The craziest thing you,ve done to follow Reading?

[S09Royal]

It's so intresting reading everything on this thread

I haven't really done anything crazy but i do remember (faintly ) running onto the pitch against Derby in April 2006, when we were crowned champions! While on the pitch someone ran upto me and kissed me on the cheek
I also remember following the bus on the parade for an hour...no stalker...honest
This probably has nothing to do with the matter, but in 2005 when we played QPR away, think it was early November? some girl in my year at school came upto me and asked me if i supported Reading (i was wearing a reading scarf...so it was pretty obvious!) i said yes, (this was after the 2-1 win away at QPR and she supports QPR...) she said, 'all of your players are ugly' and i was like, 'no they're not...' then she went onto say they're all ginger and ugly and i was like, pfff. whatever. She was obviously annoyed we'd beaten them if only we would've won on Saturday...then i could've seen her face at work the next day

So your now stalking her at work!!

Noooo
We have the same job, as if i have to explain myself to you

[brendywendy]

after getting stuck in dublin over new year due to bad weather,
& after 2 extra days of drinking and no sleep we travelled back after being put up in a train at the ferry port for a night, ferried back in storm conditions, drove down the M4 like madmen to make the boro cup game at elm park, think we lost 1-0

[BarryWhiteRFC]

Firstly, there are some brilliant stories on here, nice to know there are plenty of people who will do anything to see the club I (and they obviously do) love so much!

My craziest attempt to see Reading ended up in me not seeing the match, and this was our pre season friendly at Brighton 2 seasons ago. Me and my frined went on a night out on Friday drinking the night away in Lancaster. It got to about 5am and we were staggering home and my mate said, I want to go somewhere random, where can we go. I thought it would be fun to get a train all the way down to Brighton to watch Reading play in this pre-season friendly. My friend is an Arsenal fan by the way. So we wnet to the train station, jumped on the next train to London. We got to London for about 9am so had loads of time to get to Brighton so we decided to try and find the emerites on the underground. Now my friend is not the biggest Arsenal fan and didn't know where their ground was and I couldn't care where the ground was. In the end we gave up on our search for Arsenals ground and headed off to Brighton.

When we got to Brighton, about 1pm I think, we had finally sobered up and decided it would be a good idea to check we can get back after we had watched the match. Upon checking, we found out it was impossible for us to get back the same day if we got a train home any later than 4pm. So we had a wonder around for an hour, then just jumped on a train and headed home, tail firmley imbetween legs. Got home about 8pm after spending £86 on a train ticket and over £30 on refreshments to see the sights of Brighton for one whole hour.

Needless to say, me and my friend in question have never been let out on the ale again by ourselves!

Also, one story which involved actually seeing the game, was a guy I met in the pub one year who was an Ipswich fan, we ended up swapping email addresses and as he was at uni in the area at the time offered me a lift to Ipswich for the first game of the season 5(?) years ago. I accepted, trouble was he couldn't give me a lift back, so he arranged for some Northern friends to drive me back to Manchester to get a train. Was really nice of the guy. From Manchester I got a train to Preston but missed the last train to Lancaster so had to pay £40 for a taxi from Preston to Lancaster. I set off at 5am, got home at 3am. And we were robbed by a last minute penalty.

[Negative_Jeff]

Speaking of Brighton I travelled down on the train just before Christmas in 2001 for an evening game. Freezing cold it turned out,absolutly tatus, so I went in to a second hand shop to barter for a coat for 15 quid to wear in the ground. Back to the pub only to find the match called off due to frost!

[rfcjoe]

Firstly, there are some brilliant stories on here, nice to know there are plenty of people who will do anything to see the club I (and they obviously do) love so much!

My craziest attempt to see Reading ended up in me not seeing the match, and this was our pre season friendly at Brighton 2 seasons ago. Me and my frined went on a night out on Friday drinking the night away in Lancaster. It got to about 5am and we were staggering home and my mate said, I want to go somewhere random, where can we go. I thought it would be fun to get a train all the way down to Brighton to watch Reading play in this pre-season friendly. My friend is an Arsenal fan by the way. So we wnet to the train station, jumped on the next train to London. We got to London for about 9am so had loads of time to get to Brighton so we decided to try and find the emerites on the underground. Now my friend is not the biggest Arsenal fan and didn't know where their ground was and I couldn't care where the ground was. In the end we gave up on our search for Arsenals ground and headed off to Brighton.

