New Year’s Day watching the scores coming in on the teleprinter and the sitting room is full of people still celebrating new year up comes the score Rangers 3 - Celtic 0 bedlam in my sitting room as it turned out next doors Relatives from Glasgow up visiting were all bears
 
I remember at Ibrox in the mid 70's they had letters of the alphabet on the wall behind the goal at the Rangers end. They printed the fixtures that corresponded to the letters in the match program then put the half time scores next to each letter. So, providing you had a program, and there wasn't one of those wee blue disabled three wheeler car things that parked around the pitch in front of that bit of wall, you got the half score.
 
I had a long booked trek in Nepal in May 2003 which meant I was out of phone signal or any Internet access for 1 day before and 2 days after we beat Dunfermline 6-1 to win the league. On that last agonising day the porters could not believe I was running past them to get to the next village that I had been told had a satellite phone. Got there, phoned my brother for about 30 seconds, cost me about £50; best money i've ever spent I reckon. (ok, best i've ever spent on a phone call!!!!).
 
thechosenone said:
Always seemed your team results went by in a flash but the others dragged.

I also recall you only used to get the second half on the radio, with only fleeting updates on the first half. However I could be wrong (slightly off topic).
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You're spot on, they used to go live around the 40 minute mark.
In this day of blanket coverage it seems bizarre thinking back to it.
 
For years the yahoos wouldn’t allow live radio commentaries from the piggery as Desmond whyte believed it affected attendances.i can remember in my Saturday job when Alex Miller scored a last minute winner against them at the piggery the commentary team saying “their is drama at parkhead with a last minute winner (huge pause it seemed)for rangers”
 
Going home from games, wearing Rangers scarf, and getting asked what was the score?
When Rangers lost you thought the person asking was a poet who already knew the score so you didn't answer. If we won, proudly telling the score.
 
Remember when I was at primary school in the 70s, that I wouldn't know the result of a midweek game until the news on the radio the following morning
Also had the joys of phoning home for Spain at 5.45 to find out the Saturday results.
The Internet and satellite TV has certainly improved trips away during the football season. I never miss seeing a game now.
 
Remember back in the 60's, with the crowd streaming out after the game, the paper sellers punting early editions, with the cry."Erza Half Time Scores an Racin Results."
After you got off the subway in the City Centre, the cry from the sellers was "Times... Citizen.. Finaaaal."
 
I remember way back in the early 70’s calling Ibrox to get the score on more than one occasion. Would have to call the operator first to get the phone number
 
Couple of times spring to mind. 91' big Hateley's double at the piggery, landed in Oostende blootered from the ferry, carried on drinking, woke up rough as In my hotel next morning & went out to find a shop that sold the British papers, managed to get a copy of the News of The World & there was the result in all it's glory :) The other time I was in a Pool Hall in Rotterdam (Capelle aan de Ijssel really) the night of the 2nd leg against Parma But the Barmaid couldn't get the game on the box (Dutch TV showed a lot of Rangers games cos of Advocaat, Mols & co). but because we had drank so much she put on BBC Ceefax pages for us, it was torture, especially when we were 1 down! the drink didn't really kick in till the final whistle and we had qualified and I can't remember leaving :) But the barmaid & myself became, shall we say "rather acquainted" for a few months;)
 
Bigeye said:
Leeds v Rangers '92, could not find a thing here in Canada. So phoned home to the brother in laws. His wife comes on the phone and says hes still down the pub. So I asked her ' did you hear the score of the game'..............'Hmm, aye, I THINK they won' Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggg !!!!!
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I had a bizarre finding out of the Ibrox leg score. Was in Turkey on Honeymoon. Next day after game no English papers. Following day made my way hopefully into the shop. Wee Turkish guy behind the counter with a Gers red/white away top, steaming out his mind, shouting "we won".
 
