D Parker waxed lyrical (You Say, Saturday, October 19) about the days when football crowds of 60,000 - 70,000 were a "fairly common occurrence".

I too remember those "good old days" of the past, when you paid to stand on the terraces of a football ground and were lucky to escape with your life.

It was normal only a few years ago to stand up to your ankles in urine and get pushed and shoved for yards down the terraces several times during a match.

I'm sure Mr. Parker will tell me I'm wrong about this but I'm afraid I've experienced it over and over again in grounds all over England and Europe.

Why can't these people get their heads out of the clouds and realise that the "good old days" are simply a myth.

Thirty eight people were killed in the Heysell Stadium, Brussels in 1985, and 97 people were killed in the Hillsborough stadium, Sheffield, in 1989.

If there had been no terraces at either of those stadia then the carnage would not have occurred.

All seater stadia have ensured that the mass slaughter that occurred in the past no longer happens - I know this because I visit football grounds every week.

I hope Mr Parker does not attempt to blame these tragedies on "hooligans" - the hooligans still attend football matches but the advent of all seater stadia has put a stop to the mayhem inside the grounds.

And as for players in the past such as Stanley Mathews being "fitter" and "better" than modern players, well that's just complete and utter rubbish.

Mathews played at the top level until he was about 50, this does not mean he was superior to modern day players, rather the standard then was lower, and that is just a simple fact whether Mr Parker likes it or not.

Gary Webb, Bath Road, Worcester.