Couple who met at Carlisle United to mark golden wedding anniversary

On September 9, 1970, Bob Stokoe's Carlisle United welcomed Joe Mercer's Manchester City to Brunton Park in the second round of the League Cup. 

Mercer's first-tier side were defending the cup title which they had won the previous season, however, left Cumbria on the end of a famous victory for the Blues.

Brunton Park held 18,000 fans on that evening, and amongst the spectators who watched Dennis Martin and Bob Hatton net for Carlisle United were David and Christine Whitfield.

Bob Hatton celebrates after scoring Carlisle United's winner (Image: News & Star)

The pair, who had never met before, were perched in the Warwick Road End soaking up the action on a night that would ultimately change the course of their lives. 

Almost four years to the date after this fixture, the couple were married on September 7, 1974, and now, in September 2024, the pair are preparing to mark their golden 50th wedding anniversary, with David on hand to recall the day he met Christine.

"I lived just off Greystone Road in 1970 which is 200 yards from Brunton Park," he said.

"At the match, the first thing Christine said to me as she was standing with one of her friends in the Warwick Road End was that she thought I was very loud and she was going to move a few yards away from me.

(Image: News & Star)"When Carlisle scored, in the celebrations I gave her a hug, and then after the game I took her home on the bus to Harraby.

"I had to borrow the bus fare because I had no more money after the game but I took her home and then walked back from Harraby to where I lived."

"At the time, we had no idea how much that night in 1970 would change our lives."

Ever since the pair's meeting at Brunton Park, football has played a key role in their relationship, with Christine embracing David's love for Carlisle United by knitting him scarves and accompanying him to more home fixtures.

He said: "I have followed Carlisle forever and in recent years I have been a season ticket holder, but in my teens, I followed them to a lot of away games. 

"Christine has also always been a keen football fan and she used to go to a lot of Carlisle games with me and after we met she used to knit me football scarves.

(Image: Supplied) "I used to play a lot of football locally at the weekend as well as Christine would come and watch me and on a few occasions would even stand as a goalpost."

David and Christine are planning to mark their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends.

They had hoped to involve the club which brought them together in the celebrations. However, on their anniversary itself, the Blues travel to Bradford to take on the Bantams. 

"When the fixture list came out I saw that there is no match around it, otherwise we would have had some sort of celebration at Brunton Park," David said.

"If there had been a home game I would have loved to have done something daft like the crossbar challenge together at half-time or I would have loved to embarrass her... in a loving way!"