Formerly The Bayview Bulletin, issue 11 of the always lively Away From The Numbers appeared in February 1991 (I dated it purely by the news of the death of a former player..) The editor loved The Jam it seems, enough to risk changing the name of an established fanzine anyway.

Straight to an actual picture this week, one of middling quality but certainly not the worst we’ve seen and FOUR pylons per side of the pitch (well, 2 sides anyway). Perhaps in a form of protest, it names East Fife’s ground as one of Arthur C Clarke’s mysteries of the world. I mean it’s not an alien artifact, doesn’t contain a crystal skull and nor was it situated on a Nazca line (has anyone checked though?) but according to our heroes it is a place where time stands still. Quite.

It’s also a lovely record of a lost ground and here is an interlude with some sort of useful stuff wot I found on the internet about the old Bayview.

• Its original name was Town Hall Park before being renamed Bayview Park due to its proximity to Largo Bay.
• East Fife were there for 95 years, hosting its first match on August 15, 1903, against Hearts
• The record attendance was 22,515 spectators for a match against Raith Rovers on January 2, 1950.
• There was greyhound racing at Bayview from 1934 to 1961
• The site was closed in 1998 when East Fife moved across town to the modern Bayview Stadium (MGM Timber Bayview Stadium) only 760 people bothered to turn out to witness the final game.
• Floodlights were installed in 1954 and first used in a friendly against the soon to be mighty Leeds United.

The new Bayview Stadium was famously overlooked by Methil power station until that was demolished in 2011..Here is one of the floodlights at the new ground.

This isn’t the only floodlight reference in the fanzine though…oh no. We get FOUR full pages about the recent late cancellation of a game at Alloa. Apparently this was a late decision (1pm for a 3pm KO) and BBC Radio Scotland didn’t see fit to broadcast the news, so the thousands/hundreds/tens of East Fife supporters travelling were mainly told by stewards outside the deserted Rec.. ah the joys of pre-internet travel.

I’ll allow the 2 page letter about this in as it’s only fair to complain about this treatment, it mentions the floodlights and gift shop at Alloa but mainly because it is an absolute classic; Our correspondent turns down a lift home from Alloa keeper Jim Butter in favour of getting pished in Stirling. You really couldn’t make it up.