Sunday, February 20, 2011

Can I make a six year old a member of the 92 Club?

My latest hare-brained idea is that I'm going to help make Sam, my-six-year-old lad, to become the youngest ever member of the 92 Club. If you don't know what the 92 Club is (shame on you), it's an exclusive group of football supporters who have visited every league ground in the country.

To be fair, I don't know who the youngest member is currently so I'm making a bit of a presumption, but if we get our skates on over the next few years I'm sure we'd have a good claim to the title.

He's off the mark already, having been to four grounds: Tranmere (obviously), Anfield, Rochdale and Huddersfield Town. I reckon we'll sneak a few more in before the end of the season - that is, so long as Mrs H doesn't kick off too much about it. I don't think she's that supportive of this latest 'project' of mine.

There was some debate about whether we should head straight for grounds that were new to both of us - or whether we should visit all the ones I've been to already, in order to tick a few easy hits off his list.

The thing is though, having reviewed the conditions of 92 Club membership, it turns out I've not actually been to that many places that meet the club's criteria. Here are a few rules that might make you recalculate your own list too:

  • If a club gets relegated from the league, they no longer count towards the 92 (that's Wrexham and Chester gone for me).
  • If a club gets relegated from the league and then makes a return, you have to visit the ground again. All earlier pre-relegation trips are null and void (see Hereford).
  • Trips to old stadiums don't count if a club moves ground (Sunderland, Doncaster and Stoke fall into that category for me).

All of which has substantially reduced the total number of grounds I've visited that would count for 92 Club membership to a lowly 21. The way Stockport County are playing means that's likely to down to 20 by the summer too.

2 comments:

Jon said...

At 27 mate, and played at an additional 4 but I don't think that counts. You have to watch a match don't you?

polglish said...

Supporting Grimsby Town since 1976 has had a few ups and downs, I'm actually planning next season on going to as many Blue Square and other non league grounds, that's a bit obsessive, trip to Pontefract, anyone?