Peter at the match venue in Finland
17/09/80 European Cup 1st round, 1st leg: Oulu Palloseura 1 LFC 1
Whenever the draw is made for a European competition Kopites excitedly wait to see which new destination they might have the opportunity to visit.
In July 1980 Broadgreen based LFC fan Peter O’Brien was filled with a bigger sense of anticipation than usual on the day the fixtures for the opening rounds of the European Cup were due to be announced.
The now 50 year-old explains: “About nine months earlier, on the train back from a League Cup game at Norwich, myself and another fan called Paul Burton had agreed that we’d travel to Liverpool’s next European game. It didn’t matter who it was against.”
So on the day their pact was about to be put to the test O’Brien brought a small portable radio in to the workshop where he was serving an apprenticeship as a fitter.
“I sneaked away from the machinery to listen to it in the toilet and the news came through that we would be playing Oulu Palloseura. I had no idea who they were or where Finland was. Understandably I thought Paul might have second thoughts about our plan. When I got home I phoned him and he was still interested.”
It was Burton’s tales of away days which had originally enthralled O’Brien. “We’d only met on the way back from that Norwich game. I was with another mate and Paul told us about some of the games he’d been to in previous seasons; Barcelona in ’76, Bruges in the UEFA Cup final and the 1977 European Cup final win in Rome.
“Even to this day I still regret not going to that first European Cup triumph. I was 14 at the time and had exams at school. In a way, missing out on that has probably motivated me to go to many more European aways since then.”
In 1980 getting to northern Finland was a complicated process. Short haul, low budget airlines such as Ryanair or Easyjet didn’t exist. The available flying options were far too expensive. Instead the chosen route was over land and sea.
“Initially we couldn’t even find the place on a map,” O’Brien continues. “We went to a travel office on Myrtle Street which did cheap Transalpino tickets for anyone under 26. Like us, they had no idea where Oulu was. But they eventually sorted it.
“In total it cost £114.50. That was an awful lot of cash. I was on roughly £22 per week at the time so it was nearly six pay packets.”
Getting time off work to go on the expedition required some creative thinking. “I’d recently started my apprenticeship so I had to get my mom to write a letter saying we were going to stay with an aunt in Norwich for a family holiday.”
Prior to departing there was a league game with West Brom to attend. A routine 4-0 home win for Bob Paisley’s outfit was followed by a dash to collect bags, eat and make their way to Lime Street station. “Now it probably wouldn’t be such a big deal, but it felt like the start of an epic adventure.”
Naturally they weren’t the only Scousers embarking on a 66-hour trip that began Saturday night and concluded on a Tuesday morning.
“I think the train had only just left when someone came walking down the corridor asking if anyone was going to Finland? He was called Kevin and there were three other lads with him. We ended up sticking together for the whole journey.
”Two other fans were also on that first train to London. They had a rough plan to hitch from the continent to Finland. We never saw them again so I assume they didn’t make it.”
O’Brien and his group did reach their destination, after making their way through Holland, Denmark and Sweden via a series of ferries and trains. “Finland felt fresh and modern, or more modern than the UK anyway. Obviously it was colder too.”
Weary but excited, their first priority was to find accommodation. “It was described as a hostel, but that was being generous. There were seven beds in one room, six for us and another occupied by an old bloke with a wooden leg.”
The team was obviously staying in more comfortable surroundings – the town’s best hotel down by the waterfront. “We decided to go there. Some of the club’s directors were in the bar and I think they noticed our dishevelled appearance. We had been travelling for days so they could have been more understanding.
“The players were interested in how we’d got there and Phil Neal promised us tickets for the match at Southampton the following weekend. He was as good as his word too, meeting us outside the Dell and handing them over.”
Word of their trip also reached the travelling press, with the Liverpool Echo mentioning the story on the following days’ front page.
“Because we were supposed to be in work we had to give some false surnames,” O’Brien says. “I was Peter Taylor. Paul said his was Johnson. Unfortunately he got found out by his boss when he returned to work.”
On the way back to their temporary accommodation that night they spotted someone waving at them from an upstairs window. When they went to investigate they discovered another travelling Kopite.
“He was called Martin Cannon. We’ve been good mates ever since. I was best man at his wedding.”
After so much effort to get to Finland the game itself proved mostly uneventful. Terry McDermott opened the scoring before a shock Soini Puotiniemi equaliser for the hosts 10 minutes from time saw the contest finish 1-1.
“We had got tickets before leaving England. But Bob Paisley provided us with others for the press box, which was very nice of him. The ground held about 14,000 and nearly all of them were supporting Oulu. As Liverpool fans we stood out and made some noise.”
Immediately after the final whistle the trek back to England began. Such a prompt departure was necessary if they were to reach Southampton for the Reds’ Saturday fixture.
“Even to this day I still regret not going to that first European Cup triumph. I was 14 at the time and had exams at school. In a way, missing out on that has probably motivated me to go to many more European aways since then.”
