Cliff Bastin

I’ve heard the very sad news that Cliff passed away this morning. He was 93 and probably our oldest surviving supporter who was still attending matches. He got to many of our home fixtures last season but I remembered thinking when I saw him in his usual seat in the middle of the stand for the last one that he might not get to Twerton again. Yet remarkably he was there for this season’s opener against Dartford - presumably the last ever watching his beloved City.

There can really be no better tribute to Cliff than the wonderful biography produced last year…

https://bathcityfcsc.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/cliff-bastin.pdf

The Club and local sport has lost a devoted supporter.

RIP Cliff

Cliff was a lovely man, used to stand on the halfway line on the pop side until infirmity sent him to the stand. Supported all forms of local football and cricket. RIP Cliff.

Very sad news. A real gentlemen who was so well respected in local sporting circles.

Yes, very sad news indeed.
My most recent remembrances of him were when he used to travel on the 'away' coaches - map in hand, giving the driver his 'expert knowledge' of how to get to the grounds the quickest! Priceless.
My best recollections of him however were when he was still playing cricket (Bath Exiles?). I believe he was over seventy before he eventually restricted himself to scoring for them.
Incredibly he was still driving in those days. Basil will readily tell you of an occasion when he accepted a lift from him one evening, He went through a red light, and Basil asked him if he saw that light, to which Cliffs alleged response was "No I didn't - but as long as one of us saw it"!

RIP Cliff - you will never be forgotten.

During lockdown Cliff was one of a few of of our elderly supporters I phoned as SLO for a brief chat and to check that they were ok. What I’d intended to be a five minute call would always run to well over an hour as we talked about football and cricket.
He had an amazing memory and was able to fire off City line ups from years ago or scores from cricket matches he had been involved in. But what impressed me most was how he remembered my dad who he hadn’t seen for years but remembered the scores from a snooker match they had played against each other back in the 70s!
He was a truly remarkable chap.

comrade powell wrote:During lockdown Cliff was one of a few of of our elderly supporters I phoned as SLO for a brief chat and to check that they were ok. What I’d intended to be a five minute call would always run to well over an hour as we talked about football and cricket.
He had an amazing memory and was able to fire off City line ups from years ago or scores from cricket matches he had been involved in. But what impressed me most was how he remembered my dad who he hadn’t seen for years but remembered the scores from a snooker match they had played against each other back in the 70s!
He was a truly remarkable chap.

I thoroughly agree!!!!

If anyone would like to send their condolences to Cliff’s sister please send me a PM and I will give you her contact details.

Looking around the ground for Cliff was always one of the first things we'd do at the start of each new season. He's also the only person I've ever seen brandishing a pocket knife at a football ground without getting immediately slung out when he used to peel and cut his half-time apple! A true gent, and a deeply funny chap too. He'll be sorely missed at TP.