Joe Atkinson details the time that Guiseley, yes Guiseley and Daniel Lowe once featured on an episode of Australian serial drama Neighbours!
This article first featured in The Lions match day programme, read electronic copies here.
Let’s set the scene; David Peel was born in Yeadon and moved to Hull with his family whilst still young. He returned to Leeds for university which is where I met him. I can’t remember the details of how, but we decided one weekend to watch Guiseley at home. A 2-0 defeat in Terry Dolan’s last game as manager. David’s home for the past ten years has been Melbourne Australia and his Christmas plans are always based around Guiseley AFC!
“I was hooked!” David laughs.
Our conversation wasn’t over Zoom or any of the communication devices we have all become far more familiar with than we’d have wanted to over the past two years. It was in person. That’s because David returned to the UK for the first time in three years over the Christmas period.
“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t planned my leave from my job back in Australia around the Guiseley fixture list” he says. “It’s been great seeing family, but there’s not much that can replace the non-league scene in England. I go to games over there and have been able to see Leeds whilst I’ve been over here too. But Guiseley at Nethermoor is different.”
It was disappointing then, that the first game we had planned to go to together-the game that was meticulously planned as it would be the first time we’d seen each other since before Covid-was the Boxing Day game against Farsley. You will recall, it was postponed.
As disappointing as this was, it gave us a chance to catch up over a drink. It also gave me a chance to ask David a question I’m not sure has been asked many times before.
‘What’s it like being a Guiseley fan all the way over there?’
He stares at me. Then slowly responds.
“Imagine telling your girlfriend-a GP-that you have to get up at 2am to follow Guiseley over the internet or on the radio. She can vaguely understand me getting up to watch the Premier League. But not Guiseley! I can see why people think it’s a bit odd but once you’ve fallen for a club, that’s it. You can’t turn it off. So it’s not easy following in Australia, but it’s not impossible either.”
The older amongst us may remember ex-Lion Steve Burton who played for us in 2009. You may not know that Burton went on to play for South Melbourne FC – a fact not lost on David when he went to watch them play whilst wearing a Guiseley scarf (“It gets cold around August time at night”). On speaking to Steve after the game, he told David that it had “made my night” to have been ‘recognised’. “He had really good things to say about his time at Guiseley” David said. “He said he didn’t play as much as he’d have wanted but that he’d learned loads and that it helped him develop as a player.”
Ask any resident of the UK to say what comes to mind and there’s a good chance they’ll say ‘Neighbours’.
Ah, Neighbours. Memories of being off school and watching the lunchtime edition (and then watching it again at tea time). Karl and Susan. Toadie. You’d be forgiven for thinking that there are ABSOLUTELY NO links between Guiseley and Australia’s most famous export. But you’d be wrong!
“I forgot about that!” David laughs as I bring it up and ask him to tell the story again of how an in-joke between him and a friend who worked as an assistant script-writer on the show led to the club and a legendary player being referenced.
“It was the 2017 season and Danny Lowe had scored that last minute equaliser against Solihull Moors. I cannot tell you how brilliant it was celebrating that goal in the middle of the night when I saw it appear on Twitter! A friend of mine worked on Neighbours at the time, writing a couple of scenes for the show. He knew of my supporting Guiseley and although we weren’t brave enough to mention ‘Guiseley’ specifically, one of the characters did visit ‘Guiseborough’ for the weekend. In the same episode, a student called ‘Daniel Lowe’ worked with one of the regular characters for a school project. When I saw the finished episode, I couldn’t stop laughing. Guiseley on Neighbours!”
There were probably three people in the world (me being one of them) who would have got the reference. It’s the small things in life.
David returned to Australia in mid-January after seeing a 0-0 draw at home to Farsley. He plans to be back over before the end of the year. You’ll find him in the Clubhouse bar before the game. Ask him about the time he wore his Guiseley shirt to the final of The Australian Open…..
Thank you to Joe Atkinson for this article.
