The afternoon of Saturday 25th of August, 1984, was an afternoon that would forever have an impact on the life of Martin Barry. Martin was nine years old at the time and it had been a regular occurrence for him to be brought to see local club, Tyman United FC, play in the town stadium which had been built specifically for Tyman united FC to play in.

Not long after the stadium had opened, only a couple of years earlier, it had quickly and lovingly become known as the 'stadium of ghosts', as a lot of people reported having strange ghostly experiences at the stadium leading the club to becoming known as the Tyman ghosts, so naturally enough their home kit was all white.

The stadium consisted of a number of facilities to which it could be used for events both related and non-related to football, in which created added justification for its existence. In which, it often gave reason so people to be alone at times of in company of just a few others, caretakers, cleaners and so on. This created many an opportunity for the odd story or three to come into place.

Martin woke his dad early on that August morning. He was excited and couldn't wait to get to the game. Kick off wasn't until three in the afternoon so there still was hours to go for the game to begin and for further excitement to build, so both Martin and his dad got ready and headed out. It was a bright and warm summer's day, pizza and ice cream were consumed before they'd head out to the stadium.

Entering the main stadium entrance, Martin could hear a baby's cry which lasted only a couple of seconds. He thought that the stadium on a match day was a strange place to bring a young baby but if the parents were and are football fans then why shouldn't they bring their child to the game, if sufficient care is taken. The thing was and is, when Martin had heard the cry, he looked all around him but could see no sign of any baby. The cry had only lasted a few seconds so maybe the baby was not in his line of vision ...match days do bring about many people.

The game itself was very lively and was end to end stuff, things were level coming close to half time and Martin was indeed loving it, loving it that was until he once again heard the cry of a baby. He looked around unable to see any child young enough to be making such a cry.

He wasn't so willing in this moment just to let it pass. The sound itself seemed somewhat ... strange, and in that, he wanted to be assured that all is alright, so he kept his glance away from the action in an effort to find that child. Finally, he could see where the cry was coming from.

And how odd it is. There was a child actually out on the pitch, approximately about fifty or so feet away from where Martin was sitting, there indeed sat a child, a child that looked to be about one year old or so and the play from the game was heading in the direction of where the child was or currently is.

Nobody seemed to be caring for the little one at all let alone trying to do anything at all about removing the child from the field so in his all his panic, Martin ran out onto the pitch and picked up the little one.

At the very moment Martin picked up the child, everything all around him all of a sudden went quiet, very quiet. With the baby in his arms, Martin looked around. He and the child were somehow alone in the stadium. Nobody else was around at all and saw not much of anything, no teams playing on the pitch, no crowd in the stands, they all had disappeared, and even his dad had vanished.

'There you are ... you naughty little girl' spoke a female voice.

A woman approached from behind Martin and took the baby from him.

'Thank you so much for looking after little Mary Mac Bride for me, I was so scared that I had lost her' she said with a smile before turning, only to walk off and vanish along with the baby.

From out of the tunnel which lead to the changing rooms came a man who walked right up to Martin and to Martin this fellow said ... 'don't worry, everything is going to be just fine.'

'What is going on?' Martin asked.

'I'm not really sure' was the reply.

With that Martin suddenly found himself back in his seat, right next to his dad and surrounded by a crowd with the game continuing right from where it had been just before he had run onto the pitch. This was a day which would always stay with Martin. How odd indeed. It did seem too, that dad did not notice anything at all strange.

When Martin noticed an ad in the local paper looking for a new caretaker for the stadium, he was quick to respond and apply for the position so on March 22nd, 2010, he was to meet with officials at the stadium for the caretaker position. This being about twenty-five and a half years after his boyhood experience.

Martin got to the stadium early, a full thirty minutes before he was due to meet with those officials. Gates were unlocked so he went in and was almost immediately greeted by a man in his late fifties.

'Hi, my name is Mick, and I am the guy you will be replacing.'

'Don't you mean the guy I will possibly be replacing?' asked Martin.

'Yes ... indeed I do' replied Mick, smiling the most unusual of smiles.

'I'm Martin, by the way.'

The two men shook hands. Mick gave Martin the full tour of the stadium, as if Martin needed such a tour; he knew the place so well at this stage.

The tour ended in the caretaker's office right at the top of stadium down at the goal end where home fans would invade each and every week. From the window in the office, Martin could see the whole pitch and the view was amazing. Through the main door behind Martin, a lady entered the office.

'Ah I see you found the caretakers office; you must be Martin Barry' she said reaching to shake Martin's hand.

Martin clasped her hand, 'indeed, I am. Mick has just given me the tour of the stadium.'

'Mick the previous caretaker?' she asked curiously.

'Yes, the one and the same.'

'You must be confused ...' the lady continued, 'Mick passed away recently, this is why the caretaker position is now vacant.'

Before Martin could say or ask anything else he heard the cry of a baby. He looked out the office window and could see a child, perhaps one year old or so sitting out on the pitch close to the side-line.

'My god, there is a child out on the pitch' he spoke before moving quickly to make his way out of the office and down out onto the field.

Coming out of the tunnel and onto the pitch Martin could see his nine-year-old self handing the child to a woman who could quite possibly be the child's mother and when this woman moved away ... both mother and child vanished.

Looking at his younger self Martin said, 'don't worry; everything is going to be just fine.'

'What is going on?' his younger self asked.

'I'm not really sure.'

'Are you alright?' asked the lady from the office as she caught up with Martin having followed him out onto the pitch.

He turned to her and said 'yes ... absolutely' before turning back and noticing that young Martin was no longer on the pitch.

'We haven't had many respond to the advert for this position, to be honest you are the first and only one so far, do you think you'd be interested in the position'.

'I most definitely would' replied Martin smiling away to himself.

As they shook hands the lady said 'your hired, oh how rude of me I never introduced myself. My name is Mary Mac Bride, Head of the stadium committee ...'