So what else happened in 1969??
It was the end of an era. The Age of Aquarius was beginning to wither and die . The Flower Generation beginning to wilt. The soft, peaceful voice of a generation becoming strident. That great explosion of incredible music becoming an echo, that never really disappeared. An innocence sadly lost, dusty tombstones to a lost virginity scattered round a cynical landscape of forgotten dreams. Whilst Vigo were taking their first steps on a rugby field, 500,000 kids gathered in a field on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm near Woodstock, New York to wave goodbye to that era.
Ever jealous of our trans-Atlantic cousins, we staged a mini-Woodstock on the Isle of Wight and Hendrix blew our minds, the Who went crazy and Dylan went electric. And all for £2 25shillings.
The Beatles, only two years after the most pivotal of all albums, were tearing themselves apart, producing their last great album, ‘Abbey Road’. The end of a generation.
Sharon Tate died at the hands of a bunch of crazies, led by Charlie Manson. Helter Skelter.
Top of the Pops was “In the Year 2525” by Zager and Evans. Kids all over the country were fumbling and sweating to “Je t’aime, moi, non plus” by Nirkin and Gainsbourg. Crowds were flocking to be shocked by “Hair”. I saw it five times. Was it to see Marsha Hunt get her kit off? No, no, oh thrice no. It was to say cheerio to a time, slowly dying before my eyes.
So was Ho Chi Minh.... dying, that is. Not going to see “Hair”. Well, he might have done. Who knows?
Colour television came too . And what were we watching in colour. “Callan”, “Star Trek””, “Monty Python”.......and “On The Buses”....from sublime to ridiculous on a number 57.....
Qadaffi took over in Libya. Arafat in Palestine, whilst Dubcek was deposed in Czechoslovakia, ands de Gaulle stepped down in France.
And we were listening to Credence Clearwater Revival with “Bad Moon Rising”, His Holy Bobness and “Lay Lady Lay”, the Hollies with “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”.....and “Sugar, Sugar” by the Archies....from sublime to ridiculous on a 45 rpm piece of vinyl.
Rupert Murdoch bought “The Sun”, Willi Brandt became Chancellor. Suzanne Blanchet arrived in England soon to become a rugby widow.
The Springboks came to Britain to play rugby, but Peter Hain wouldn’t let them. There were protests in Britain against apartheid, there were protests in Paris about everything, there were protests everywhere against the Vietnam War, there were protests in Czechoslovakia against the Russians. We protested against everyone and everything. We should have been protesting about “Cold Turkey” by John Lennon. Oh, by the way, he returned his MBE that year. Probably in shame at marrying Yoko Ono. Possibly about “Cold Turkey”.

William Calley was indicted for his part in the My Lai massacre. 72 American soldiers died on Hamburger Hill. Meredith Hunter was murdered at a Rolling Stones concert at Altamont. Jam Palach self immolated in Prague. The Manson gang were arrested. Helter Skelter.
The U.S Supreme Court abolished segregation in the south. Britain abolished the death penalty.
And to mark these momentous events?? We listened to Rolf Harris “Two Little Boys”, Edison Lighthouse and “Love Grows” and Lulu with “Boom Bang a Bang”. Desperate times.
At least we had “Abbey Road”.
And Eric Portman died. So did Kenneth Horne. And Billy Cotton. Wakey, wakey, no more.
Vigo RFC won their first match.
In the cinemas, we were watching “M.A.S.H”, Ken Russell’s “The Devils” and Mick Jagger in “Performance”. Stick to singing, Micky.
And 1969 was over. The Seventies were ushered in with a raucous party in the Vigo. Perhaps we knew. The Seventies were ushered in to the sounds of Rolf and Kenny and Dana. Thank God we still had “Lt It Bleed”, “Bridge Over troubled Water”, and “Led Zep II”.
The age of majority was lowered to 18 in the U.K, and what did those ingrates do? The kicked out Harold Wilson and brought in the slightly scary Ted Heath. Trouble was brewing in Belfast, the U.S stepped up their bombing campaign in ‘Nam and started on Cambodia, newly desegregated school busses were being stoned in the southern states of the U.S.,
Alexander Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
But John Dos Passos, Erle Stanley Gardner and Erich Maria Remarque would write no more. For they were dead.
Dana brought out “All Kinds of Everything”. The England Football Squad ‘’Back Home”...and they were.
And the days were getting warmer. Our first season was over by May,1970.
May 1970. Four American students murdered by storm troopers at Kent University, Ohio. Riots in London, Paris, Prague , all over the U.S. The Beatles broken up. Love Ins over. The Flower generation gone. It was a time.
Our season, our first season was over. Little did we know what was to come.

Played 25
Won 5
Drawn 1
Lost 18
Points for 116
Points against 232.