Does anybody....

[Herbert Anchovy]

....else find that they can recall Rovers games from their younger days much more clearly than those from recent times?

Recently we had a family ‘zoom’ call and the chat moved onto Rovers games. My nephews and nieces were talking about games from the past 10 years that they assure me I attended, but for the life of me I remember nothing about!! Even a couple of the players names left me wondering who the hell they were talking about.

Yet, when we were discussing Rovers games from the 80’s I could remember everything, from what I was wearing to where I had a pint before the game! I remember vividly Alan Little launching an opposition player into the main stand during a drop ball, Ernie Moss’ bullet headers with 3 defenders hanging off his shoulders, Ian Snodin absolutely owning match after match and thinking that he’d captain England one day, seeing Trevor Senior tear us a new arsehole playing for Reading, spending one particularly dull game in the bar at the top of the pop side, seeing Alan Brown sliding into the wall around the pitch before being carried off and never playing again, Glynn Snodins thunder bolt free kick against York, Mansfield fans trying to ‘take’ the pop side before leaving with their tails between their legs, going to see plans for the redevelopment of Belle Vue where they were planning to build a roof joining the main stand and family stand, John Buckley double nutmegging a Bristol Rovers defender, Archie Gemmil receiving dogs abuse from Rovers fans and flashing the V sign at us...I could go on but that’d be self indulgent.

I remember all of that so vividly, like it was yesterday, but if you asked me about our game against Blackpool in 2016 for example then I would not have the faintest idea if I was even there!! It must be an age thing...

[Donnywolf]

Yes - I remember incidents from Games going way back rather than the games themselves though I may possibly not be exactly dead on

However I often cant remember our most recent game and have to look at results etc on here. As proof I think last game was Gills away and it ended 2 - 2 . I know Copps got 1 with an assist but who got the second I already dont know - and Ive put second but Copps might have got the 2nd ...

Looking back now

[Not Now Kato]

By lunchtime I usually can't remember what I had for breakfast!

[Donnywolf]

Ah yes TomA - I would have said that tbh but wouldnt have put my house on being right !

Left wing corner and he was on near post for header - but cant remember Copps goal

Discussing MK Dons away last Season with mate and even though I went I didnt know the score, or our scorer and afterlooking it up whether goal was scored at the end we were sat !

I did remember 2 people died in MK the day before and we went straight into Ground

[mugnapper]

I put it down to the fact that, when you're young, you have much fewer things pinging round bothering your brain, than when you're old.
When I was 16, all that was in my head was girls, Rovers, punk music and beer.

Now I'm knocking 59, running round my head constantly are, in no particular order : Children (grown up), Grandchildren, retirement, bills, the strange griping pain in my bowel, pensions, the fat rat I saw on the lawn the other day, Brexit, money, my mum's health, do I paint the house myself or get someone in, ground floor extension proposed by my wife, Tuesday's Euromillions draw, Simon McCoy leaving the BBC, why that tanker in the Suez Canal tried a U Turn, Alex Salmond, why my cats won't eat Lidl tuna yet I do and what's the best before date on that chicken in the fridge?

So no wonder things these days are less clear that 40 years ago, which is why I can see Ted Hemsley's 20 yard volley from the edge of the area at Rochdale as if it's in HD colour but last Saturday's goals are in black and white.

[Nudga]

I can think of needing my drill in the customers house to then walking to my van, open the side door and then stand there for a few long seconds thinking "why the f**k am I here?"

But like you, I remember games from the 90s very very clearly.

[Bollinger]

I think maybe the whole thing is more of a major event when you’re younger.

As a kid I’d be excited all week leading up to a game and would get to BV a good two hours before kick off (no? Just me then) to enjoy the whole build up. I’d watch the game without any thought of food or drink and then analyse every aspect of it for the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday.

All of that locks it away in your head forever. A rare Sean Flanagan goal in the drizzle against Port Vale and a Stewart Mell winner away at York when he deputised for Alan Warboys are as clear and fresh as The Sir Francis golden goal and Hayter’s header.

[Michael Shaw]

When I retired it was a relief to not have the work-related stress, but since then I worry that my brain is doing enough and I am getting absent minded. And at what point does it become a real dementia issue (and will I notice). Without a working environment it is too easy to just switch off. I can remember well the struggle trying to find our the results of Rovers' games when we were in the Conference (and didn't have the internet reporting so good 20 years ago). The best was when we were in the Championship and I could chat to my work colleagues who also had teams in the Championship. Now I struggle to recognise players from their photos.

[mjg]

It come in cycles , for me it was Peter kitchen era , the billy bremner era Dave penny era and odriscal era , teams to be proud of with players that were ours , I can’t be proud of today’s side with borrowed players , but still love the club

[Prez]

Without doubt, not just at football, but life in general. For instance if you asked me to name any FA cup finals from the 80s id get any year right. Pretty much the same with music from the 80s but ask me what the cup finals or charts from the last 10 years and id really struggle.

[Bentley Bullet]

I was at a game at Belle Vue a few years ago and I jumped up and shouted "OFFSIDE" at an opposing player who only had the keeper to beat. Then I realised it was the start of the second half and the teams were kicking the other way. The player was passing the ball back to his own keeper!

