Backing the Blues: 120 Years of Carlisle United exhibition

Every artefact at Backing the Blues: 120 Years of Carlisle United is a portal to the past. That player. That goal. That match. Hundreds of reminders, taking us back to sights and sounds and feelings.

A white football transports us to December 18, 1976. Carlisle are playing Cardiff City at home, and losing 3-1. Then Billy Rafferty scores three goals in the last six minutes to win the game 4-3.

A pair of black boots with a Puma logo sends us to May 8, 1999. Carlisle are about to be relegated from the Football League. Their goalkeeper, Jimmy Glass, runs the length of the pitch and, in the last second of the season, scores the goal that saves them.

I’ll level with you: supporting Carlisle United is not all about dramatic last-gasp victories. We’ve probably conceded as many late goals as we’ve scored. We’ve lost a lot of matches. We’ve been relegated numerous times, most recently last April. Then there’s the weather. No one goes to Brunton Park in the expectation of sunstroke. Rust, maybe.

Olga the Fox the club mascot with the boots worn by goalkeeper Jimmy Glass who scored the 94th minute winner to keep Carlisle in the Football League (Image: Stuart Walker)

And yet football draws us back. It’s the possibility of seeing one of those rare and precious miracles. It’s catching up with friends every other Saturday. It’s being part of a thread running all the way back to 1904, when Shaddongate United became Carlisle United.

These things are captured in Backing the Blues, which runs at Tullie until November. It’s a celebration coinciding with 50 years since Carlisle’s only season in the First Division – now the Premier League – and 25 years since Jimmy Glass spared them from non-League oblivion. Football’s highs and lows. Carlisle United have had plenty of both.

The exhibition comprises artefacts, memorabilia, photos, videos and more. Much of it has been loaned by fans and former players, moving into the spotlight from cupboards and lofts.

During the past few months, a group of supporters known as the Carlisle United Collective has volunteered to help curate the exhibition. As well as United and Tullie, the main project partners are Cumberland Council and the University of Cumbria. Nine of the university’s students have created short films for the exhibition, featuring interviews with key figures at the club.

Backing The Blues the new exhibition charting the 120 year history of Carlisle United FC launches at Tullie in Carlisle. (Image: Stuart Walker)

Such partnerships demonstrate United’s role at the heart of its community. Many members of that community were at the preview evening. Fans mingled with former players. And, in the case of Mick Wadsworth, a former manager.

Wadsworth led the Blues during a golden era in the 1990s, taking the club to a promotion and its first-ever match at Wembley Stadium. “This exhibition is great for the club and for the supporters,” he told me. “It’s a reflection of how important football clubs are for their community. It’s a big part of what a town is.”

And what a person is; those of us who give a piece of our heart to a football club.

It’s 38 years since I started watching Carlisle regularly, having been to the occasional game during childhood. At 16 I saw a dismal home defeat to Mansfield Town. Somehow, I was hooked. The following week I bought a season ticket.

Nearly four decades later I’m walking slowly through Tullie’s main exhibition space, allowing the past to wash over me. Usually I’m floating, occasionally drowning. Highs and lows.

Lisa Abbott's wedding dress incorporated the red, gold and green of United's away kit in 1998 (Image: Stuart Walker)

There’s a blue jersey, worn long ago by legendary midfielder Chris Balderstone, whose talents helped take United to the First Division. There’s a display of more recent shirts in more garish designs. I used to have some of them.

Lisa Abbott took this further. Her wedding dress is displayed near the replica shirts. In 1998 Lisa married Paul Holmes. Her dress incorporated the red, gold and green of United’s away kit of the time. It highlights how a passion for football can manifest in unexpectedly beautiful ways.

This passion usually starts in childhood. There’s a mocked-up child’s bedroom with Carlisle United scarves on a wall, and a bed with a United duvet cover. There have been matches – a 1988 home defeat to Hartlepool in the Sherpa Vans Trophy comes to mind – when it would have been nice to make use of that bed.

Many times, though, it’s been amazing. Photos and press cuttings recall the win over Mansfield in April 1965 that clinched Carlisle’s first promotion to the Second Division.

A hand-written letter from Bill Shankly (Image: Stuart Walker)

There are pennants and medals from the 1972 Anglo-Italian Cup game against Roma. Carlisle played them in Rome’s Olympic Stadium, and won.

Two years later, they reached the First Division. A quote from Bill Shankly, who began his managerial career at Brunton Park, adorns one wall. He described his old club’s promotion to English football’s top tier as “the greatest feat in the history of the game”.

