Ronnie Biggs: Gooner
As is well known, Ronnie Biggs is back in blighty. He returned to
the country in a poor state of health, simply because he wanted to see
England again.
He is a frail old man, feeding through a tube. And he's a big Arsenal fan
who keeps himself going partly with the thought that maybe they'll let him out
and maybe he'll get to see his beloved Gunners again.
I guess the move back to Britain was a step in the right direction. Maybe in Belmarsh he gets to see more games than he did in Brasil
(where it was just the occasional European match). Funnily enough, he's pleased he's in Belmarsh rather than another prison because one of the warders
has told him that it's on the site of our first stadium in Woolwich.
We asked Gio, an Arsenal fan who's working on Ronnie's website,
to find out about Ronnie's first Arsenal match. Using a spelling
board, he told his son Michael that it was in 1952, a 7-1 win
over Hibernian! He remembers shouting out in a Scottish
accent, "Come on Hibs, we only want 7!" This was a prestige game
billed as a 'Floodlit Charity Match', and was one of the first matches
ever to be televised. Hibs had been the reigning champions for 2 years,
but we blew them away. It was a fierce affair notable for a 5 goal
display by outside left Don Roper (the other 2 goals coming from
Lishman). We drew inspiration from this victory and went on to win
the title, with Roper notching 14 goals in 41 games. Roper was one
of Arsenal's greatest servants in the 40s and 50s and sadly died
earlier this year at the age of 78.
You may be surprised that I'm plugging the "Free Ronnie Biggs" campaign.
I wouldn't have expected it myself. If we believed the papers many of
us would want him banged up for ever: a criminal mastermind, responsible
for a death in the "Great Train Robbery", whose been living the life of Riley on
his ill-gotten gains for all these years...
Well, as Arsenal fans we know to look further than the opinion
spoon-fed us by the media. It turns out that none of those things are true.
Ronnie is not and was never a criminal mastermind.
He was a very junior
member of the train robbing gang, is not a murderer (no-one was killed),
and has been scraping a living through all those years of exile.
The sentence he was handed was outrageously long, even back in those days.
And he is clearly no threat to anyone.
Feel free to disagree, but please do have a look at the campaign website,
this page of
common misconceptions is a good place to start.
And if you agree that his case should at least be
looked at, please write to the appropriate people as detailed on the site.
Rupe
See also
Other Ronnie Biggs pages...
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