When we got to Brighton, about 1pm I think, we had finally sobered up and decided it would be a good idea to check we can get back after we had watched the match. Upon checking, we found out it was impossible for us to get back the same day if we got a train home any later than 4pm. So we had a wonder around for an hour, then just jumped on a train and headed home, tail firmley imbetween legs. Got home about 8pm after spending £86 on a train ticket and over £30 on refreshments to see the sights of Brighton for one whole hour.

Needless to say, me and my friend in question have never been let out on the ale again by ourselves!

Also, one story which involved actually seeing the game, was a guy I met in the pub one year who was an Ipswich fan, we ended up swapping email addresses and as he was at uni in the area at the time offered me a lift to Ipswich for the first game of the season 5(?) years ago. I accepted, trouble was he couldn't give me a lift back, so he arranged for some Northern friends to drive me back to Manchester to get a train. Was really nice of the guy. From Manchester I got a train to Preston but missed the last train to Lancaster so had to pay £40 for a taxi from Preston to Lancaster. I set off at 5am, got home at 3am. And we were robbed by a last minute penalty.

That was just a day out - nowt to do with Reading.

[Hugo Boss]

Some cracking stories here - Fair play.

Done nothing as bad as that but before Liverpool away two season ago I was sat at home with a Dominos ready for an early night. Got a call from a mate around 7pm saying he had a minibus arranged to go to a club up in London somewhere. Agreed to go then proceeded to get absolutely c*nted meaning that my next memory was coming to as the minibus pulled into Reading at 6.45am on the Saturday, having agreed to meet the lads at 'Ding station at around 7am. Went straight their without a shower, change of clothes nor sleep. Had kind of a reverse p*ssed experience where I got more sober as the day went on.

Also, whilst not really showing any dedication to the Club as such, when we played Crewe away 5 years ago myself, Bob the Builder, Aggro, Finch and a few others met up in the Guineas at 4.30am as they were open early for the Rugby World Cup which was on. Got obliterated, went up to Crewe, came back to 'Ding and ended up getting home around 3am the following day. Felt f*cking sh*te the next day mind.

Traveled on a bus to the ground from the Station.
It was raining outside and it was packed with wet people inside the Bus.
Managed to lose 24 pence.

I've got a tattoo of David Leworthy on my bell-end

[BarryWhiteRFC]

That was just a day out - nowt to do with Reading.

Other than the fact the only reason we were heading to Brighton was to watch Reading.

[rfcjoe]

But you left to gwt your train on time. A true fan would of missed the train to see the game.




I went to that game btw.

[Hampshire Royal]

I`de be interested to hear of anyone that can beat this shear lunacy in your love for our favourite footy team,
it happened many years ago, probably late 70,s , myself and 3 friends were having a jar or 8 in the local watering holes around
Reading when the conversation got onto Readings away game at Stockport the following day..the drink was talking at this time as it was about 10pm, anyway one of us mentioned that wouldn`t it be a good idea to hitch-hike up there
like a load of idiots we all agreed..so as soon as the pubs chucked out we split into two groups and headed off..to say I regretted that decision till this day is an understatement..there was the girl that picked us up and was going to drop us off in Birmingham, but she chucked us out near to Oxford after I chucked up in the back of her car
we did eventually get to Stockport after getting a train for the final leg of the journey, we missed the 1st twenty minutes or so, it was hard to get into the spirit of the game because quite frankly we were both absolutely knackered, at half time we heard someone shouting from the seated area..it was one of the other two guys, they made it there with somet time to spare..he said that another friend of ours was there and he was willing to give us a lift all the way back to Reading..and to meet them outside after the game. naturally this made us feel much better.
after the game (which finished 2-2) we made our way to the meeting point, but couldn`t find them anywhere..as this was before the days of the mobile phone we had no way of knowing just where they were, it turned out that they meant a different corner of the ground, and we missed them altogether..so after about 30 minutes we knew we had the awful option of hitch-hiking all the way home again..neither of us had slept for over 36 hours now so this was not going to be a pleasant journey!
one of my vivid memories is of sitting on a metal barrior at a motorway intersection while my mate held out his thumb when a police car pulled up, we told them our story and they kindly gave us a lift to a nearby transport cafe where there were loads of lorries parked outside, we asked nearly all the drivers there if anyone was heading south..none were..so we started to walk, we saw the signs LONDON 100 MILES..after what seemed an eternity we saw the next sign LONDON 98 MILES..I thought thats it..I`m going to die here, we walked for about 2 more hours when a car pulled up..where you heading guys?..the man said.. Reading..I`m not going to Reading..will London do?...F*ck me man yea yea!!!..we got in the car and headed off..inside a minute I was asleep, next thing I know I`m waking up outside Paddington station as he dropped us off..I finally fell through my front door at around 2.30 on Sunday afternoon.
my mum had just finished cooking the Sunday roast..the best meal of my life I went to bed..and woke up 8am Monday morning...just in time for work.

