Living in Streatham I started watching football at Tooting and Mitcham in 1959. By 1963 I was deemed "old enough to go to Selhurst". I used to watch from the grassy bank opposite the main stand, often on the steps of the Croydon Hospitals Radio hut (only after banging the boards to Glad all Over as the team came out). My first really memorable highlight was the promotion to the top flight at the 3-2 against Fulham and seeing the great John Jackson throw everything but his underpants into the crowd below the Arthur. This was of course followed by the 2-2 opening game against Man Utd (took my dad to this one). Four seasons of big home defeats to Arsenal/Chelsea/Spurs, relived on The Big Match on Sunday afternoon.
As a Palace fan you get used to the occasional highlight making up for all those lowlights. I took my then girlfriend (now my wife of 52 years) to see the wonderful 5-0 thrashing of Man Utd. After marriage in 1973 I moved out of London never to return. Four years in Nelson/Burnley watching Palace at Chester and Halifax. We were relegated as I moved (replaced by Burnley, my new local team) and then relegated again. I moved to the Midlands in 1977 and the first game I saw was the youth cup semi-final at West Brom in 1977, my first sight of what was to become "the team of the 80s".
Highlights since then include the Burnley promotion game of 1979, the cup final of 1990 (the first major game I took my two sons), the ZDS final of 1991 (the last game my dad saw), the losing play off final of 1996 (Claridge's shinner), the winning play off final of 1997 (Hopkin Curls One), Stockport 2001 (Dougie!!!), Cardiff Play off Final 2004 (Shipperley), Wembley Play off Final 2013 (Super Kev), Cup Final 2016 (Pardew's Dance). Almost all of these I was with my two sons, and in 2016 my first grandson.
The cup final this year was a family affair, I was sat with my granddaughter, one son sat with his son, another son sat with his son, spread out round the ground (and my wife in the pub outside the ground). Winning with seven minutes to go in 1990, winning with 12 minutes to go in 2016, huge anxiety in 2025 when we scored so early, how could we hang on.
When the final whistle blew I joined every other Palace fan and burst into tears of joy. After 62 years I had finally seen Palace win a major trophy, something I never thought I would do in my lifetime. I started supporting Palace because they were my local team. My sons have never lived anywhere near London (one lives 300 miles away, the other lives 3000 miles away) but they support Palace because I do. My grandchildren support Palace because their dads do. You don't choose to support Palace, you inherit it. Palace is a family club, and Wembley 2025 is a time and place that will forever be part of my family history, a memory that is shared across the generations.