Rember the Vikings at Ipswich and Norwich away .it had just been on telly
Cyberblue and all others who remember The Vikings on TV in 1976.... You've really helped my research (the power of Bluemoon!) as I'm doing a two part piece on chants for the last 2 City programmes. Quick question (may seem daft - I know it's very daft!) were you living in Granadaland then? I've searched various archives (newspapers and Radio Times) and managed to find lots of dates when the film was shown and your memory of 1976 ties up perfectly with a showing of the film on the Thursday night prior to Ipswich away (23/10/76) and Norwich (30/10/76).... the only problem being that it wasn't shown in Granadaland that night. It was on ITV in other regions, but Granada had a John Wayne film on instead.
There could have been a late film change and, as a few said that it had been shown prior to Ipswich/Norwich around 1976, I'm convinced this is what inspired it and will include that in the piece (though I'm still searching). Anyway, excellent memories and the evidence overall backs up this. I love it when we can find an actual date for something. I have also noticed that, in my own away trip memory bank, it was popular during 1983-84 (I remember someone bringing a Viking horn to the Oldham game and the Viking call going on for ages) which, again, coincides with a TV showing. Maybe each time it was on TV it reminded us and the first part (the Viking call itself) has been watered down in recent years because the film just hasn't been on TV.
For those who have no idea what the Viking call is/was or are too young to remember the film or not around when the chant/call was in its pomp during the 80s here's a few clips. This is part of the original trailer:
This is a melancholic version of the call:
and this is the type of horn (though much smaller) that often appeared at away games (about 19 seconds in):
***EDIT: Latest: I've now discovered it was also shown on Granada on the Wednesday night in between the Ipswich and Norwich games. All sorted and now dated. Great stuff!*********