Friday, September 02, 2016

BRIGG PROVES A DRAW FOR FOOTBALL FANS


Now Grimsby Town are back in the Football League and Hull City have returned to the Premiership, we wonder whether Brigg town centre is likely to see scenes like this during the current season.
We took these pictures in early October 2013 when an estimated 150 Aston Villa fans stopped off in Brigg town centre on a Saturday morning en route to watch the Premiership  game at Hull City - some of them staying for several hours.
They were in good spirits, visiting a number of Brigg pubs, including the Woolpack, Black Bull and White Hart, and also boosting trade in fast food outlets.
A number of coaches parked up on the waste ground close to Riverside Surgery and we saw one picking up fans later at the bus stop near the White Horse.
Brigg Blog  received no reports of trouble. Indeed, some of the Villa fans were kind enough to say how much they liked Brigg and how they'd been made to feel welcome. They were more than happy to have their pictures taken and to sing the praises of their team, particularly in the Market Place. 
Talking to a keen Leeds United follower in a Brigg pub last weekend reminded us of when Leeds had an away game at Grimsby Town one August Saturday during the early 1980s.
Scores of their fans stopped off in Brigg, many  deciding to drink in the Black Bull.
Again there was no trouble, but many glasses were not returned to the bar by those drinking outside in the sun, causing a shortage that evening.
We'll have to go through the Grimsby Town and Hull City fixture lists some time and try to work out whether followers of their opponents might call in Brigg.
Aston Villa fans are unlikely to be returning -  their team got relegated from the top flight!




On Saturday, January 15, 2011 we reported that half-a-dozen manned police vehicles - cars, dog vans and motorycycles - were in Cary Lane, Brigg, at lunch-time, keeping a watching brief on Barnsley football fans en route to Hull City for a  Yorkshire derby (pictured below).
The supporters we saw heading back to the line of coaches outside Wilkinson's store were good humoured. Many were eating fish and chips and other footstuffs purchased in Brigg.


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