Focus On... Rochdale

SMBU soccer historian Paul Hunchback looks back at connections between Rochdale and Wanderers ahead of tomorrow’s game.

Hitler’s Window
Rochdale is famous for its stained glass window, a thing of such beauty that Hitler was rumoured to be keen to seize it had his invasion of Britain been successful. In a curious twist, Wycombe council are currently known to be funding a stained glass window of Hitler, though its destination remains unknown at present. 20 feet in height, the window will show Hitler playing backgammon with a wrestler in 1942. Council spokesman Godwin Law added “it looks really good, he’s got a little moustache and everything.”

Where’s Your Dinner Son?
In 1795 food riots swept the north of England and Rochdale was engulfed. Wycombe sent a crack un-codified football outfit to play an exhibition game for the hungry locals. Sadly, heavy drinking on the stagecoach north amongst the Wanderers players [NB: it was a squad of 45 with 43 in the starting line-up] caused massive problems. As the players came out for the second half, Wycombe player Lord Hotcross whipped out a picnic blanket and laid out a hearty spread of potted meats. As ravenous Rochdale fans surged forward to smell the food, Hotcross ground every piece into the turf with his boot, shouting “let them eat cake, or rather, let them not”. He was cut down by a cutlass but the rest of the Wycombe team escaped fairly easily.

Simon Says
Simon Stapleton will be guest of honour before Saturday’s match and the former Wycombe midfielder will be presented with a kind of trophy in memory of his atrocious miss in the 1-1 draw between the sides in April 1994. Still regarded as the worst miss ever seen at Adams Park, the howler inspired a group of Rochdale fans to start to worship Stapleton as a messiah, a process that ended badly in 1996 when the sect set fire to their own faces and had to be taken down by police marksmen up on the moors. When their retreat was searched afterwards, forensic scientists found video recordings of the group trying to recreate Stapleton’s miss. In 2,593 frenzied attempts, not a single person managed it.

22.02.2008. 13:19

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