Very soon I was spending virtually every waking moment when not at school playing sport - football in the winter and cricket and tennis in the summer. Not quite sure where the changeover point came between those seasons.
Impromptu games on Hellesdon Rec were the order of the day. You pitched up and just picked teams on the day. Coats etc were used for goalposts and I remember having a solid leather ball with laces which you had to treat with a strange thing called dubbin. I can still remember the smell of that all these years later.
I went to my first Norwich City match when I was about eight. Can't remember who I went with, but it was the start of a 60 year to date connection with the team in one form or another.
My love of the Canaries came from their famous 1959 FA Cup run when they got through to the semi-finals as a third tier team - a very rare occurrence. In those days it was Division One, Two, Three and Four and not fancy named leagues like the Premier Ship, the Championship etc. They just fell short in that cup run by losing to Luton Town in a semi-final replay. Luton in turn lost in the final to Nottingham Forest. That ignited my love of the club which over the years has seen me be a season ticket holder, a journalist covering matches for the Norwich Mercury and News of the World (remember them) newspapers, a member of various fan groups and now just a guy who turns up on a Saturday and sits in the front row of the Geoffrey Watling stand with his family.
Becoming a journalist and covering football meant that I didn't play very much from the age of 17. I turned out for a couple of teams for a short period but my contribution came more with the pen than the boot.
Hand in hand with my involvement with the Canaries has been my involvement in local football. I was on the club committee at Beccles Town, then Lakeford, then Wymondham Town and then became chair of Hethersett Athletic in its fledgling days.
Hethersett soon became my obsession both as a youth team manager, as a coach and as a club administrator. Those were the days when you didn't have to have coaching qualifications to run teams. I started off with the Hethersett Cubs Team and then continued this with Hethersett Athletic at Under-10 level.
I helped run and coach as that team went from Under-10 level to adults and spent three years running them as an adult team before retiring from my coaching role and spending more time supporting Mel Perkins and the club committee in organising the club. I spent many years as club chairman.
I was very proud of our club which over the years has given competitive football to hundreds if not thousands of youngsters of all ages and both sexes. I particularly supported our girls and ladies teams as their sport became more popular. Our ladies team won the East Anglian cup three years in succession.
A couple of years ago I decided to step back from my club involvement but I know that they still do a tremendous amount for young people in the village - running teams from Under-6 upwards. I remember all my days with the club with great satisfaction and affection and I am now an honorary life member. I have also been fortunate to have won the Lee Thompson Memorial Trophy on two occasions. This is awarded annually for outstanding contribution to the club. The only other person to win it twice is founder Mel Perkins MBE. So you can imagine how proud and humble that makes me feel.
Recently youth team coach David Powles appealed on Facebook for a volunteer to take on next season's under-6s - that's five-year-olds or those in year one at school. That took me back many years.
David has agreed to organise some taster sessions, probably two a month, in September and October. I hope something positive comes of this and teaching five-year-olds to have fun and play football is hugely rewarding.
Whilst I'm on this subject I would like to mention once again an appeal by the club's men's Saturday team for more players. If you are interested in finding out more about the club visit its official website at: www.hethersettathletic.com.
And that brings me finally in this blog to an advert for a coming very special football match which will be taking place at Mulbarton next Sunday (August 15th). Players will be returning from all over the country to honour the memory of former youth team player Lee Thompson who was tragically killed in a road accident in 1999. I will have more on the timings of this game in a future blog.