Photos show highlights from that season, such as the opening-day win at Chelsea. There were other famous victories. Not enough, though, to save Carlisle from going straight back down. They have never returned to that level. They probably never will. But there’s still been plenty to savour.

Some of the most striking examples are brought to life by photographs from the Cumberland News archive. One is a black and white shot of goalkeeper Alan Ross, who played more times than anyone else for Carlisle, standing in a floodlit blizzard. Behind him are the packed stands of Old Trafford. This was an FA Cup replay against Manchester United in 1978. The teams had drawn 1-1 at Brunton Park. Carlisle lost 4-2 at Old Trafford. These are the only two times they have played the other (arguably more successful) United.

Former chairman and director Andrew Jenkins painting the terraces, and his chair (Image: Stuart Walker)

Another photo, titled Celebrating Tony Shepherd’s goal, shows a less heralded occasion: February 13, 1990. But it’s just as evocative for those who were there.

The picture shows wild celebrations between players and fans as Carlisle’s home win over Exeter City moves them to the top of the Fourth Division. I was there, jubilant. I look at that photo and it all comes back.

So does the subsequent collapse in form that meant we didn’t even reach the play-offs that season. Nothing at Backing the Blues is designed to highlight failure. But football is so often about it, its breath is rarely far away.

I looked at more photos. Joe Joyce was known as ‘Iron Man’. I was never sure why. Paul Proudlock was ‘Proudy’. I think I get that one.

Fans in the CUFC bedroom (Image: Stuart Walker)

George Baxter was known as ‘Twinkletoes’. For many years he led the teams out at Brunton Park, dressed in a red, white and blue top hat and tails before placing the club mascot, a stuffed fox, in the centre circle. Perhaps this ritual was designed to scare opposition players into submission.

Carlisle-born artist Gordon Young designed the Reiver-themed Cursing Stone in the underpass beneath Tullie. He’s represented above ground by another sculpture: a large metal football with legendary United players’ surnames stencilled on it.

There’s fan-made art too. A banner reading ‘UNFURL 4 CURLE’, in honour of former manager Keith Curle. Another banner says simply, ‘PEEVE’. This is a Carlisle dialect word for alcohol. Handy for celebrating and for drowning sorrows.

Peeve may well be timeless. Other things are frozen in certain eras. A turnstile from Brunton Park’s Warwick Road End had been there from the 1950s until this summer’s renovations. It might be one I passed through when I watched matches from the Warwick in the 1970s and 80s. It brought back distant aromas of tobacco and Bovril.

A tribute to the late BBC Radio Cumbria commentator Derek Lacey (Image: Stuart Walker)

Two exhibits recall men held in deep affection by Carlisle fans. BBC Radio Cumbria commentator Derek Lacey covered more than 500 United games before his death in 2009. An impressively authentic replica of his commentary box has been created by University of Cumbria lecturer Ed Cooper, together with a university alumnus. A compilation of Derek’s commentaries plays. There’s a microphone and, most poignantly, a BBC Radio Cumbria coat on the back of a chair.

There’s also an uncomfortable-looking wooden seat from the directors’ box, with the name ‘Andrew Jenkins’ on it. Jenkins was the club’s former chairman, and a director for an unprecedented 64 years. He died in July, aged 87. It’s strange to think that he won’t be here this season, cheering on his beloved Blues.

There should be plenty to enjoy. Despite relegation to League Two, last year’s takeover by American family the Piataks has brought renewed optimism and investment. Their presence is represented by a huge flag suspended from the ceiling, bearing their slogan, ‘Own the North’.

Any exhibition spanning 120 years can only scratch the surface. But there’s easily enough in Backing the Blues to give a flavour of Carlisle United. A smaller version will tour local venues before some exhibits find a permanent home in a Brunton Park museum.

Former player George McVitie looks at the plaque with his name on listing players of the year (Image: Stuart Walker)

Many of the classic matches and legendary players remembered here were before my time. But I still feel a connection, as with ancestors I never met. We’re all part of that thread.

It’s often rained. We’ve often lost. But sometimes there’s been magic.

* Backing the Blues runs until November 10 and is open from 10am-4pm Monday-Saturday and 11am-4pm on Sundays. Exhibition day tickets are £7. Unlimited exhibition entry and access to some associated activities is £15. Under-18s go free, under-12s must be accompanied by an adult. A programme of accompanying events, including talks, family crafts and player meet and greets, is running throughout the summer holidays. For more information visit tullie.org.uk

Backing the Blues is part of the Be Just and Fear Not: Celebrating our Club and Supporting our Community project, made possible with £95,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.