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Time Slip At A Football Game

M C Sanders

Fresh Blood
Joined
Jun 3, 2019
Messages
3
I distinctly remember a supernatural incident that happened to me many years ago. It happened on 16th October 1982. In those days I worked as a stage manager for the Welsh theatre company, Theatr Clwyd. We were doing a production of She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith at the Grand Theatre in Swansea.

On that day, Swansea City Football Club were playing Everton Football Club at Swansea’s old ground, Vetch Field, and, being an Evertonian, I explored the possibility of going to see the game. The match kicked off at 3 o’clock but we had a matinee performance at 4.30. So, I arranged with the other stage managers that they would cover for me to set up the show providing I was back for the performance itself.

This was great, as it meant I could see the whole of the first half of the game and about 15 minutes of the second half.

I went to the game. Considering it had been raining hard all day, both teams played some excellent football with Everton having the hedge and going in at half time 1-0 up.

The second half started and after about 10 minutes of play I saw Everton’s forward, David Johnson, ride a tackle from a Swansea full back and cross the ball into the Swansea goal area to Kevin Richardson, another Everton forward, who shot the ball into the bottom corner of the Swansea net.

The Swansea crowd were stony silent; I cheered. Two - nil to Everton!

As soon as the goal had been scored, I raced from the ground to get a taxi back to the Grand Theatre.

When I got to the theatre, the production crew had the stage set up for Act 1 and the cast were readying for their performances. In the stage manager’s office, the radio was tuned to a local radio station, who were broadcasting the match live.

The stage crew asked me what I thought of the game.

I replied, it was great, especially as I just managed to see Everton’s second goal.

The wardrobe assistant looked at me askance and she said, ‘No, it’s 1-0, we have been listening to the game on the radio.’

I insisted, the score was 2-0 and I described how I saw Kevin Richardson score.

Then, as we listened to the radio, the commentator described David Johnson, the Everton forward, being tackled by Jeremy Charles, a Swansea defender, but still being able to cross the ball into the Swansea goal area to Kevin Richardson, who fired the ball into the bottom corner of the Swansea net to make the score 2-0 to Everton.

There was a silence in the room and then someone started singing the theme tune to The Outer Limits and we all burst into laughter.

I had seen and described a goal scored 15 minutes before it had actually happened!

Now, decades later, I still vividly remember that goal in my mind’s eye. Over the years, I have seen many great goals in many great games but I have only vague memories of them. However, that particular goal, the second goal in Everton’s 3-0 defeat of Swansea City in an ordinary league game on a chilly, rainy day in Swansea, I still vividly remember even though I could not possibly have been at the game when the goal was actually scored.

At the time, I did not feel spooky or scare in any way, in fact, if the match had not been on the local radio when I got back to the theatre, I would never had known I had experienced the supernatural. Yet, I shall remember that goal vividly in my mind’s eye for the rest of my life.

Michael Sanders.
 
I had a dream once that Millwall made it into the top flight with some famous faces like Teddy Sheringhan, Tony Cascarino and Razor Ruddock playing, AND they were actually top of the table at Xmas. Then I woke up!
 
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Any chance that the 'live' match was being transmitted with a delay?

I know live programmes don't always go out as live as we think, especially if the powers that be think there might be disruption or other rudeness that they want to edit out...
 
My thoughts too. I don't know how usual/unusal it is to delay transmission of live sporting events on radio but I know that most Live TV events are delayed by about 30 seconds. Such a long delay may have been planned to fit in with other radio programming, the news etc.
 
In the early days of radio it wss common practice for a studio announcer to relay (or even fabricate) the play-by-play monologue based on reports coming in from the field (e.g., via phone or even telegraph).

Ronald Reagan's initial broadcasting reputation originated with his talent for maintaining a realistic second-hand account of a game, even when the incoming field reports line went dead:

https://www.thoughtco.com/ronald-reagans-radio-career-2843361

Such second-hand translations and delays have been done for various reasons. The best known example is the 8 to 10 second tape delay employed to screen content for profanity, which has become standard practice.

