Grass Roots Football

After a strange, exhausting week in many different ways and missing out on going to see the Might Toon v Scummy Small Club Manchester United - I thought it was probably best to do something with the weekend. I've tended to waste weekends by going into town, meeting up with the captain and getting boozed up and rolling home and falling into a Stella/Carling/Hoegaarden coma - never a good thing really.

Anyhoo, I thought, why dont we go see Leamington Brakes for a day out - Rich was around, sure enough he agreed. Knowing what football is like at a decent stadium such as St James Park I managed to take scarf, fleece and wooly hat to protect myself from mother nature. Met up with the captain for a swift one at the Wind Mill pub where the bus picks people up. Fantastic ... anyhow, by this time, the sun is starting to set and the wind is whipping up, so there is a little bit of a chill. Now, I used to work at ASDA in the Frozen food section (ie Industrial Size Freezers) and they never give you the correct uniform - ie Jumpers and Gloves - so I'm used to the constant cold (and the fact I lived in Newcastle for most of my life). By Half time, the Brakes were 2-0 up and myself and Rich were having to purchase hot drinks, just to keep our hands warm. The captain had to purchase a club scarf to keep warm when we turned up (and to inject a little cash into the club too I suspect)

Coming from a priv'd footballing background - I've always noticed that the ref and linesmen ( I know its not very PC - but its a man's sport) get alot of abuse from players. So it was refreshing to hear after a player got caught offside and was moaning to the linesman, the linesman replying "Shut up and get on with it". Myself and the captain chuckled a couple of times (Warning :- may have been 80 mins). At one point the opposition were moaning about an offside judgement to be incorrect - to which he replied "You played him onside you fool" - again we chuckled. I would have loved to have payed the linesman £3 quid extra for the comedy.

Anyhoo, after 90 mins (plus 10 mins stoppage time and the final score being 2-1 to the mighty Brakes) we managed to get the bus back to civilisation - well, the Well for a couple of swift ones before rugby no necks stole live prem plus and watched the tri-nations.

Upstanding member of the community and not a Hooligan (pictured centre)

If you have spare time - I would suggest going to see them ... good laugh and all to a good cause.