Thanks again for the suggestions of topics on this thread. I will slowly get through them (the good ones - LOL). This week I did the Beard / How Tall is the Beard? suggestions. Hope you likey likey.
www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTOL-ROVERS-BLOG-G-Gas-Revere-Beard/story-25997740-detail/story.html#ixzz3RLtrHPD1
BRISTOL ROVERS BLOG: G is for Gas - Revere the Beard
Posted: February 10, 2015
By Martin BullA beard is now so fashionable amongst the general populace that it is almost instantly passé.
On the Gaschat forum (no, it’s not a pick-up joint for ladies who have a crush on boiler fitters) a legendary thread entitled ‘How Tall is the Beard?’ currently runs to over 500 replies,
The original post was a photo of a fan with ‘The Beard’ (midfielder Stuart Sinclair) in Cabot Circus, wondering if the fan was quite tall or ’The Beard’ was very small.
The initial replies were vaguely serious but then, following the best tradition of football conversations that meander around and don’t have much in common with the original post, they morphed into fabricated one liners showing just how outlandishly amazing ‘The Beard’ is.
My favourites so far include 'The Prime Minister makes hoax phone calls to Stuart Sinclair', 'He gets so much fan mail he has his own post code', 'The AA call him if they breakdown', 'The speaking clock calls him to find out the time', and obviously 'God prays to Stuart Sinclair'. If you find none of these amusing, you may need to move on to another blog. They are like buses these days.
Is this reverence just because he has a fisherman’s beard? Well, he certainly became an instant cult hero due to his unusual appearance and his amazing enthusiasm for football and BRFC, but he has since also earned his status through performances. Statistically we have gained more points (1.88 per game) when he has been playing. Until Saturday we only gained 1.50 points per game without him. Of course it is not really possible to compare games solely for one man, but most gasheads would agree anyway that his energy, tackling, crisp passing and salmon-like leap are enough to make him one of the first on the team sheet any day.
Personally I would have had to have a shave, or more likely a shear, if I was trying to play sport professionally, but then again Mr Sinclair is a very special individual, with very singular powers.
Although people remember the late 1970s and early 1980s as an era of supreme hirsuteness, the reality is that there were still very few players with actual beards. Although many had huge barnets, Forest of Dean style mullets, moustaches that would be more at home in spaghetti western films, and sideboards that resembled off-cuts of carpets, the cheeks and chin were still reserved for ’er indoors to kiss.
The only regular Rovers player I can think of with a proper beard was Stuart Taylor towards the end of his career; a potent symbol of his alpha maleness perhaps? Taylor of course was the 6’5” Nephilim centre back who holds the record number of League appearances for Rovers (546), a record that given the nature of modern football is very unlikely to be beaten.
Lots of players had moustaches but I’m still struggling to find many proper beards on the Eastville grass, the Twerton turf or the Mem’s match surface. Top lippers included Mike Green (the captain of the 1973/74 promotion winning team; not the recent goalie with just two appearances), Aiden McCaffrey, Paul Randall (particularly in his curly perm phase), Don Gillies, Brian Williams, Paul Bannon, Errington Kelly, Gary Penrice, Kenny Hibbitt, Nigel Martyn and Phil Purnell.
But it wasn’t until Bobby Gould’s double signing of Ian ’Jocky’ Alexander and Geoff Twentyman within one day of each other in late August 1986 that we had possibly the best defensive tasch duo in the whole of the land, with both resembling bushy black slugs or Groucho Marx’s thick boot polish imitation. Both went on to make over 300 appearances for the Gas, and Twentyman was remarkably ever-present in the League from Boxing Day, 1987 to August 23, 1991, a staggering 163 games.
There have only been a few attempts I can think of at the Mem, such as Giuliano Grazioli‘s stubbly look and John French‘s goatee. Gary Penrice’s return in 1997 brought his fluffy top lip back, as if he hadn’t realised it was way out of fashion by then. A few years later it was finally, and thankfully, snipped.
Recently Matt Harold and Matt Gill grew quite considerable facial hair for ‘Movember’. The former looked like a bit of a tramp, whereas the latter resembled a RAF Brylcreem boy.
As playing with a beard must be hardwork it is our off the pitch personalities who have given us some of the most marvellous moments of hirsuteness, courtesy of Barry Bradshaw’s massive tasch and black mop of hair, Terry Cooper’s luxuriant man hairs and Dennis Booth’s walrus like statement of his virility (Dennis was assistant manager under John Ward when Ward was still fresh). But none of them ever matched ‘The Beard‘.
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I feel that not only do we need to win every home game we have left, but also that there is little to fear from the opposition we have left. Our promotion prospects should rest on our away form really, and obviously that of Barnet’s.
I don’t think it’s bigheaded to suggest that Saturday’s game was a home banker if ever there was one. Lincoln City came with the unenviable record of merely six points from their last 14 league away games, including three heavy defeats since New Year. Meanwhile Rovers had had a rocket up their bottom last week, and the lush green, green grass of home certainly made a big difference to our play.
After having hit the woodwork four times, and thoroughly dominated the game, a 2-0 win was ultimately narrower than hoped for, but it must have done wonders for the confidence of the 11 on the pitch. It was interesting to see four attacking options and no defenders on the bench; such was the conviction Darrell must have had to force a win by hook or by crook, and his confidence in the flexibility of the players who started should a defensive injury occur.
Amongst the pleasure of watching 16 shots and a comfortable win, it was actually one trifling moment that gave me most delight. I had the perfect sight line for Lee Brown’s free kick cracker, and I could see that the Imps had loaded the left hand side of their wall. I was guessing that they had watched Lee Mansell’s beautiful right footer from a similar position versus Gateshead, and prayed that Manse would let Browner take a left footer to exploit the space given. And so it was. How pleasing it is to not only have two excellent free kick takers almost ever present on the pitch (only three league games missed between them), but also for them to be able to leave ego’s behind and work together for the good of the club.
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Martin Bull became a Gashead in 1989 and immediately fell in love with Twerton Park, standing near G pillar. In 2006 he wrote, photographed and published the first independent book about the artist Banksy. Having been exiled for much of his past, away games have always been special for him; so much so that he has just produced a new book about them, in collaboration with Rovers fans far and wide, young and old -
www.awaythegas.org.uk