[Lincoln Rover]

Great conversation. Weirdly I can recall my first ever Donny match in 1969. I can remember the score, scorers & the smell of piped tobacco. That walk up those steep Belle Vue stand steps and my dad lifting me over the turnstile as I was half price. Yet sometimes I can go to the bathroom now, sit down and forget what I’ve gone there for.

[Nudga]

Seems a good place to ask and something that I'm a little concerned about.
Does anybody struggle to find the right word in a conversation? Where you're talking freely about something and the image of the word or object is in your mind but you can't find the name or word for what you're talking about?

I'm doing this quite regularly and not sure if it's tiredness, age (I'm 44)  of early signs of dementia or something.

[drfchound]

I sometimes do that nudga.
Nothing to worry about, everyone does it.
It’s a bit like meeting someone that you haven’t seen for a long time when you are out and about.
You can’t quite remember their name so fall back on “mate”.
You have a chat and either remember their name part way through or as you walk away.
All of the scenarios that are in this thread have applied to me at various times, some more often than others.

[Herbert Anchovy]

Goad it’s not just me then.

It’s strange though. If I close my eyes I seem to be able to remember games from early 80’s so clearly. The promotion seasons in particular of 1980/81 and 1983/84. We’d stand in the same spot, in the centre of the pop side about half way up. As someone else said, it’s almost as if I can still smell the cigarette smoke or the stale beer from the bar. I can still see the players of the era and the banter from the fans. But stone me, I couldn’t tell you much from any games over the last 10 years!!

[Janso]

Some memory related issues can be traced to undiagnosed mental illness - I know people who suffer from things such as depression and anxiety suffer with memory problems. I sure as Christ do.

[ss1953]

I think your second cousin is Dr. A. L. Zeimer

I have a theory that your memory can be likened to a bucket.
You start to fill it from the bottom and it will eventually fill and the last things to go into it, overflow first.

[vaya]

There's entire seasons I've blanked out, but that's been on purpose admittedly.

[Scooter]

It is normal for your cognitive function to decline with age. Many people with dementia (I’m not diagnosing anyone here) can remember things from years ago but cannot retain their short term memory. I once nursed a 90 year old man with dementia who didn’t know what day it was or where he was but we had some great conversations regarding his semi professional football career when he was younger

[Herbert Anchovy]

There's entire seasons I've blanked out, but that's been on purpose admittedly.

There’s some truth in that. The one and only season that I bought a season ticket was 1987/88. I went to every home game and all bar 3 away games. It was a really terrible season and I can’t remember anything about the games. Which is a blessing.

[bedale rover]

It is normal for your cognitive function to decline with age. Many people with dementia (I’m not diagnosing anyone here) can remember things from years ago but cannot retain their short term memory. I once nursed a 90 year old man with dementia who didn’t know what day it was or where he was but we had some great conversations regarding his semi professional football career when he was younger

All dementias affect your short term memory first
Your longer term memories last
There are some of the rarer dementias that affect long term memories they tend to be ones like picks disease used to be called pre-senile dementias
I remember a bloke who was only 40 with symptoms including loss of speech
They did a CAT scan and stopped it as there was nothing there it was just white!

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Can recognise alot of what's been said on a number of levels, remembering sporting events from Rovers games, World cups, FA Cups, Olympics, Grand National winners etc etc until at some point it all became a mush, and I struggle to remember things from mid 90s onwards in any order of merit.

The memory is a weird and wonderful thing and I'm sure we all apply a bit of selective memory. Let's face it we've all acquired and stored alot of useless info over the years which sometimes blocks the stuff we'd rather remember. It's all in there, it just takes longer to find it sometimes.

That's the same with words etc. I'm sure it's like your garage or shed when your looking for that particular tool which you know is in there somewhere! We occasionally have a clear out and a tidy up but do we do the same with our brain?

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Goad it’s not just me then.

It’s strange though. If I close my eyes I seem to be able to remember games from early 80’s so clearly. The promotion seasons in particular of 1980/81 and 1983/84. We’d stand in the same spot, in the centre of the pop side about half way up. As someone else said, it’s almost as if I can still smell the cigarette smoke or the stale beer from the bar. I can still see the players of the era and the banter from the fans. But stone me, I couldn’t tell you much from any games over the last 10 years!!

It's an intriguing subject and funny you mention smells. Smells and sounds that can trigger memories.

Who can still recall the smell of DeMulders?

Same with sounds. I'm sure if the Plant siren went off, it would trigger alot of memories for alot of people.

I went on the North York Moors Railway a couple of years ago and the smells associated with steam, the smell of the old carriages triggered childhood memories of seaside special trips to the coast.

[Draytonian III]

Goad it’s not just me then.

It’s strange though. If I close my eyes I seem to be able to remember games from early 80’s so clearly. The promotion seasons in particular of 1980/81 and 1983/84. We’d stand in the same spot, in the centre of the pop side about half way up. As someone else said, it’s almost as if I can still smell the cigarette smoke or the stale beer from the bar. I can still see the players of the era and the banter from the fans. But stone me, I couldn’t tell you much from any games over the last 10 years!!

Exactly the same , John Buckavino coming on as substitute away at Hartlepool