You are either a total oxf*rd lying wind-up merchant ..... or a oxf*rd RFC hero. Can't decide which!!

Hampshire royal will confirm that its true..because he was one of the other two guys..

This is all true. Some of our memories differ (old age etc) but it happened. We also had a similar experience going away to Bury.

Forget RTGs and STGs, it was Beer Tinted Glasses that made us do these things. We were only about 18 and I hope that the kids of today are doing much the same sort of thing - or are they too soft? Kids today, don't know they've been born!!

[MartinRdg]

this past friday night came home to reading from uni not realising i left my preston ticket there. went clubbing and at half one my mate said

'you going preston'

thought shit my tickit

had to wait on my own for 2 hours on my own in a t shirt at reading station, with sick on my shoes that one of my canut-ish mates done........ went to london and could not actually get into my house cause my pricks of a housemates though it would be funny to put the katch on the door so could not change, and had to stick my arm through the latched door and just about grabbed my ticket...

on the way up fell alseep, missed reading but luckily landed at ox*ford so went upto manchester on my own...... on the way back was so tired got the wrong train and ended up going towards glasgow!!!!

got off at lancaster and when i got back to preston legged it and litterally made the last train to reading by a nanosecond and found my mates and then got pissed!!!!!

what a combination of booze, tiredness and stupidity does

what away days are about really

University education???

[Jackson Corner]

Not quite the same but I did have an away day to forget. It was the 93/94 season when we were storming to the title and we were away to York midweek. I had a Royal supporting mate who had moved up there and as I was on shifts at the time thought I would kill two birds with one stone go to the game and visit my old mate.
I drove up to York and meet up with my mate went for a beer and a bite to eat and watched what was one of our worst performances of the season, only memroble for Quinny hitting his pen out the ground in a 1-0 defeat. And so I began my long trip back. I got as far as Sheffield on the M1 when the car started to make some horrible rattling noise. I made it to the services and the car conked out altogether. Like a twat that I am I was not a member of a breakdown service being to tight to pay for something I may never use!
No mobiles in those days so I phoned the AA from the services and had to pay £50 to join up. An hour later the AA arrived to inform me my car was knackerd, and that they could'nt tow me back as I had only joined that night. But they would give me a lift to the train station. Great it was now gone midnight. The AA took me to Sheffield station leaving my Fiesta at the services. The next train to London was not until Six that morning. So I spent the night on the platform trying to get some sleep on a cold bench. Cold, starved and really pissed off, I then had to fork out £38 for a one way ticket back to Reading. I arrived back in Woodley about eleven. I couldn't even pull a sicky at work as I had told everyone in the office what I was doing, needless to say they all found it highly amusing. My pain did not end there I had to pay £120 for my car to be picked up and bought back not to mention £400 to get the bloody thing back on the road.
I have at least learnt my lesson and retained my AA membership which I have never needed since.........

[Barney]

This is my story. I have copied and paste the exact same wording that I sent
to the Whiff (or whatever fanzine it was back in 1999). It was subsequently
posted in that fanzine.....



You'll find one year (circa 1980) we played at home to Luton in this cup.

I was on holiday in North Wales with my then girlfriend and her family.

On the 2nd Wednesday of the fortnight holiday, I broke the news to them that I
planned to drive the 230 miles back to Reading that day to watch the game (it
was the first leg).

There was all the usual "you think more of football than me shite". But
eventually around 10am I left (I had an OLD Capri).

After 15 miles from the holiday site, the gear stick came clean away in my hand,
and the car was stuck in 2nd gear and oil was pissing everywhere.
You also have to take into account that we were staying with my girlie's sister
and her boyfriend (who was a car mechanic). Any sensible sod would have turned
back and got it fixed. But I knew if I did this, they would make me stay and I
would miss the game.

So I carried on, and the petrol gauge was visibly going down. I stopped at a
garage in North Wales, and it was one of those that some geyser fills it for
you. The guy saw me covered from head-to-toe in oil (and he saw the gearstick
on the passenger seat) and asked if I was having any problems !!!

When I explained, he got a massive hammer and loads of sticky tape and basically
did a quick-fix.

