I did not realize my memory is so bad until I re-read my previous post. I said Bert Kurz,it should have been Fred Kurz and the Bert belonged to Albert Dawes,Fred Dawes the captains brother. I also forgot to mention that I cried my eyes out when my idol Arfur Hudgell was transferred in 1947 to Sunderland which was the first team in Britain to cost a million quid. Len Shackleton played for them and my Arfur Hudge played for them a long time as a great defender. God Bless em all!.

When i was about 5 years old ( early 60s ) i like i think a lot of kids do at that age started to take a bit of an interest in some of the more glam teams of the day Man utd Leeds Chelsea ect. My Dad god bless him seemed to get wind of this and told me "You WILL support one of your local teams boy ! " i grew up in Walworth SE 17 on the kinglake est. He was more a Millwall fan than Palace but was never one for travelling outside of London for away games and when one team was at home the other away and so he started taking me with him to the Den and Selhurst park. As Palace started to become more succsesfull the more we went watching us rise from the third to first division and by then i was well and truly hooked! Also by the promotion of 69 was by then 13 and going with me mates from our estate and Walworth secondary school.
I do remember in the early days when i was about 5 me Dad would never pay for me to get in he would just say to the geezer on the turnstile " Room for a littlean mate " and lift me over the top ! He would then plonk me down the front of the holmesdale with the rest of the young kids as we would all bang with vigor on the advertising boards ! He would stand further up the terraces with a couple of his mates puffing away on his No 6s shouting and swearing at the opposing players and anyone else who seemed to upset him while forever questioning the reffs parenthood ! This was my introduction to what was to be a long adventure for me that later in life would see me travelling all over the country with me and me mates getting ourselves into all sorts of bovver along the way ! Especially in our boot boys and skinhead days ! sadly my Dad has long since passed away but i will always be greatful to him for putting me on the right road and making sure i did not turn into a glory hunting Man utd or liverpool fan ! He always made sure i was proud to be a South London boy !

Good luck to Cardiff mate i know a lot of the Palace lads here are giving you a bit of stick but i will always remember a monday night in Cardiff back in 1980 when we played Swansea in a fa cup second replay. Sadly one of our boys got done for murder that night for killing a Swansea fan ( although it was the next day he actually got nicked ) but i remember how Cardiff fans were out in force supporting Palace big time ! We needed it to i reckon swansea fans outnumbered us 3 or 4 to one ! Your lads saved me and a couple of mates from a right kicking that night ! Have always had a soft spot for Cardiff since then ))

First match was against Notts Forest in the FA Cup, 1965 I think, we won 3-1.

first ever game not sure when but it was early 2000s and we were against sheffield united and we were losing and david hopkin had a free kick in the last min my dad said watch this it will be amazing, it was hit straight at the wall, my dad then told me we're never coming here again, been going ever since then.

interviewed on 2/5/2010 at hillsborough by BBC, highlight of my tv career.

I was only thinking about this the other day ! The madness that started the madness of being a Palace fan. I used to go to school in Orpington (sooooooo don't miss that dive!!) All my friend at school were Spurs, Arsenal or Liverpool (glory hunters!) One of my friends wanted to take me to a Spurs game ~ he went with his old mad. For some reason (maybe Int call ups or something) the Spuds game was called off. I think his old man suggested going to Palace. It was the first season we were promoted under Palace with Sir Steve. I think we played Plymouth(88/89 maybe?) and won 3-1 (help me out ! I could be wrong!) Im sure Wright scored at least one!

I was hooked from there ! After that my Spud friend kept asking me to go to WHL never went apart from when we played them !

I wouldn't change this insane roller-coaster for anything!!

Johnny Byrne who had the lot- goal scoring, heading, passing, tackling and a wonderful football brain. My dad took me to see Palace play at Selhurst back in the 1950s and we stood at the Whitehouse Road end which was then a mountain of mud with railway sleepers and a few railings in place to help us maintain our balance during the game. My outstanding memory of the game was Johnny Byrne turning on his magic and making the opposition players look like schoolboys. It was inevitable that we would lose him to a bigger Club and West Ham moved in to sign him soon after. Nevertheless, I feel honoured to have been given the chance to watch Palace's best ever footballer in his prime. When Johnny came back to finish his career at Palace, he still had the skill but he was rather overweight by then but he said that we were always in his thoughts and this must have influenced him to return and give us a few cameo performances.