In 1980 getting to northern Finland was a complicated process. Short haul, low budget airlines such as Ryanair or Easyjet didn’t exist. The available flying options were far too expensive. Instead the chosen route was over land and sea.
“Initially we couldn’t even find the place on a map,” O’Brien continues. “We went to a travel office on Myrtle Street which did cheap Transalpino tickets for anyone under 26. Like us, they had no idea where Oulu was. But they eventually sorted it.
“In total it cost £114.50. That was an awful lot of cash. I was on roughly £22 per week at the time so it was nearly six pay packets.”
Getting time off work to go on the expedition required some creative thinking. “I’d recently started my apprenticeship so I had to get my mom to write a letter saying we were going to stay with an aunt in Norwich for a family holiday.”
Prior to departing there was a league game with West Brom to attend. A routine 4-0 home win for Bob Paisley’s outfit was followed by a dash to collect bags, eat and make their way to Lime Street station. “Now it probably wouldn’t be such a big deal, but it felt like the start of an epic adventure.”
Naturally they weren’t the only Scousers embarking on a 66-hour trip that began Saturday night and concluded on a Tuesday morning.
“I think the train had only just left when someone came walking down the corridor asking if anyone was going to Finland? He was called Kevin and there were three other lads with him. We ended up sticking together for the whole journey.
”Two other fans were also on that first train to London. They had a rough plan to hitch from the continent to Finland. We never saw them again so I assume they didn’t make it.”
O’Brien and his group did reach their destination, after making their way through Holland, Denmark and Sweden via a series of ferries and trains. “Finland felt fresh and modern, or more modern than the UK anyway. Obviously it was colder too.”
Weary but excited, their first priority was to find accommodation. “It was described as a hostel, but that was being generous. There were seven beds in one room, six for us and another occupied by an old bloke with a wooden leg.”
The team was obviously staying in more comfortable surroundings – the town’s best hotel down by the waterfront. “We decided to go there. Some of the club’s directors were in the bar and I think they noticed our dishevelled appearance. We had been travelling for days so they could have been more understanding.
“The players were interested in how we’d got there and Phil Neal promised us tickets for the match at Southampton the following weekend. He was as good as his word too, meeting us outside the Dell and handing them over.”
Word of their trip also reached the travelling press, with the Liverpool Echo mentioning the story on the following days’ front page.
“Because we were supposed to be in work we had to give some false surnames,” O’Brien says. “I was Peter Taylor. Paul said his was Johnson. Unfortunately he got found out by his boss when he returned to work.”
On the way back to their temporary accommodation that night they spotted someone waving at them from an upstairs window. When they went to investigate they discovered another travelling Kopite.
“He was called Martin Cannon. We’ve been good mates ever since. I was best man at his wedding.”
After so much effort to get to Finland the game itself proved mostly uneventful. Terry McDermott opened the scoring before a shock Soini Puotiniemi equaliser for the hosts 10 minutes from time saw the contest finish 1-1.
“We had got tickets before leaving England. But Bob Paisley provided us with others for the press box, which was very nice of him. The ground held about 14,000 and nearly all of them were supporting Oulu. As Liverpool fans we stood out and made some noise.”
Immediately after the final whistle the trek back to England began. Such a prompt departure was necessary if they were to reach Southampton for the Reds’ Saturday fixture.
On the ferry to Stockholm they tried to converse with two Finnish girls, initially without much success.
“They didn’t speak much English or pretended not to at first. Somehow we established they came from a town so far north that it was classed as being in Lapland,” O’Brien laughs. “We were drawing pictures of igloos and ridiculous things like that. Eventually the language barrier was broken, although I think we spent most of the time talking about football.”
By the time the ship docked Peter had swapped addresses with Paula and they promised to write to each other before going their separate ways.
“In one of my letters a few weeks later I suggested visiting for Christmas. I did and a week after making the same journey again we got engaged. We spent 18 years together and had two children before splitting up.
“Roughly half of that time was spent living in Birkenhead. Then we moved back to Finland in 1991, and I’ve been here ever since. I work as a bus driver. That makes it harder to get to Liverpool away games in Europe.
“But I still manage a few thanks to the patience of my partner Mimmi who juggles her work commitments around to look after our small kids.
“I went to Trabzon a few years ago. I’ve been to see us play Kosice, Vladikavkaz, Swarowski Tirol and many, many more. If the team are playing and I can’t get there it really agitates me.”
ENDS
Peter's route from Liverpool to Oulu:
Train from Lime St to London Euston. Underground from Euston to Liverpool St. Liverpool St to Harwich. Ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. From Hook of Holland train to Copenhagen. Train from Copenhagen to Stockholm. Ferry from Stockholm to Turku (Finnish port). Train from Turku to Oulu.
This article first appeared in issue 11 of LFC Monthly magazine.
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