Local football fan publishes first book inspired by supporting Hull City AFC over the last 40 years

from Withernsea Community News - Issue 16, March 2022

Withernsea High School Reunion - From 20 in the 70s to 70 in the 20s

EAST Yorkshire born and bred, Richard Lusmore “came of age at Hull's Boothferry Park and Spiders nightclub”. He has now published his first book ‘Not All-Ticket’. Although this is his first published book he is not new to writing having been the co-editor of the first two Hull City fanzines. He is also “a self-confessed Easington United nerd”, having been his local club's press officer since 1988 and for 21 years editor of their award-winning matchday programme.

It is no surprise therefore that much of this first book features his love of football. Set in the 1980s, ‘Not All-Ticket: From Withernsea High to Boothferry Park Halt’ chronicles a dramatic period in the history of Hull City AFC through the eyes of a young fan from rural East Yorkshire. From relegation and receivership to the 'Robinson renaissance', the author experiences a rollercoaster of emotions, culminating in dismay at perhaps the most contentious managerial dismissal in the club's history. The book has been seven years in the making, Richard confessed: “I began it in 2014 with a view to having it published in time for Hull's year as UK City of Culture. That proved a tad optimistic.”

In talking about the inspiration for writing his first booked he explained: “If I'm being honest, probably ever since 'Fever Pitch' came out in 1992. I think every football fan who fancies himself as a writer wishes he'd wrote that one. I'd been heavily involved with the Hull City fanzines from 1988 and that had also had me ‘dreaming’ of making a living out of writing. But that's all it was, a dream.

“Then more people followed Nick Hornby's lead and produced really good books about football fandom, including several in recent years about following The Tigers.

However, the 1980s was a period that remained largely ignored and that gave me the idea for 'Not All Ticket' - that and a de-cluttering exercise I was doing in the house, which involved a lot of old match tickets and programmes. With it being the 1980s I also wanted to include the music and clubbing scene as that was my ‘coming of age’ period.”

The book charts a course through how it feels to follow an unfashionable team in an oftenunloved city. He flirts with rival sporting attractions, then tosses them aside in favour of the small-fry team in this ‘tatty fish town’. The football-fuelled adrenalin rush is soon replicated in his first forays into the local music and club scene. Discovering the delights of Hull after dark, he soon realises that Saturday is about much more than just the match. First-hand terrace tales and musical memories abound in an uplifting memoir.

Most importantly Richard has enjoyed the process of writing the book. He added: “It really has been a ‘labour of love’, one that took me back to some of the happiest days of my life. I'm a bit of a nostalgia buff anyway, I love the social history of the 1970s and 1980s, so the chance to incorporate that into a book about my chosen pursuits of the era was too good to miss.”

‘Not All Ticket’ is a first-hand account of following City during one of the most dramatic periods in the club’s history. It covers a story that has been largely ignored for 40 years, including the moment when the Tigers made unwanted history when they entered receivership in 1982.

From the quirks of fate in City’s heart-breaking 1983/84 season that saw promotion and a first ever Wembley appearance both cruelly denied them, it takes its readers back to relive the typical matchday experience of a 1980s football fan played out to a soundtrack from the city’s music and clubbing scene.

It felt apt to ask Richard which was his personal favourite City match, he said: “Now there's a question! The obvious one would have to be the Championship Playoff Final win in 2008. To see 40,000 City fans inside Wembley and to have the Dean Windass local 'Boys Own' story unfurl before your very eyes is something I could've only dreamt about back in the 1980s.

“If we're talking the period covered by the book, the obvious ones are probably the two comeback wins in the 1984/85 promotion season: the amazing 5-4 win at Orient after being 4-1 down with 23 minutes left, and the 3-2 home win over Derby at Boothferry Park, which saw a last minute Billy Whitehurst winner cap a comeback from two down after having had a man sent off and also prompted a mass pitch invasion.

“The 4-1 win over Sheffield United in October 1983 is another favourite - simply because putting the Blades to the sword was an alltoo-rare occurrence back then and as such remains deeply satisfying.

“Then I think of the 2-0 win over Leeds at Elland Road in September 1987, the immediate post- Receivership match against Mansfield in February 1982, which was a really emotional affair, and the 1-0 win at Walsall that clinched promotion back to the Second Division in May 1985.

“But if I have to choose just one, it would probably be the 1-0 win at Swansea City in the FA Cup Fourth Round on 3 February 1987. It was a night match as City had only won at Shrewsbury the previous weekend in a game that had been postponed several times. As such, only about a hundred of us travelled to the Vetch Field, which was an intimidating place at the best of times. To make things worse, City had Frankie Bunn sent off early in the game but won 1-0 thanks to a Richard Jobson goal at our end of the pitch, early in the second half. It was, I think, our only meaningful chance all game! The rest of the game was like 'The Alamo', goalkeeper Tony Norman was tremendous and sent over 8,000 of his fellow Welshmen home very unhappy. In fact we did well to get out alive that night!

I got home at about five in the morning and was at work in Hull the next day! It didn't matter, I was convinced we were going to win the Cup. We lost 3-0 at Third Division Wigan in the next round... Typical City!”

The book also delves into Hull’s other sporting attractions of the era, from speedway at the Boulevard and cricket at the Circle to the city’s rugby league clubs’ biggest day out beneath the Twin Towers. It also includes a foreword by promotionwinning manager Brian Horton.

Wondering if this is going to be the first of many books or a completed accomplishment, Richard explained: “I suppose that largely depends on the publishers! Hopefully, 'Not All Ticket' will sell in enough copies to persuade them to at least let me write the follow-up, which would take me to the end of my fanzine involvement in the mid- 90s, another dramatic period in the history of the club. It's where I anticipated ending 'Not All Ticket' but by the time I'd got as far as 1988, I was already beyond Pitch's word count limit! I've also got another couple of sports book ideas, along with one or two ideas outside a sporting theme.”

You can purchase 'Not All Ticket' from Waterstones, WH Smiths, Amazon, Hove.co.uk or by contacting Richard directly through social media. More information is available at www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/no t-all-ticket