For us Dale fans who were at the match against York City last week, it is fair to say we will never forget it.
We will never forget that sublime moment, deep into stoppage time, when Ian Henderson flicked the ball on the outside of his boot, a trademark lofted lob, perfectly placed for the towering figure of Mani Dieseruvwe. Like a basketball player who defies the laws of gravity, our Number 9 seemed to move in slow motion as his head slam-dunked the ball into the net.
The glorious chaos, the sheer bedlam of the limb-flinging celebration that ensued, was why we love sport, particularly sport rooted in our community. Joy it was to be alive in the Crown Oil Arena in that 95th minute, with Dale's first ever league trophy tantalisingly in our grasp. And to be young, or old, was very heaven.
Of course, York's sucker punch of an equaliser meant that agony all too quickly followed the ecstasy. It is hard to imagine how mentally and physically drained the Dale players felt at the final whistle, and I was truly gutted for them.
But they should be proud of just how much of a fight they put up, having gone toe-to-toe all season with a fine footballing side, with the tiniest of margins deciding the outcome. Winning a league is famously a marathon not a sprint, yet this was a marathon with a crazy, frantic dash to the finish line.
It is going to take every drop of psychological strength for our players to go again this weekend in the play-offs. Yet if any team can show that kind of resilience, it is this team. Like many Dale season ticket holders, I am so proud of this group of players, this club and all the pleasure they have served up over the past eight months.
Our Club's Motto
Our club's motto is our town's motto. Crede Signo: believe in the sign. Luck comes and goes, but belief is what powers us. Belief in our local talent, in ourselves.
Our football club, like our town, has been written off, ridiculed, talked down, for years. It hurts even more when our club, like our town, sometimes isn't supported by local people. In politics as in sport, it is all too easy to knock something, much harder to build something.
But Dale fans, true Dale fans, are Rochdale supporters in every sense of the word. We support our club - and support our town - through thick and thin, through the hard times and the good. "Rochdale till I die", as the chant goes.
Supporting Rochdale On and Off the Pitch
We support Rochdale on and off the pitch. We support our family and friends, our neighbours, our workmates, our local businesses, shops, bars and restaurants.
Our club, like our town, has more grafters than grifters. Our club, like our town, has the raw talent, community spirit and natural resources to rival anywhere. That talent has to be nurtured, supported, and believed in. Whether it is young Dale players or young engineering apprentices, their raw potential just needs the right support to allow it to flourish.
Belief isn't enough, of course. It needs a practical, costed plan to back it up. Our footballers couldn't do their job without a big investment in the pitch from the Ogden family. From the new extension to Hopwood Hall College to the new homes being built near the train station, from falling NHS waiting times to lifting 5,000 Rochdale kids out of poverty, Government investment is beginning to pay off too.
And win or lose this weekend, I know our club - and our town - are turning things around. Up the Dale.
