Memories of the 3rd tier of English football

[Studge]

My memories of third tier football mainly involve particularly bad referees.
Can I just mention at this point, for some of us, of a certain age, in May of 1981 the third division was the Holy Grail at that time. So getting into the third division wasn't always a bad thing.
Ref's seemed ok in the fourth division, and fine in the second, but for whatever reason thay always seemed appalling in the third. Then, all I can recall are lots of long, cold evenings on the Kop, at least in those days of proper standing you could huddle together to keep warm and jump about, and smoke, and swear, and be racist, and be sexist, and be disabled-ist, and generally do and say things you wouldn't in normal everyday life, a bit like a pressure release valve!

Hands up who was glued to the radio and teletext waiting for the Hull City score to get us out of division 3 on goal difference!!!! What a weekend and (was it?) Tuesday night that was... Happy, if rather foul mouthed, days....

I was there along with a few hundred others 2 0 up and still about 30 minutes left to score the third and Brian Marwood et all failed, Great night in Maximillions on return to Sheffield