When Yarmouth played West Wight they used to have a couple of hundred, they come down from Freshwater.  They used to have to pay to go in then if it was a cup tie.  I can remember Dad was always on the gate. He was on the committee.  When he finished work he used to go up there marking it out.   But oh yes, there used to be some grand scraps between Yarmouth and West Wight.

Football at the Rec pre WWII

The older school kids used to go up there during the winter once a week. We just used the whole pitch, plodding up and down. Anybody who had a football was well in.  You’d see two or three go up after school kicking about, shooting in goal, you know, one in goal, and having a tussle. I mean you never see them now. These days, of course there’s not so many children of that age in the town as there used to be.
Phil Kelsey b 1920