The latest trip down the “22 Days in May” is a second trip to the commentary box and the memories of regular KSN contributor Peter Guise who has been reminiscing with our chief football writer Mike Green…
We asked Peter about May 6th 2000! “What do I remember of the day?” Peter recalled, “It was hot and sunny, but nothing could prepare us for the incredible scenes that we would experience, and thankfully be a part of, by late afternoon.”
“I was commentating for TLR fm. Like you at BBC Radio Kent Greenie, the radio station had followed Deal Town, up, down, and around the country all the way to the twin towers of the greatest stadium in the world.”
“I’d been there several times previously and would be there again a few weeks later for Gillingham’s triumph over Wigan but this was special. This was real football, this was grassroots and this was a team I’d known for several seasons as the majority had played for Tommy Sampson at Herne Bay until the whole squad decamped to Deal.”
“This was personal in all manner of ways and I’d be describing it with my good pal Richard Cave, a broadcasting colleague for many years. We had cut our teeth at the same Hospital Radio station and now, together still, we would describe the action on independent local radio.”
“I remember you being in the ‘conservatory’ right behind us, because the BBC had ‘commentary boxes’ at Wembley. We were out in the open air but still under the roof at the back of the stand. We were cooler! The crowd atmosphere was terrific! It seemed that the whole of Kent football had come to cheer Deal on, and boy did they make some noise. A veritable cacophony!”
“Richard had picked me up just after breakfast from my country estate and we made our way to the big city full of nervous anticipation and excitement. Pete Liggins was with us and, by a real stroke of luck, he would be TLR’s man pitchside. How did he manage that?”
“Well, for some reason, he managed to get a photographer’s bib, so armed with a radio mic, he sat behind the goal with a bunch of photographers and fed into our broadcast from there, getting his cues with studio output down a mobile phone. Luckily, the battery didn’t run out.”
“When we got to the stadium, we parked pretty much in the shadow of those awesome twin towers, grabbed the broadcast kit out of the back of the car, a tiny Metro, and went in to set up. It was no problem, an absolute doddle compared to when I was on the Radio Kent team at the “new” Wembley for Tunbridge Wells visit thirteen years later, but that’s a story for another day!”
“Of course, as a local independent radio station, TLR was based on music output, meaning Richard and I would feed in commentary for bursts between music, although as the match progressed those bursts got longer and longer until we were live all the time.”
“We were commentating off air all the time of course which was being recorded back at the studio in case any significant action occurred whilst the latest ‘hit’ was being played out on air so that history could be relayed, albeit with a delay.”
“But by the time that historic volley from Roly Graham bulged the back of Chippenham’s net the airwaves were all ours. I recall us getting a little bit Brazilian at that point.”
“I remember turning round to celebrate with you Greenie in your glass box. The joy on your face behind the glass must have been a mirror image of my own”
“If memory serves, Steve Marshall went on a mazy run down the right, the Chippenham defence was wide open, Roly Graham slipped his marker, and as he had done so many times at both Winch’s Field and at the Charles Sports Ground, met Marshall’s cross with the crispest of volleys. GOAL. Or should that be GOOOOOOOALLLLLLaaaaa.”
“One thing that did sour it for me was listening to a local London radio station as we left the ground who said that ‘Roly’ sounded like a dog out of EastEnders! Cheap comment but, perhaps, that’s how they got listeners!”
“From the moment Deal went ahead to the end of the game my anxiety levels rose, there wasn’t long left but just enough for it all to go wrong. There were a plethora of fertive glances between Richard and myself.”
“Thankfully, it didn’t go wrong and Deal Town became the first Kent winner of the FA Vase. Herne Bay almost got there in 2012, they came within 20 minutes of a semi-final success. Tunbridge Wells did get there a year later in 2013 but lost, narrowly, so Deal Town are still the only Kent winners.”
“The Sports Show and coverage of the Final had been sponsored and I was proud to be sent a bottle of bubbly by the sponsor for what they had described as passionate and captivating commentary.”
“I went on to football and cricket commentary with the BBC, you and I have teamed up many a time. Richard could be heard on several local independent radio stations around the county until he switched careers and Pete Liggins is still broadcasting but in the north west of the country. What of TLR fm?”
“Well, that’s now part of a larger conglomerate, its’ localness gone, although thankfully, there is now a local community radio station in Thanet to replace it.”
“It was some day and although a few other radio commentary days have been wonderful, nothing will ever surpass that day. I’ve still got the FA Media Pack. It’s a shame that Wembley doesn’t still have its iconic twin towers.”
Next time we speak to the man who started the season with Deal Town and saved the Vase run almost before it had begun as we speak to Phil Miles as the “Twenty-two Days in May” continue…