I continued my drive home - and as I pulled into my parents driveway, the
gearstick popped out...BUT IT DIDN'T MATTER BECAUSE I WAS BACK FOR THE GAME.
Took me EIGHT HOURS in total.

I got washed, went to the game, and we got beat 0-2.

Reading FC...........DON'T YOU JUST LOVE 'EM.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

The year we got promoted to the Premiership me and a couple of mates went to see Wednesday vs Reading. We met at Station Hill and instead of getting the coach we went by car. I was picked to drive all the way there
We left at 10am. Reasonable time? We'll find out later

At about 11am we hit traffic round Luton. This traffic lasted till 1pm. We were not amused. After a long and frustating drive to Sheffield we got to the ground at half time. We had then went to get something to eat and in the ensuing queues we missed the second half by 5 minutes.

So we drove around 6 hours to watch a game that only lasted around 40 minutes.

[Whistle]

Great stories - and you may never grow too old for the crazy stuff.

I met the late Frank Orton - the President of RFC who died a couple of years ago - outside Elm Park before the pre-season friendly that Daley Thompson played in. He was well over 80 at the time but had still just driven all the way down from Scotland that day for a 3pm KO and he looked really pleased with himself. Unlike the woman he was with.

[greenpark windmill]

a few seasons ago we had sunderland away in a lunch time kick off, and me and a couple of mates decide we would like to check out the delights of the north east for the 1st time. with all of us being 16 at the time none of us could drive, which meant the only way we could get there was on the coach. the coaches left at 4:30 am, which was a bit of a problem 4 us because we live in newbury and their are no trains running at that time and nobody willing to drive us up to the stadium so early in the morning. so we all agreed that we would get the last train from newbury to reading at about 11:20 pm friday and wander around for a few hours. after sneaking into the cinema until it shut we took a slow walk up to the stadium to sit in the hotel reception and wait for the coaches. finally got on the coach and endured the most boring journey of my life! none of that mattered coz we came from a goal behind to beat soon to be promoted sunderland 2-1!! journey back to reading was fine (apart from the fact that clan royal didn't win the grand national!!)on the way home we decided to jump off the train at aldermaston and visit some friends, planning on getting the last train back to newbury at roughly 11 pm. walked back aldermaston station only to realize we had read the board wrong and had actually missed the train. with none of us having credit on our mobiles or a contract phone, our only option was to walk the 9 or so miles back home. didn't get home until 3:30am sunday morning without having any proper sleep since Thursday night!


this story isnt as crazy as the 1sr, but preston a couple of weeks ago. driving up there in gd time we stopped at the services for something to eat. carried on our way afterwards but got stuck in a 7 car pile up 50 miles away from preston. missed the 1st half hour of the match, which meant i missed the goal. all i saw was preston come from behind to beat us!! couldn't either cheer myself up by having a look round the museum because they don't open after the match!

[Royal With Cheese]

Great stories - and you may never grow too old for the crazy stuff.

I met the late Frank Orton - the President of RFC who died a couple of years ago - outside Elm Park before the pre-season friendly that Daley Thompson played in. He was well over 80 at the time but had still just driven all the way down from Scotland that day for a 3pm KO and he looked really pleased with himself. Unlike the woman he was with.

Yes - and his wife wasn't happy either!

Managed to spend a night in Speake Airport after missing flight back to Belfast after Wigan away 4 years ago. It's a scary palce in the day letalone the night. Fair play to Easyjet - they let me get on the first flight out without charge. Mrs Cheese was convinced I did this on purpose and was not happy. Only a woman could come to a conclusion like that!

[old woman]

Accidental but went to Old Trafford for cup game (5-15 kick off).After game couldn't get on tram for love nor money. missed last train home from York as due to engineering works trains were replaced by buses. Spent a very entertaining few hours in waiting room at York station with two United fans and a drunk who had fallen asleep on the train ,missed his stop and was 'phoning friends telling them how he had met some Reading fans who he wanted to chat to. Got into Newcastle at 1-30 am got in the car and returned home at 2-00.

[bjbanks]

Watched Reading Vs Barnsley IIRC in 1979 in the snow at Elm Park as a newby. We won 6-1 I think and swore I would be there (as a fan ) for all time. Later returned to Aussi with a promise to myself that if we ever made the Prem I would fly over for a game...thought I was pretty safe in the 80's when I immigrated. November 2006 jumped on a 747 and flew over for Reading Vs Liverpool and Reading Vs Spurs at home ( what a match). Bloody knackered when I got home but worth the effort and some!!