You couldn't write it!

[brog]

Just wonderful, thanks for taking the time to share.

[Hibbyradge]

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Sitting at Prague Airport waiting fir a flight home and trying to pretend my eyes are itchy to cover up my reaction to this great story and I imagine the wee man will remember it all his life. We follow a fantastic club and Boyler is a credit to Hibernian FC

I imagine most of us remember large parts of our first ever game at Easter Road, I certainly remember the excitement it gave the seven year old me in 1966. I may not by all of this right but my memory is that we were home to Kilmarnock and my older cousin was taking my brother and me to our first game. People were still carrying those wooden rattles that made such a great sound. We had been kitted our in hat and scarves and arrived early to avoid the queues. There were stalls where we each got a Hibs rosette to wear, green and white stiff paper with a little silver plastics player in the centre. Then of course a programme each with the teams shown in the centre pages. I do wish I had held on to these things now.
We were taken right down to the wall at the Centre Line (hence my forum name) and the players looked like giants as they took to the field in their beautifully pressed and ironed cotton shirts and shirts. Full change at half tome too.
Marshall, Duncan, Davis(captain), Stanton, Madson, McGraw, Scott, Quinn, Stein, Cormack and Stephenson. No subs, that would come following season when Allan Cousins played that role.
Like your boy I immediately had a favourite as Peter Cormack strutted his stuff with his shirt just pulled out from one side of his shorts. Mind you, Eric Stevenson was a close second, juggling and balancing the ball in his warm up, keepie uppie then balancing the ball on his head and neck.
As the game unfolded we could buy things like Wrigley's spearmint gum, kitkats and cartons of orange juice from the boys parading round the trackside with their trays of tooth decay.
Plenty of goals in a 3-3 draw and we went home captivated. I think my brother and I finished the day with a game of crab football in the bedroom corridor with my parents bedroom door and the end of the passage as goals. My brother will always tell you he won but .........we’ll that’s not how I remember it.

I wish you and your son many happy years of watching our great team and many many happy memories past and to come.

What year was that?

I think my first game was a 3-3 draw with Killie, but iirc, it was a night game in the very early 70's.

[Onceinawhile]

I think the important thing I've taken from this, is knowing that Boyler is a massive AEW mark.

[Persevere80]

Hibs class...

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

[Pretty Boy]

That's a great story.

It's easy to forget that footballers are just ordinary guys who have good and bad days. When you read stories like this or see the pictures of the squad visiting the Sick Kids you remember their positive impact stretches way beyond a football pitch.

[CraigHibee]

that's amazing mate :) i bet the wee lad was over the moon after that, always good to hear of things like this

[superfurryhibby]

Lovely story. Full credit to Martin Boyle for being a decent human being. Thanks for sharing.

[Sudds_1]

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I've been trying to get time to write this up since the weekend but not had a chance. It's a bit of a long read but it was a very special Hibs experience that I thought I would share...

Last week I took my boy to his first home match when Kilmarnock came to town, I did a wee write up of it in ’The First Time’ thread. Well, there's an update, my wee man's introduction to Hibs just got even better...

It a started with a rolled-up pair of socks. My son decided we were going to play football with a pair of socks as the ball, the door to his room was his goal and the bathroom was my goal. He announced he was Boyle, I had no idea he had remembered his name from the game. He asked me who I was, I said Mallan (I panicked).

So the game kicked off and I soon learned to win you needed to get to 10 goals. At 6-0 down, Mallan came back into the game and in quick succession scored 4 amazing free kicks (that I may have over celebrated). Though quickly Boyle got 2 more...at 8-4 down the game looked to be going to be called off, the ref told us it was time up (Dinner!!!), though we were granted a period of extra time. Just enough time for Boyle to win 10-6.

At dinner, all he wanted to talk about was Hibs and specifically Boyle. So I showed him a few of his goals, interviews and some of the wee funny clips he has been involved in. One of which was a recent one from HTC where Boyle quotes wrestler Chris Jerrico in saying ”a little bit of the bubbly” to a camera, he found this hilarious. I was delighted at his excitement.

