This week’s #FloodlightFriday escapade comes to you from Not The 8502, the classic AFC Bournemouth (sic) fanzine. Issue 30 covers March and April of 1993 with the team about to finish 17th in the 2nd (3rd) division, a young chap called Tony Pulis in charge and the only overseas player in the squad being Efan Ekoku. There is the vague possibility that there is one of the old Dean Court floodlights on the front cover but the sky is so badly overexposed it’s hard to tell. Keep an eye on that shirt though, it’s important…

On the back cover floodlights of a slightly different variety are on display in this caricature demonstrating the zines concern with the team’s strip.

I mean, they have a point. It’s bad enough having the home strip like this, but adding a matching away number in turquoise and purple…well that’s just cruel.

Before we go further I need to point out that all photos in this issue were available to buy, in black and white obviously and with an ad that might have gone in this week’s blog. Looking at those strips, thank god they only used b&w.

Our first sighting of ACTUAL floodlights comes in ‘The Journals of the WATC’ which includes moans about a full £1 difference in price for away fans, giving away 3 goals, having to go to Hartlepool and a biased incompetent ref (33 years have passed, technology has ‘improved’ and yet here we are still arguing about refereeing decisions…). There are decent pubs though but no decent photos of floodlights. I have, by watching endless VAR repeats, convinced myself that you CAN see the pylon at Vale Park in this photo. Modern, colour comparison included though it might be the wrong end..

We will now consider a quite superb missive vaguely about photography or rather the lack of it at Dean Court. It is all happening in this letter from a groundhopping Enfield supporter. Moans about £2.10 for a pie, coffee AND Mars bar seem parsimonious at the distance, the ridiculous excuse given by the copper is breathtaking and clearly a monumental lie and the complaint about the club shop not having photos of the ground is a corker. Imagine taking your young kid in there and saying no, no scarf, no hat, no shirt, not even a club branded lunch box for you kiddo, its a photo of the ground or nothing….and why moan to the fanzine, write to the club mate!

Only at the very end is the ulterior motive for this letter revealed, the author is flogging his own fanzine!! Superb work.

You’re wondering where this goes next now aren’t you…well here we have the most convincing and complete shot of floodlights in the whole zine, well about 10% of the ones at Leyton Orient anyway.

The accompanying article about AFC’s dreadful record at Brisbane road is quite superb in its bitterness and I’ll come back to it at another time, the stats selected only since Bournemouth became AFC in 1974 are sublime and borderline demented. In the meantime just enjoy the splendour of this b&w photo available for 75p plus 30p postage in a 5″ by 8″ format.

So there you have it, a bumper triple/quadrupleish edition of #FloodlightFriday. If anyone knows what happened to Tony Pulis and AFC Bournemouth let me know. If you still have either of those shirts…good lord.