When We Was Rad: Skateboard History from UK Vintage Magazine

These were the early days of street competitions and the course left much to be desired…

Strange But True Fact 1

The competition was held in the skatepark of Madrid, but no part of the park was used: the concrete was shined and ramps built instead.

Yes, the big pool was a bit too big and gnarly, with a couple of rough spots and no coping, just a shin-bashing sharp edge. The half pipe and tight bowl were ignored as they were too odd to get used to quickly and the amount of people in the reservoir turned it into a big mini ramp, with each person getting a 3 foot wide section to skate in.

S.B.T. Fact 2

Tim Payne, master ramp builder, was flown all the way from the USA 5 days before the contest, but the last of the wood only arrived the day before the start. There goes official practice day. I’ve never been to a ramp contest before where I had to help build the ramp: it was like going to a party and finding not only did I have to bring a bottle but also move the furniture and set up the sound system.
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“Not another boring European Competion report” says the fictional reader in the opening of this article on the Madrid skateboard content. We suspected that we were keener on the rest of Europe than most of our readers, and sometimes it showed.

EL TORRO GRANDE

by Jamon Bocadillos “Oh, no”snarled the reader as he/she flicked over the page, “Not another boring European Competition report!” His/her once cheerful facial expression changed to one of someone who had just found doggie-doo splashed all over their board after a night-time street session. But wait, oh faithful reader, before rushing on to the next article: give me a break, eh? I’m just trying to make a living off of skating, so in a shameless attempt to keep your interest and my job, I’ll give you the write up YOU want. Truth or lies, crail or crap… you choose!

First up what do I do next?

• Get a clue
• Get a proper job
• Get on with it

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Jamon Bocadillos = Mad Mike John, who is still working as a skate photographer to this day. Guerrero = fast, second. Bod = humongous Indy, second.

What better advert could you run at the end of the Irish story? Lance Mountain, looking like one of the nicest people in skateboarding. A moment of calm…

The Ireland article draws to a close with a Bloblands-type hump in Derry and a Wendy House in a ramp.

With its maniac skaters, novel spots and macabre sights, Dublin, and the Isle as a whole, gave the impression that anyone failing to have a good time here would probably be the sort who wouldn’t come here in the first place. And if they did they’d probably ruin it. So don’t go to Ireland, stay for a while — if you get my drift.

CAPTIONS:
Wurzel. Nightime Dublin streets
Another use for a ramp. Home sweet (Wendy) home. But living under ramps for real is not unheard of.
The Derry hump — it’ll dry

Gavin’s fond conclusion to the Northern Ireland section of this story also includes the advice that golf is “the nearest thing to skateboarding, and don’t let them tell you otherwise”.

‘Troubles’ was the after-dark topic. John Coffey’s troubles were ones of the soul: he’d thrown out all his copies of Thrasher with his scrap- books, binned them in disillusionment at passed dreams. Davie spouted he was going to take up golf “It’s the nearest thing to skateboarding, and don’t let them tell you otherwise!” was his cry. Steve spewed poetry from beneath a Kylie shirt and Glen entered into one matey on The, (yer actual) Troubles,.

The words flowed through a non-sectarian crowd (for skating and friendships here are not tinged by forefather’s religious squabbles). And the verdict? Carrying a gun should be compulsory and everyone might as well shoot who the hell they like.

They say that humour is a defence mechanism. If this is true, none of the bombs or bullets the bigots fire at each other will ever hit this lot. The sad truth is there is no solution to the Northern Ireland problem, however green or however clued-in you are. Simple solutions reek of sick insults. Yet if you’re looking for answers, the seeds have to be found in people like the Ulster skaters, who rage, laugh and ignore — despite and because of the shit the history has landed them in.

Don’t get me wrong: Northern Ireland is a rad place. It’s far less intimidating than London to the outsider: it just takes a lot of getting used to, like all places. It’s also embarrassingly friendly to a Camden cynic, and when the rain stops you’re on to a winner.
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Rare that we were able to devote so much space to one story, but the extra advertising in this Christmas issue allowed up to spread out a bit, and this feature certainly deserved the space.
Captions: Will you Follow?
Wurzel’s second visit to Ireland. Antrim.
One of the skaters featured here had appeared on the cover of those early U2 albums as a little boy. I assume the “will you follow” caption is a reference to that, although that aspect of his life was played down at the time.

The picture at the bottom right shows an army patrol in the background of an otherwise typical scene: skaters using any shelter they can find to session in the rain.

Then within five minutes the heavens opened and down poured a man’s rain. We retreated beneath a small bandstand since the situation was hopeless and opted to hold a flat-land comp on what was the only five square feet of dry land in Northern Ireland. So what was probably the most insane comp I’ve ever attended took place on a couple of paving stones.

At this stage I must apologise for my judging during the middle of the competition as my eyes tended to wander as the R.U.C. and gun-toting paras arranged themselves in the background. This was ‘just routine’ (unlike the comp) and the locals were oblivious to it.
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Think Extreme Games, Brummie Style. Or even Urban Games. These people had the right (or wrong) idea, but a few years too soon. I can remember shaking my head privately over a similar event in the London Docklands and thinking “it will never work”. Just shows how little I knew then! I always seem to turn and walk purposefully away from such things, opportunity or not.

The “never play near parked cars” caption was a reference to a world in which they sometimes exploded.
Captions: Never play near parked cars, and certainly don’t do Ollie Blunts like Geegee outside Clive’s
Gene Ollies at Clive’s ramp.