Aston Villa: Memory Lane | Page 110 | Vital Football

Aston Villa: Memory Lane

Fifteen years ago since the last edition of the Sports Argus. Times move on and newspapers as such are now pretty much done with, but it is still sad that we don't have 'the pink' any more.
As a kid I would always walk to the top of the steet to the newsagents to wait for the delivery van to turn up at around 6 o'clock. There would always a group of men standing around talking about the respective games that had been played that day at 3 o'clock - remember that!! There would be a group of us kids standing around at the kerbside waiting for the van to arrive and toss the bundle of papers tied up in string onto the footpath. Then there was a scramble to grab the bundle and take it into the shop. Often the kid who got to do that got a free copy - the outside one that was marked with the address and ripped when it was thrown out. This meant sixpence to spend on sweets to eat on the way back home.
They always sold out when Villa won as most people in Erdington were Villa fans - you could get a copy on Sunday morning if we had lost.
I still have some old copies from memorable matches such as Third Division title and cup victories. Happy days.
Source:
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/sports-argus-the-pink-gone-11325757
 
Claret & Blue Blood said:
Fifteen years ago since the last edition of the Sports Argus. Times move on and newspapers as such are now pretty much done with, but it is still sad that we don't have 'the pink' any more.
As a kid I would always walk to the top of the steet to the newsagents to wait for the delivery van to turn up at around 6 o'clock. There would always a group of men standing around talking about the respective games that had been played that day at 3 o'clock - remember that!! There would be a group of us kids standing around at the kerbside waiting for the van to arrive and toss the bundle of papers tied up in string onto the footpath. Then there was a scramble to grab the bundle and take it into the shop. Often the kid who got to do that got a free copy - the outside one that was marked with the address and ripped when it was thrown out. This meant sixpence to spend on sweets to eat on the way back home.
They always sold out when Villa won as most people in Erdington were Villa fans - you could get a copy on Sunday morning if we had lost.
I still have some old copies from memorable matches such as Third Division title and cup victories. Happy days.
Source:
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/sports-argus-the-pink-gone-11325757
Click to expand...
Used to love the Argus.

When I was a kid, if we couldn't get to the games, I would listen to the goals coming in on BRMB (George Gavin) throughout the afternoon and then head to the corner shop around 6-6.30pm to pick up the Argus and read the match reports.

Happy days.
 
JuanPabloAngel said:
Used to love the Argus.

When I was a kid, if we couldn't get to the games, I would listen to the goals coming in on BRMB (George Gavin) throughout the afternoon and then head to the corner shop around 6-6.30pm to pick up the Argus and read the match reports.

Happy days.
Click to expand...
If there were late goals, sometimes the printed scores were wrong and the correct score was in a small box in the bottom corner of the back page called "Late news" or something like that. The reason was that the journalists often left early to get the reports in so that they could set the type and print the papers for circulation at 6:00.
 
Claret & Blue Blood said:
Fifteen years ago since the last edition of the Sports Argus. Times move on and newspapers as such are now pretty much done with, but it is still sad that we don't have 'the pink' any more.
As a kid I would always walk to the top of the steet to the newsagents to wait for the delivery van to turn up at around 6 o'clock. There would always a group of men standing around talking about the respective games that had been played that day at 3 o'clock - remember that!! There would be a group of us kids standing around at the kerbside waiting for the van to arrive and toss the bundle of papers tied up in string onto the footpath. Then there was a scramble to grab the bundle and take it into the shop. Often the kid who got to do that got a free copy - the outside one that was marked with the address and ripped when it was thrown out. This meant sixpence to spend on sweets to eat on the way back home.
They always sold out when Villa won as most people in Erdington were Villa fans - you could get a copy on Sunday morning if we had lost.
I still have some old copies from memorable matches such as Third Division title and cup victories. Happy days.
Source:
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/sports-argus-the-pink-gone-11325757
Click to expand...

Loved it all. Getting home from the match to go and queue up at the newsagents waiting for the van to pull up.

Also had brilliant coverage of school and youth team football as well as higher level non league stuff , and likewise in the summer with cricket.

It's a crime really that it was closed down.
 
Claret & Blue Blood said:
Fifteen years ago since the last edition of the Sports Argus. Times move on and newspapers as such are now pretty much done with, but it is still sad that we don't have 'the pink' any more.
As a kid I would always walk to the top of the steet to the newsagents to wait for the delivery van to turn up at around 6 o'clock. There would always a group of men standing around talking about the respective games that had been played that day at 3 o'clock - remember that!! There would be a group of us kids standing around at the kerbside waiting for the van to arrive and toss the bundle of papers tied up in string onto the footpath. Then there was a scramble to grab the bundle and take it into the shop. Often the kid who got to do that got a free copy - the outside one that was marked with the address and ripped when it was thrown out. This meant sixpence to spend on sweets to eat on the way back home.
They always sold out when Villa won as most people in Erdington were Villa fans - you could get a copy on Sunday morning if we had lost.
I still have some old copies from memorable matches such as Third Division title and cup victories. Happy days.
Source:
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/sports-argus-the-pink-gone-11325757
Click to expand...

After moving to Bournemouth to live I missed the Argus so my then-girlfriend (now wife!) used to buy me a yearly subscription that was sent down by post to the south coast.

Of course, by then I knew all the results but I still loved to read the match reports, league tables, and columns inside.

As a young nipper, my dad used to ask me to go to the newsagent near the Sacred Heart church, Aston to pick up the Evening Mail and I used to feel grown up pretending to read it walking back!

What a shame that the Argus was stopped and that the Mail has so completely lost it's way you actually wonder how much longer it can carry on?
 
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You could even get the Sunday Mercury in Barmouth at 8 o'clock on a Sunday morning a few years ago.

I don't think I have read that paper for 10 years , it used to be unmissable reading as well.
 
sirdennis said:
Loved it all. Getting home from the match to go and queue up at the newsagents waiting for the van to pull up.

Also had brilliant coverage of school and youth team football as well as higher level non league stuff , and likewise in the summer with cricket.

It's a crime really that it was closed down.
Click to expand...
And it covered all the other sports such as darts, rugby, bowls and many others. My mate and I often went fishing on Sundays and there was always a list of the Birmingham Anglers Association waters that were booked on the Sunday for contests and we gould then decide where we could go fishing. The Argus also printed contest results from the previous week, so we knew where was doing OK, what was being caught and the best baits.
The Argus was a true sporting oracle.
 
JuanPabloAngel said:
Used to love the Argus.

When I was a kid, if we couldn't get to the games, I would listen to the goals coming in on BRMB (George Gavin) throughout the afternoon and then head to the corner shop around 6-6.30pm to pick up the Argus and read the match reports.

Happy days.
Click to expand...

Used to enjoy listening to George Gavin, the noses hated him. Stopped listening as soon as Tom Ross took over
 
sirdennis said:
You could even get the Sunday Mercury in Barmouth at 8 o'clock on a Sunday morning a few years ago.

I don't think I have read that paper for 10 years , it used to be unmissable reading as well.
Click to expand...

Yes, If you looked hard enough you could buy the Sunday Mercury in Bournemouth town centre as lots of Brummies used to come down on holiday.

I used to see loads of Villa shirts proudly walking around the town and down the sea-front and I could honestly say I could count on one hand the nose shirts.

I always enjoyed giving a cheery "Up the Villa" as they passed by and you could see it used to bring a big smile and spring in their step:utv:
 
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