In this particular case, there's an obvious clue as to why it may have been done on at least a one-shot special basis - the substantial rain. It may well be that the local radio station's usual equipment or procedures couldn't be employed due to the weather, and the broadcast heard 15 minutes after the fact was created in the studio based on real-time reports from the playing field (e.g., via phone).
 
the broadcast heard 15 minutes after the fact was created in the studio based on real-time reports from the playing field (e.g., via phone).
But wouldn't most listeners be aware of the usual kick-off time? I'm no football fan, but even I know that the traditional time used to be 3pm on Saturday. I can't imagine a fifteen-minute delay would go unremarked-upon.
 
This is Wales remember. Certain parts of Wales are a lot more than 15minutes behind. Try 30 years!


:rcard:
 
I distinctly remember a supernatural incident that happened to me many years ago. It happened on 16th October 1982. In those days I worked as a stage manager for the Welsh theatre company, Theatr Clwyd. We were doing a production of She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith at the Grand Theatre in Swansea.

On that day, Swansea City Football Club were playing Everton Football Club at Swansea’s old ground, Vetch Field, and, being an Evertonian, I explored the possibility of going to see the game. The match kicked off at 3 o’clock but we had a matinee performance at 4.30. So, I arranged with the other stage managers that they would cover for me to set up the show providing I was back for the performance itself.

This was great, as it meant I could see the whole of the first half of the game and about 15 minutes of the second half.

I went to the game. Considering it had been raining hard all day, both teams played some excellent football with Everton having the hedge and going in at half time 1-0 up.

The second half started and after about 10 minutes of play I saw Everton’s forward, David Johnson, ride a tackle from a Swansea full back and cross the ball into the Swansea goal area to Kevin Richardson, another Everton forward, who shot the ball into the bottom corner of the Swansea net.

The Swansea crowd were stony silent; I cheered. Two - nil to Everton!

As soon as the goal had been scored, I raced from the ground to get a taxi back to the Grand Theatre.

When I got to the theatre, the production crew had the stage set up for Act 1 and the cast were readying for their performances. In the stage manager’s office, the radio was tuned to a local radio station, who were broadcasting the match live.

The stage crew asked me what I thought of the game.

I replied, it was great, especially as I just managed to see Everton’s second goal.

The wardrobe assistant looked at me askance and she said, ‘No, it’s 1-0, we have been listening to the game on the radio.’

I insisted, the score was 2-0 and I described how I saw Kevin Richardson score.

Then, as we listened to the radio, the commentator described David Johnson, the Everton forward, being tackled by Jeremy Charles, a Swansea defender, but still being able to cross the ball into the Swansea goal area to Kevin Richardson, who fired the ball into the bottom corner of the Swansea net to make the score 2-0 to Everton.

There was a silence in the room and then someone started singing the theme tune to The Outer Limits and we all burst into laughter.

I had seen and described a goal scored 15 minutes before it had actually happened!

Now, decades later, I still vividly remember that goal in my mind’s eye. Over the years, I have seen many great goals in many great games but I have only vague memories of them. However, that particular goal, the second goal in Everton’s 3-0 defeat of Swansea City in an ordinary league game on a chilly, rainy day in Swansea, I still vividly remember even though I could not possibly have been at the game when the goal was actually scored.

At the time, I did not feel spooky or scare in any way, in fact, if the match had not been on the local radio when I got back to the theatre, I would never had known I had experienced the supernatural. Yet, I shall remember that goal vividly in my mind’s eye for the rest of my life.

Michael Sanders.


How fascinating, and I see you are new so welcome to the forum :welc:

It brings to mind something I read once about someone hearing the result of I believe it was Torvill and Dean's big skating thing (Bolero?) back in the 80s, before it actually took place. I've had a jolly good search about on t'internet but I'm darned if I can find anything about it.

Anyone know what I'm on about?

Along the lines of this person heard that T & D had won, and that it was "unprecedented" or other such specific terminology, but it was actually only a semi-final, then a few days later that they actually won the final and the reporters used the same specific phrasing.
 
As a keen Everton supporter and general Forteana buff - especially timeslips - this caught my eye straightaway.