Lester Piggott said:
Not quite waiting for a result but I distinctly remember listening to the league decider v Aberdeen in 1991 on the radio. It's unthinkable these to even consider a game of that magnitude not being shown live on TV!
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I listened to it on a little portable radio on Radio 5 in a Supermarket in Weston-super -Mare whilst shopping for a barbecue
 
Scottish Cup OF game in 1992 we phoned my grandpa from the big walk-in phone in Epcot to find out the score. I was proudly wearing my Rangers shirt, but didn’t see any scum
 
The ones that spring to mind for me: being with a beggar, aged 11 and hearing we beat them 5-1 (1988).
Calling my brother from Kenya to find out we got pumped 6-2. I refused to believe him.
Not Rangers, but gaffer related - I got on a plane with Milan 3 up against Liverpool. I Just presumed they won. Picked up an English paper in Greece a week later and was shocked to see Liverpool had clawed it back. So different now.
 
Blu_ultra said:
The ones that spring to mind for me: being with a beggar, aged 11 and hearing we beat them 5-1 (1988).
Calling my brother from Kenya to find out we got pumped 6-2. I refused to believe him.
Not Rangers, but gaffer related - I got on a plane with Milan 3 up against Liverpool. I Just presumed they won. Picked up an English paper in Greece a week later and was shocked to see Liverpool had clawed it back. So different now.
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Like a poster above, I had purchased a SW radio, expensive Sony one, just a few days before the game. I had just arrived in the U.S two months before this game. Spent the whole time tuned into the world service, walking from room to room turning the radio all directions trying to keep the signal. Heard enough to know what was going on. What a day that was.
 
The early days of internet on smart phones were tough too. I remember waiting ages for the scores to load on BBC on my Sony Ericsson:D

Cost a fortune too.
 
AirdrieBear said:
Younger fans will never have had this struggle, but what are your memories of finding out a score?

We never had teletext on our telly and it was obviously before the internet. The anticipation of waiting on a result on the tv news/radio was brutal at times!

I suppose my main memory of it could still be the case today as it was on a flight home from gran canaria. We were playing the tims and I was having palpatations waiting on the score only for the pilot to announce we won 3-1 que a big roar on the plane! :))

Pilot obviously a good guy!

It was the game albertz scored a rasper into the bottom corner and erik bo scored a double!
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Sounds like a good pilot

Best memory I have is the 2nd I think helicopter Sunday I was on my way back from a job in London me and another 4 guys in the minibus. 4 Tim's as well btw I'm old enough to remember Teletext which I used but that day it was good old WAP on my Sony Ericsson lol.

The van just happened to break down on the m6 so there I am standing at side of the road with the rest of them constantly refreshing the page which felt like forever remember seeing goal motherwell McDonald I'm thinking it's too late game must be finished now 1 each.

Another what felt like an eternity passed waiting for it to say full time and there it is again goal motherwell mcdonald I'm thinking must be a mistake then it said Celtic 1 Motherwell 2

I was in a state of shock did we just win the league I thought? nah can't be must be an error so immediately phoned ma pal and could hear what sounded like a party in the background I knew then we had done it was a house full of bears and they would only be those noises going on for 1 reason lol.

At that moment the 4 Tim's faces sunk like big jock they knew. ma rangers tap came off I then proceeded to run up and down the m6 spinning my top round shouting get it right fuckin up yous singing every song I knew had a few beeps from some confused looking m6 traffic must have thought I'd just escaped the loony ward lol

Honestly the best day of my life the tims couldn't be arsed sitting with me the driver and aa guy on way home so they fucked off to Blackpool in a taxi and I got a lift from the AA up to a good old sash bash even bought him his dinner for taking me straight to it and gave him some cargo to take home what a day one of best ever. In saying that I don't miss wap or Teletext happy with the good old streams these days haha
 
Lester Piggott said:
Not quite waiting for a result but I distinctly remember listening to the league decider v Aberdeen in 1991 on the radio. It's unthinkable these to even consider a game of that magnitude not being shown live on TV!
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Did the same mate and remember the interview afterwards with Walter and he was on cloud nine, could barely talk.

I remember the Red Star game on the radio as well but being down in England at the time the signal was really weak as it was Radio Scotland and I kept missing the goals so didnt have a clue as to the actual score till near the end.

Also remember in the 80s spending a fortune ringing this Rangers Hotline for scores, but when you rang they would waffle about rubbish for a few minutes first to keep you on the phone.
 
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