United’s Longest and Most Loyal “Fan”

January 1965

UNITED’S LONGEST AND MOST LOYAL “FAN”

“For 50 years I’ve been a Denaby United supporter, and I’ve never missed a match except through illness” – that’s the proud claim of former Conisbrough and Denaby glassworker, 71-years-old Mr. Walter Glover. And despite the lean time that the Midland League club has been having recently, Mr. Glover, unlike many people, has had no second thoughts about his loyalty./span>“

Sure enough, prompt at nine o’clock on the other Saturday morning, Mr. Glover, formerly of Annerley Street, Denaby, and Glassworks Row, Conisbrough, now living at Park Villa, Thrybergh, was at the club’s Tickhill Square ground waiting for the coach to make the 120-mile journey to Leamington.

It was on the return journey that night, after seeing “his” club lose 5-0 to Lockheed Leamington, that Mr. Glover, formerly a worker at Dale Brown’s Swinton glassworks, told me: “There’s no team like Denaby United. Rotherham is only four miles from my home, and it would be easy just to get on a bus and go to see Football League matches, but I still come to Tickhill Square.

“For 50 years I’ve been a Denaby supporter – since about the time they joined the Midland League, I think – and I’ve never missed a match except through illness” he added.

GREATEST GAME

Asked what he considered to be the greatest moments in Denaby United’s past, Mr. Glover recalled, “It was a day very like today – a pitch thick with mud – that Denaby played Carlisle in the F.A. Cup. They should have won then, but like today they couldn’t seem to pull their feet out of the mud. One of the best Denaby teams I remember though was the one that came second in the league to Sheffield Wednesday – they were only beaten on goal average.

“Football has changed since then,” Mr. Glover declared. “It doesn’t seem as robust nowadays. In days gone by it seemed more entertaining, but I still enjoy it.”

Turning to the present, Mr. Glover isn’t one to be disheartened by the recent form of the Tickhill Square team. “Things just aren’t going our way at the moment,” he said with a grin