I've checked the match report from that Saturday evening Liverpool Echo 'pink' (which had that day's match report) and Everton scored their second goal on 64 minutes as described, David Johnson took the ball past Jeremy Charles and crossed for Kevin Richardson to score. Given the game kicked-off at 3 pm and there was 10 minutes for half-time (not 15 then) the second half started between 3-55 and 4 pm. Nineteen minutes further play would put the goal between 4-15 and 4-20 - this fits in perfectly with Michael's recollection of watching the first 15 minutes of the second half to return by 4.30.

Further to the subsequent replies I have some experience of local radio and they would not delay a live commentary, if they were 15 minutes 'late' starting they would join the game at that point i.e. after 15 minutes in. They would not begin the commentary at 3 pm and transmit it on a 15 minute delay - that would just cause confusion, especially as they would probably be giving other match scores and sports news during the game. They would also have to point out regularly during commentary it was 'not live' which is just not sustainable.

[U]Schrodinger's Zebra[/U] - the incident you are talking about involved the actor Don Henderson, and was in Jenny Randles' 'Time Slips' book. Apparently he was in the car after filming and he heard that Torvill and Dean had achieved the perfect nine '6s' on the radio. The commentator said it was 'unprecedented in Olympic skating'. He told his wife - the actress Shirley Stelfox - when he got in (including the 'unprecedented' bit) but, when they watched the highlights later, although T&D scored heavily it was nowhere near the nine '6s', which surprised him. That was the qualifiers though, it was only the next night when they saw the final where T&D recorded their famous score, accompanied by commentator saying the 'unprecedented in Olympic skating' statement, that Henderson realised he'd has some sort of precognition. Apparently he was plagued by this sort of thing throughout his life.

In this case Michael appears to have gone back in time on face value, leaving the game at 4.15 getting back to the theatre for 4.30 only for it to be around, say, 4.10. Can he elaborate - did the game finish on the radio at 4-45 ish theatre time? That would give us a big clue?
 
[U]Schrodinger's Zebra[/U] - the incident you are talking about involved the actor Don Henderson, and was in Jenny Randles' 'Time Slips' book. Apparently he was in the car after filming and he heard that Torvill and Dean had achieved the perfect nine '6s' on the radio. The commentator said it was 'unprecedented in Olympic skating'. He told his wife - the actress Shirley Stelfox - when he got in (including the 'unprecedented' bit) but, when they watched the highlights later, although T&D scored heavily it was nowhere near the nine '6s', which surprised him. That was the qualifiers though, it was only the next night when they saw the final where T&D recorded their famous score, accompanied by commentator saying the 'unprecedented in Olympic skating' statement, that Henderson realised he'd has some sort of precognition. Apparently he was plagued by this sort of thing throughout his life.

Ah thanks for clarifying... and a bit of a brain fog moment for me cos I own that very book (it's one of my favourites). As I was writing the post I actually briefly pondered whether it might be in that book but then dismissed the thought without checking further. :rolleyes:


Nice analysis on the football match, by the way.
 
For what it's worth.......A good friend of mine used to work (until very recently) for one of the big betting companies. He told me about how most sporting events are transmitted with some delay to prevent people gaining an edge over the bookies. He said that pretty much all the big companies send agents to all sporting events, armed with a PDA or other similar mobile device, with which to transmit the score or results back to the head office (which used to be done by mobile phone, and before that by just using a regular phone or phone box!). Incorparating a delay into the 'live' transmission prevents your average joe, watching at home or in a betting shop, from quickly bunging a bet on before the odds change if a certain outcome seems inevitable. My friend himself used to go to some horse racing events and darts tournaments to do just that job, however it was frowned upon by the organisers so it was all done a bit 'cloak and dagger'.
 
At the time, I did not feel spooky or scare in any way, in fact, if the match had not been on the local radio when I got back to the theatre, I would never had known I had experienced the supernatural. Yet, I shall remember that goal vividly in my mind’s eye for the rest of my life.

Michael Sanders.

Hi Michael,

Whether time delay or time slip that's a great account, what an interesting thing to have happened!!

Time slips are fascinating for the questions they raise about how we perceive reality and indeed what is reality. I've no opinion either way but there is something about time and how we experience it that is yet to be properly understood. It's all fascinating stuff.

You write well so I hope you have more to tell us! :)

Sollywos x
 
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