Oldham Athletic's home game against Eastleigh will be dedicated to our amazing Armed Forces as we honour those who continue to serve, our veterans and those who lost their lives fighting for our country.
We are delighted to welcome Steve Johnson to our blog to tell us more about his group, which is going from strength to strength.
Hi Steve, please introduce yourself...
My name is Steve Johnson and alongside my fellow RAF veteran Garry Brown, I’m co-founder of the Oldham Athletic Veterans and Armed Forces Supporters Group. I served in the RAF from the age of 17 for just short of a decade. I’ve been posted and served in some nice places, some very nice places and some right dumps!
What inspired you to create the group?
Having been introduced to Garry by Matt Dean last season, we got chatting over a few beers in our great Fans Bar and thought, with the sheer number of Military Latics supporters we both knew, it might be worth having a focal point and area where we could all meet up pre and post game.
Members & guests
Can you tell us a little bit and about yourselves and what you did?
We decided to start to fundraising not only for our group, but also for the local community and attempt to get recognition from the club like our fellow supporters group have. Garry ran a local 10k and our fellow supporters swelled the coffers to such a degree we decided to gift a Match Day Mascot package to a local youngster. Incidentally, that youngster will be one of the four mascots leading the team out on Saturday. We had further donations and have now funded several packages this season.
Whilst serving, I was a member of the World Famous (well aside from in Germany maybe) 617 Squadron - The Dambusters - amongst many roles and postings. Garry was a Gunner in the RAF Regiment. We also have an ex-member of the Royal Signals, another ex-RAF Regiment/Comissioned Officer and a current serving member of the British Army’s Army Air Corps who’s been recruited as our Army Liaison. We will in time recruit similar for the RAF and the Royal Navy. We have a veterans wife whose role is administration within the group.
Flying with world famous 617 Sqn The Dambusters
What has been your greatest achievement so far with the group at Oldham Athletic?
Personally speaking, it’s a mix between providing the mascot packages to youngsters in our local community and seeing numerous serving personnel and veterans join us as our match day guests, thanks to the club's commitment to us by providing tickets in the Main Stand. We have recently sponsored local community initiatives and will continue to do that into next season and beyond.
We’ve also achieved recognition from the Armed Forces Covenant and the Football Supporters Assocation due to the hard work put in by our team.
Recognition from FSA and Covenant
Recently RAF puma Helicopter came in to BP. Can you tell us a little bit more about this and if it was coincidental or on purpose with the name Puma in it?
The pilot, Wing Commander Andy ‘Keeno’ Green, is about as loyal a Latics supporter as you can get and whilst carrying out Training Sorties in the area requested permission to practise a ‘Confined Landing’ exercise. As he’s a personal friend of mine, he asked who was the best person to speak with at the club. Within the hour permission was granted and the next afternoon it happened. It was just a coincidence that it was a Puma helicopter, however, maybe next time …..... This was quite a surreal moment and shows the link between the club and the military, in particular the Royal Air Force.
Puma helicopter flying in Boundary park.
Do you have a favourite funny story of your time in the service?
Like most things when you’re young, it may have seemed the time to be a nause or difficult, however, looking back it was a great time from start to finish, I still socialise with people I joined up with in 1988, served with and with the links made in our group continue that camaraderie to this day.
Is there any bad/good habits you have taken away from your time in the service?
That’s a tricky one! I set my standards in everything I do very, very high. I expect a similarly high standard from others. I feel like I hold levels of confidence that sometimes gets me into trouble, but most of the time reaps dividends. So good/bad? - I’m not so sure.
I was a member of the RAF's Aircraft Salvage & Transportation Flight - not a nice job at times.
What you would like to achieve next as a group?
I can only speak for myself but I’d like to grow what we do into something that benefits not just military supporters, but the Club and community and maybe give someone the idea that a career in the military could be for them.
One piece of advice I could give on that subject is that, generally speaking, the RAF will ‘check in’ to their accommodation whilst deployed on operations, whereas the British Army will inevitably ‘dig in’ to theirs!!
What would you say to anyone who is thinking of joining the Armed Forces?
Don’t rush into it! Do your research, ask our group, contact us via our social media channels or speak to us. We have numerous contacts that will be present behind the Rochdale Road End on Saturday. Failing that, remember my advice in the previous question.
Do you have a message to any Oldham fan who is an ex vet, serving or is a family member to someone who is/has served?
Take FULL advantage of what we as a group offer and - more importantly - what the Club does and will offer in the future. As a fanbase, we’re strong and cohesive like any military unit. There’s a lot of similarities if you think about it.
You can find the team in the fan bar before most games if you would like a chat.
Can we at Her Game Too help in any way?
I'd think it was the other way around if not mutual. We obviously want to help all serving and veterans to feel part of our community at Oldham Athletic and do that in partnership with the Her Game Too network and promote each other.
There's just shy of 6,000 veterans registered in Oldham at the last census in 2021. We have a female serving RAF Police Corporal with us on Saturday, and the Army Major in charge on Saturday at the rear of the Rocky is another perfect example of what we both want to join forces with.
Oldham Athletic will remember British Service Members who have lost their lives in wars and military conflicts, with a ceremony taking place on this weekend’s fixture against Eastleigh at Boundary Park. You can find more information about this here. https://www.oldhamathletic.co.uk/news/2023/november/06112023-remembrance-fixture/
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Laurence Binyon