It was all going so well then he drops the bombshell, ”Daddy can you call him, I want to tell him he is my favourite player”. How do I explain to him I don't have his number? Though he was persistent, so I racked my brains.

I suggested twitter (”what's twitter?”). He's been used to sending wee video messages to friends, so he seemed happy to give it a go. He did a sweet we bit about how Boyle was his favourite player, then comes out with ”Oooo a bit of the bubbly!” gave me a giggle. We uploaded and really I didn't expect anything, maybe a wee like or an acknowledgement from Boyle, at best.

What we got was so unexpected and a bit surreal really. After I got him to sleep, Boyle responded saying thanks for being a fan and offered him 2 tickets to the Aberdeen game with players lounge access. I was gobsmacked and in the morning my boy was bouncing, although I’m not sure he fully understood.

When Saturday came, he was so excited it was difficult to contain him. Reading this you will know what happened in the game, though before I was not confident about the result and had no idea if Boyle would play let alone start. So I was doing lots of damage limitation and expectation reduction.

So when we saw him start, play so well, score twice and win 3-0, I couldn't believe it. I got multiple messages from people who knew we were there saying ”you couldn't write it!” they are correct, though I'm going my best.

After the game, we bounced our way to the player's lounge and one by one, saw most of the players. They were great with him signing his program and posing for photos. Though there was no Boyle and as people began to leave I had to try and explain, we may not see him...not easy.

Just then, a man taps me on my shoulder and introduced himself as Martins Dad, he explained due to his man of the match performance, he was currently doing press, that he would also have to do an interview for corporate. Though his Dad said Martin wanted to meet my son...wow!

Not long after my son shouts Boyle, there he was, but he was ushered into corporate. Martins Dad told us to follow and sneak in at the back, so we both got to listen to his interview.

Then after a wee wait, Martin came out and spent some time with my son, told him he was his lucky mascot and must now come every week.

Finally, he walked my boy out the ground, shook his hand, said he would look out for his name on the team sheet in the future and told him to ”stay away from the bubbly!!!”.

As we headed to the car with my him on my shoulders, I think we both floated.

Memories made...thank you Martin Boyle...thank you Hibernian GGTTH!!!

Aw thats a brilliant story!! 🥰🥰 i actially saw squirrel with his wife and bairn in costas on friday afternoon. Gave him a wee wave and got the thumbs up from him from afar. Disnae want to pester him for a selfie....wish i had now!!

[superfurryhibby]

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Aw thats a brilliant story!! 🥰🥰 i actially saw squirrel with his wife and bairn in costas on friday afternoon. Gave him a wee wave and got the thumbs up from him from afar. Disnae want to pester him for a selfie....wish i had now!!

Nah, when folk are with their families they deserve a wee bit privacy and respect. A wave is sufficent

[The 90+2]

Fantastic, absolute class.

[JimBHibees]

Brilliant story thanks for sharing. Just goes to show how much an impact can be made by a footballer taking a bit of interest in a young fan.

[thebakerboy]

I think there have always been players like that at Hibs. When I was a laddie my mate used to be one of the guys selling the macaroon bars etc from his tray round the track. We used to meet up at the players entrance after the game just before the players came out. Joe Baker was our hero and always spoke after games , then after a famous European game came out and handed us badges from Roma football club that he got for us when he played there. he did that for several games for us and it was just brilliant , still my favourite all time Hibby and I have been going to ER since 1952. Great to know we still have players like that.

[St.Kristopher]

Thanks for reading guys. I had a wee idea to do a wee write up of our Hibernian experiences and give it to him when he is older. I will print out and stick my bit into a book and maybe a print out stick in one of Jonnyboys posts plus tickets etc. So these have been for us in the main... Though I thought the first two experience seemed to be good enough to share. So thanks for looking in, it's been nice reading the responses.

