THE DAY ROY IZZARD MISSED A MATCH…
Ask yourself…….have you EVER been at a Hitchin Town game when Roy Izzard, our Club Secretary and Treasurer, has not been in attendance?
In my 35 years of supporting Hitchin Town, I’ve been at all sorts of obscure friendlies, Vince Page Trophy and Top Field Cup games, Full Members Cup games, Capital League Reserve games… and I can’t remember Roy missing one. I remember him being on the coach to Kettering a couple of days after a cataract operation, when he should have been at home recovering… no chance!
If you ask Roy when he last missed a Hitchin game, any game, he probably wouldn’t be able to recall it.
Recently I have been doing a bit of research work with a view to updating the “Historical Results” section of the website, and I came across the following from a programme from August 1984 (Hitchin Town vs Watford, pre-season friendly), which I read with great amusement. I thought I would share it with you all. The article is reproduced below:
A 14-YEAR RECORD HAS GONE
Or to quote the local Express headline – ROY’S CLASH OF THE DAY – for Roy had never missed a Hitchin Town first team game in all of those fourteen years. Roy is our Financial Director, and gives up a lot of his leisure time to the arduous task of balancing the club’s books.
Having seen every game since 1970, Roy was faced with a bitter dilemma at the weekend of the Herts Charity Cup game between Tring Town and Hitchin Town on 11th August 1984, On the same day he was pencilled in as opening bowler in the top-of-the-table clash for Ickleford Second Eleven against Old Cholmenians. Normally Roy would have pulled out of the cricket match in favour of the Town, but he made a milestone decision to miss the football game because the game was important for Ickleford, and Roy was appointed captain in the absence of the captain and vice-captain.
It turned out to be a bittersweet day for Roy, as Ickleford won by 109 runs with Roy taking three wickets for eight runs in fourteen overs, but Hitchin Town went down 2-0. COME BACK ROY IZZARD, EVERYTHING IS FORGIVEN.
So there you have it. It’s out in the open. Roy you’ve been tumbled………
Would just like to say that since this absence, only caused by an impossible clash of loyalties, 41 years have passed and as I say, I can’t recall Roy missing a game in the time that I have supported Hitchin Town. Loyalty to this degree is unbelievable, unimaginable.
Roy is truly Mr. Hitchin Town.
Footnote: I did show this article to Roy before publication to check the facts within it. Here’s what Roy had to say:
“It is true!!. I can remember changing my mind umpteen times as to whether I should play or watch. There have been a number of times when I have started a cricket game, come back to Top Field to watch Hitchin then returned to finish the cricket game!
I have missed a handful of games including after two detached retina operations when I could not leave the house and I remember I was on the phone advising my stand in Treasurer what to do. I skipped school in the Miners’ strike to watch some afternoon midweek games and I missed a couple of games when I became Ickleford’s first team cricket captain.
When I had my mini stroke a few years ago my first question for the doctor was not will I live but will I be able to watch Hitchin on Saturday—and I did!”
Says it all! Roy even playing truant from school for the love of Hitchin Town!!!
Chris Newbold