It was October 12, 1968 and Steve Percy was on Wood Green High Street. This wasn’t unusual in itself. North London born and bred, Percy would often go there with his family. The problem was with the timing. It was a Saturday afternoon and, while Percy was shopping, Barnet were playing at home.
“For some reason we were in Wood Green and before we knew it, it was about half past three,” says Percy, recollecting the experience of his 13-year-old self. “I thought: ‘Oh God, I’m not going to get to Barnet now.’ I made it home round about the time the game would have finished and managed to find the result. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it was a 5-1 win against Worcester City.”
Percy can remember the moment clearly, as it was the last time he missed a Barnet home game. That’s 50 years and counting, a run that stretches 1,377 matches (his run of consecutive matches home and away is a greater total, 2,020, but runs for a shorter period of time). In terms of devotion it’s equivalent to a religious faith, though there are some differences: when it came time to commemorate his achievement Percy, instead of receiving a blessing from a cleric, was paraded on the pitch at the Hive before the National League match against Solihull Moors.
“It’s just one of those unexplained things,” says Percy of how he got the bug. “I’d missed probably seven or eight games before that Worcester thing. But after that I intentionally tried to make every match. Touch wood I’ve had nothing serious enough to stop me going since. Only on a handful of occasions have I felt rough on the day. Maybe if I hadn’t had the run going, I might not have gone but you seem to feel better once you’re there.”
Percy, 63, may sometimes have ignored his health in favour of supporting Barnet but that’s not all; he has also ignored his brother’s wedding. “I did miss it, because Barnet were at home to Telford on the same day,” he says. “Luckily it was at home. Rush back after the game, quick change and I made the reception by 6pm. So it wasn’t too bad.”
Currently Percy is enjoying the best of times, with Barnet having reached the fourth round of the FA Cup (they have done it twice before, Percy was there both times). He enjoyed the third-round away day at Bramall Lane, where Barnet beat Sheffield United 1-0, but considers the draw against Brentford a bit of a letdown. It will be a derby between teams known as the Bees, but that is no consolation to Percy. “We call them the fake Bees,” he says. “Not sure why they’re called bees at all beyond the fact their name starts with B. I’ve certainly never seen a bee with red and white stripes.”
Some people will recognise the obsessive passion that has allowed Percy to maintain his streak all this time, other people will boggle. “Everyone’s inclined to be on the pessimistic side all the time as a fan. And when you lose you feel so down,” he says. “But you’ve got to balance that with the euphoria of when you win. You can’t describe the highs when you do it. We’ve won the Conference three times and won the Southern League first division south, won the Southern League cup, been to Wembley in the FA Trophy in 1972, though unfortunately we didn’t turn up on the day. Those sort of highs are worth the lows.
“The best part over all the many years I’ve been going has been making so many friends, including a lot of players and managers. I’m very close to Barry Fry, he went to my 60th birthday. We’ve had our disagreements, mainly about football. In the early days we were really on a shoestring budget and Barry used to get in about seven or eight really good players but the other three were absolutely crap. And there was no back up. It was so frustrating, but you know you can’t help but like Barry.”
Not just a supporter but a volunteer, Percy chaired the supporters’ committee at Barnet for many years. The club has, in a way, been like a second family. “Everyone knows each other at Barnet and if you support a Premier League side you’d have to admit that’s not the case,” he says. “I’ve known officials and players at the club and a lot of players’ wives in the past. They’ve been like sisters or mothers, in a way, but you can’t really describe it unless you’re a part of it.”
Yet the lower leagues have not been immune to the changes made by clubs at the top of the game. Percy laments a professionalisation which has separated players from fans. He also notes the way the new ground, which opened in 2013, has disrupted the community that built up around the Underhill stadium.
“Nowadays people, including at our club, don’t get to see the players,” he says. “In the old days you’d sometimes go out with them on a pub crawl after the game. Nowadays, even at our level, if something happened in the evening it would be plastered all over the papers. It was just a different culture in those days but it was very enjoyable.
“I’ve still got a lot of friends from years ago. But In the last few years we’ve lost so many people I knew well. The move over to the Hive, which is about six and a half miles away from Underhill, has not gone down well and people have moved away that you knew when you were young. And I’m afraid that as I’m getting older the worst thing of all is that people are departing not just football, but the world.”
Percy says he has no targets left for his streak, just to pursue it for as long as his health will allow. As for his team, some wishes do remain. “I’d like to see us get back into the Football League and preferably stabilise in League One,” he says. “I think we could be the Walsall of London. But if there’s one thing missing for me personally, it’s that I’d love to win the FA Trophy. Avenge that final of 1972. It’s something I’d like to set right, before they put me in a box.”