By the way as I write this(one week to the day), he is just out his bath and has now convinced my wife (not interested in football-though was taken in by all this) to play sock football. She is doing a great job though I'm not sure who Scott Mallan is?

I've a feeling she may need to start coming along, on my boy's orders!

#weregonnaneedabiggerboat

[murray26]

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I've been trying to get time to write this up since the weekend but not had a chance. It's a bit of a long read but it was a very special Hibs experience that I thought I would share...

Last week I took my boy to his first home match when Kilmarnock came to town, I did a wee write up of it in ’The First Time’ thread. Well, there's an update, my wee man's introduction to Hibs just got even better...

It a started with a rolled-up pair of socks. My son decided we were going to play football with a pair of socks as the ball, the door to his room was his goal and the bathroom was my goal. He announced he was Boyle, I had no idea he had remembered his name from the game. He asked me who I was, I said Mallan (I panicked).

So the game kicked off and I soon learned to win you needed to get to 10 goals. At 6-0 down, Mallan came back into the game and in quick succession scored 4 amazing free kicks (that I may have over celebrated). Though quickly Boyle got 2 more...at 8-4 down the game looked to be going to be called off, the ref told us it was time up (Dinner!!!), though we were granted a period of extra time. Just enough time for Boyle to win 10-6.

At dinner, all he wanted to talk about was Hibs and specifically Boyle. So I showed him a few of his goals, interviews and some of the wee funny clips he has been involved in. One of which was a recent one from HTC where Boyle quotes wrestler Chris Jerrico in saying ”a little bit of the bubbly” to a camera, he found this hilarious. I was delighted at his excitement.

It was all going so well then he drops the bombshell, ”Daddy can you call him, I want to tell him he is my favourite player”. How do I explain to him I don't have his number? Though he was persistent, so I racked my brains.

I suggested twitter (”what's twitter?”). He's been used to sending wee video messages to friends, so he seemed happy to give it a go. He did a sweet we bit about how Boyle was his favourite player, then comes out with ”Oooo a bit of the bubbly!” gave me a giggle. We uploaded and really I didn't expect anything, maybe a wee like or an acknowledgement from Boyle, at best.

What we got was so unexpected and a bit surreal really. After I got him to sleep, Boyle responded saying thanks for being a fan and offered him 2 tickets to the Aberdeen game with players lounge access. I was gobsmacked and in the morning my boy was bouncing, although I’m not sure he fully understood.

When Saturday came, he was so excited it was difficult to contain him. Reading this you will know what happened in the game, though before I was not confident about the result and had no idea if Boyle would play let alone start. So I was doing lots of damage limitation and expectation reduction.

So when we saw him start, play so well, score twice and win 3-0, I couldn't believe it. I got multiple messages from people who knew we were there saying ”you couldn't write it!” they are correct, though I'm going my best.

After the game, we bounced our way to the player's lounge and one by one, saw most of the players. They were great with him signing his program and posing for photos. Though there was no Boyle and as people began to leave I had to try and explain, we may not see him...not easy.

Just then, a man taps me on my shoulder and introduced himself as Martins Dad, he explained due to his man of the match performance, he was currently doing press, that he would also have to do an interview for corporate. Though his Dad said Martin wanted to meet my son...wow!

Not long after my son shouts Boyle, there he was, but he was ushered into corporate. Martins Dad told us to follow and sneak in at the back, so we both got to listen to his interview.

Then after a wee wait, Martin came out and spent some time with my son, told him he was his lucky mascot and must now come every week.

Finally, he walked my boy out the ground, shook his hand, said he would look out for his name on the team sheet in the future and told him to ”stay away from the bubbly!!!”.

As we headed to the car with my him on my shoulders, I think we both floated.

Memories made...thank you Martin Boyle...thank you Hibernian GGTTH!!!

What a amazing story.. this is what football is all about.. we’ll done mr Boyle.. class act.

[CentreLine]

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What year was that?

