Today we welcome today’s Matchday Sponsor Rod Benham.
On the occasion of his retirement, Rod Benham has been gifted by his colleagues from Dawson Group, the Matchday sponsorship of today’s game.
On the occasion of his retirement, Rod Benham has been gifted by his colleagues from Dawson Group, the Matchday sponsorship of today’s game.
A statement from Rob:
“Born in Barnet Maternity Hospital, my Mother came from Barnet and was a pupil at Underhill School, I was brought up in Potters Bar and starting taking the 134 Bus from Potters Bar Station to Underhill in 1970 with my first away trip on the coach, then run by the late Dave Stokes, to Margate late August 1971. Although I left the area in 1981, where apart from 2 years in the 1990’s living in Worcester I’ve lived in Milton Keynes or Northamptonshire and continued to follow the Bees working near Mansfield, just off J28 of the M1, from mid 1998 until my retirement last Christmas. Tuesday night games at The Hive were a challenge.
Being a Barnet fan out of area often brings strange reactions but my usual counter argument is that it’s never boring as ‘we don’t do mid-table mediocrity’. Indeed from the 1970-71 season to the end of this season our league record, as below, has us either fighting for the title or in a relegation battle 50% of the time.
1st – 4th 12 times, including 4 championships, the 5th is hopefully imminent, 3 second finishes in 4 years in the Conference & promotion from Division 2 in 1992-93
5th – 10th 14 times which including EFL 3 play-off’s
11th – 16th 14 times
17th – 24th 15 times which includes the 3 final day survivals before our second EFL relegation in 2013 and from 17th as the Conference started with 20 teams and we finished 17th in 1979-80 & 1980-81 then 18th in 1981-82 when expanded to 22 clubs.
In respect of remembering games, I’ll have forgotten far more than I remember but Wednesday 20th April 1977 was my 19th birthday, and that evening I was at Bognor Regis Town seeing Barnet clinch the Southern League Division One South title with a 4-0 win and of course who will forget 4th May 1991 at Fisher Athletic where full-time was the last time I climbed over the barriers to enter a playing surface. Another would be at the Pirelli Stadium on 5th May 2012 against Burton, another last day escape where we were down at half-time, but a Mark Hughes strike gave us a 2-1 win and safety. Conversely, I also recall driving back from a 3-0 loss at Macclesfield on a Sunday in March 2001, without our best player Darren Currie, convinced that although mid-table with 11 more games to go that we’d be relegated.
Cup successes are easier to recall with the 6-1 win over Newport County with Ricky’s hat-trick in 1970 an early memory, going to Wembley for the FA Trophy Final in 1972, the 1-0 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane in January 2019 but I have special memories of two 0-0 draws on the basis of ‘if only’ in FA cup 3rd round matches, the first being against QPR at Loftus Road in January 1973 when Paddy hit the bar late in the game and secondly in January 1994 at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, a great result after the events of the previous close season, and how close Kelly Haag was to Tony Lynch’s square ball across the 6 yard box late on in the game.
On other memories, it is an eclectic bunch ranging from the Bernie Lewis headbutt in September 1972 to Neville Watson ‘losing it’ in front of the West Bank against Barry Town in February 1976, the opening game of the first season of the Alliance Premier League in 1979-80 which had two substitutes for the first time yet we finished our game at Nuneaton losing 2-1 and with only 10 ten due to an injury after Fry had used the two substitutes. To be fair to Barry, Gary French had arrived after kick-off yet it summed the early Fry years perfectly. Another was an evening in September 1973 when 8-0 up against Trowbridge Town, we won 10-0, and the West Bank breaking out with only chant they knew at the time of ‘Fry Out, Fry Out’. Finally another evening game and the ‘Noel Ashford masks’ worn when we beat Wycombe 7-0 at Loakes Park in September 1987.
Having worked for so long near Mansfield, one of my guests is a Mansfield Town season ticket holder, they do bring memories for varied reasons: Our first ever Football League win at Field Mill 2-1 in August 1991, a 1-1 draw on Boxing Day 1996 at Underhill where my youngest son Simon was the Match Day Mascot, a Friday night 5-0 defeat at Field Mill in November 1998 where Lee Harrison was by far our best player, it could have been so much worse, and finally a 4-0 defeat at Field Mill the Saturday before the trip to Old Trafford. Yes, Against Man U the lads performed brilliantly, especially after the ridiculous early red card, but the previous Saturday, presumably due to the upcoming tie, they put in little effort and that is the minimum any supporter expects, which is why we love Steady and why Paul Wilson will always be a Barnet legend.
After 55 seasons of watching Barnet I’d summarise that “it’s a great little club and never boring for too long”.
We also would like to to welcome our Co-Matchday Sponsor Brennan Pearson.
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