Focus on Football

I confess to the occasional moment of surprise when I realise how much of a 'fan' I've become in recent years.  I used to hate football when I was at school: I remember it always being cold and usually wet on Wednesdays, when we would parade along the public highway the half-mile from the school to the playing field in shirt and shorts, to spend an hour or so running after a heavy leather ball that would never go where you wanted when you did actually get to kick it, and that stung horribly if it hit you.  Exhausted, we would then straggle the half mile back, hoping that there would still be hot water in the shower by the time we made it to the changing room.

Since my return to the game as a 'live spectator', I find the ups and downs of non-league football quite absorbing, even more so since 2016, when my former boss became joint manager of a brand-new local team.  There have been a number of memorable games and incidents; it was fitting that the first match that I watched, nearly ten years ago, involved Diss Town, my home team as a youth.  On that occasion they were drawn against Newmarket Town in the FA Cup and, towards the end of the game, their deficit in goals was matched by their deficit in players after their captain was sent off for arguing with the referee's decision to award a penalty to the other side.

My loyalty to Diss persisted when they had a league match within easy driving distance of my home, at Ely, for example, or Haverhill.  I remember one match at Haverhill when they played in a pale blue away strip (replacing their normal orange and white colours) and won.  The next time I watched them was the following season when they played a junior team at Cambridge's Abbey Stadium, again in the pale blue strip, and won 4-0!  In those days, it was both an aim and an achievement to visit as many different grounds as possible, including my first sight of an artificial playing surface at Harlow Town.  Early one autumn, I had a day trip to the seaside and watched Great Yarmouth Town play Gorleston - again in the FA Cup - at one of the oldest grounds continuously staging matches.

My now favoured team, Biggleswade FC, put in a number of good performances last season in the FA Vase, when they reached the last eight in the competition.  A number of their ties were at home, where attendance records were broken against Stowmarket Town and against Windsor, and I made a unique coach trip to Kent where they were finally defeated by Canterbury Town.  This winter, after the second promotion in their three-season history, Biggleswade are playing in the first division of the Southern League, which has set them many challenges, and the excitement was very great leading up to last weekend's match against the league leaders, Corby Town, whom they beat 2-0, and they are now privileged to stand 9th in the league table as they travel tomorrow to play the team currently in 3rd position, Halesowen Town.

Turning to other interests, last weekend was particularly satisfying for me, with a totally different kind of 90 minutes on Sunday afternoon, as I attended a live interview with the former Speaker, John Bercow, visiting Letchworth to promote his autobiography, 'Unspeakable'.  This was an unforgettable occasion, when he revealed some of the behind the scenes aspects of parliamentary life, elements of his own story and also his abilities as an impersonator!

I'm always on the lookout for unexpected moments from my regular 'work' pattern and just such a one came this morning.  For weeks now, the warehouse where I volunteer has been choc-a-bloc with furniture, to the extent that an additional van has been procured to assist in its disposal, alongside the regular servicing of the retail shops.  This has coincided with the annual challenge of getting the drivers to use their full leave entitlement before it expires, not to mention the difficulties in finding enough volunteers to form an additional crew.  As a one-off gesture to relieve this pressure, my manager decided to accompany me this morning to deliver goods to some of the stores.  Far from feeling 'under supervision', I found it a very pleasant and relaxing time, as we chatted like old friends.