I think my first game was a 3-3 draw with Killie, but iirc, it was a night game in the very early 70's.

3pm Saturday and played on a glorious day 1966

[Power]

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I've been trying to get time to write this up since the weekend but not had a chance. It's a bit of a long read but it was a very special Hibs experience that I thought I would share...

Last week I took my boy to his first home match when Kilmarnock came to town, I did a wee write up of it in ’The First Time’ thread. Well, there's an update, my wee man's introduction to Hibs just got even better...

It a started with a rolled-up pair of socks. My son decided we were going to play football with a pair of socks as the ball, the door to his room was his goal and the bathroom was my goal. He announced he was Boyle, I had no idea he had remembered his name from the game. He asked me who I was, I said Mallan (I panicked).

So the game kicked off and I soon learned to win you needed to get to 10 goals. At 6-0 down, Mallan came back into the game and in quick succession scored 4 amazing free kicks (that I may have over celebrated). Though quickly Boyle got 2 more...at 8-4 down the game looked to be going to be called off, the ref told us it was time up (Dinner!!!), though we were granted a period of extra time. Just enough time for Boyle to win 10-6.

At dinner, all he wanted to talk about was Hibs and specifically Boyle. So I showed him a few of his goals, interviews and some of the wee funny clips he has been involved in. One of which was a recent one from HTC where Boyle quotes wrestler Chris Jerrico in saying ”a little bit of the bubbly” to a camera, he found this hilarious. I was delighted at his excitement.

It was all going so well then he drops the bombshell, ”Daddy can you call him, I want to tell him he is my favourite player”. How do I explain to him I don't have his number? Though he was persistent, so I racked my brains.

I suggested twitter (”what's twitter?”). He's been used to sending wee video messages to friends, so he seemed happy to give it a go. He did a sweet we bit about how Boyle was his favourite player, then comes out with ”Oooo a bit of the bubbly!” gave me a giggle. We uploaded and really I didn't expect anything, maybe a wee like or an acknowledgement from Boyle, at best.

What we got was so unexpected and a bit surreal really. After I got him to sleep, Boyle responded saying thanks for being a fan and offered him 2 tickets to the Aberdeen game with players lounge access. I was gobsmacked and in the morning my boy was bouncing, although I’m not sure he fully understood.

When Saturday came, he was so excited it was difficult to contain him. Reading this you will know what happened in the game, though before I was not confident about the result and had no idea if Boyle would play let alone start. So I was doing lots of damage limitation and expectation reduction.

So when we saw him start, play so well, score twice and win 3-0, I couldn't believe it. I got multiple messages from people who knew we were there saying ”you couldn't write it!” they are correct, though I'm going my best.

After the game, we bounced our way to the player's lounge and one by one, saw most of the players. They were great with him signing his program and posing for photos. Though there was no Boyle and as people began to leave I had to try and explain, we may not see him...not easy.

Just then, a man taps me on my shoulder and introduced himself as Martins Dad, he explained due to his man of the match performance, he was currently doing press, that he would also have to do an interview for corporate. Though his Dad said Martin wanted to meet my son...wow!

Not long after my son shouts Boyle, there he was, but he was ushered into corporate. Martins Dad told us to follow and sneak in at the back, so we both got to listen to his interview.

Then after a wee wait, Martin came out and spent some time with my son, told him he was his lucky mascot and must now come every week.

Finally, he walked my boy out the ground, shook his hand, said he would look out for his name on the team sheet in the future and told him to ”stay away from the bubbly!!!”.

As we headed to the car with my him on my shoulders, I think we both floated.

Memories made...thank you Martin Boyle...thank you Hibernian GGTTH!!!

Immense. Stars aligning massively and then some. First thing I thought of when he scored the first on Saturday.

Part of my December update later this month is the club and players to continue deepening links and relationships with the support and this type of player engagement (which they all do a lot but never shouted about) is exactly that.

This is what it feels like to be Hibs ✅