Relevant to nothing to follow, but it was just nice to see one of my old Dad’s favourite footy puzzles doing the rounds on Twitter yesterday, to wit: Which is the only League club whose name can’t be coloured in? In either lower case or capitals. Answer right at the bottom for those who are interested and need it!
There is good and bad, uh huh, in everyone… the sentiment of Ebony and Ivory is laudable, but it‘s a thoroughly lame song, given it was written and performed by two of the geniuses of the 20th century. That line came to mind yesterday though. I’d given Forest v Millwall a miss, passing the season ticket on to a worthy cause, but it was great to see a group of Lions fans had been in town with a wreath in memory of young Dylan Rich. A nice touch.
A decent match at the City Ground, by all accounts and the 1-1 draw about a fair outcome according to most. Having seen Max Lowe’s equaliser, did he mean it? Surely not. Anyway, upwards and onwards.
Thirty or so miles up the M1, Derby were at Bramall lane, with a moronic element of their support letting them down by chanting abuse at Billy Sharp about his deceased two-year old son. Nice. Afterwards, Billy came out with a statement that he doesn’t like Derby and who can blame him. “Don’t like them,” he snapped, having scored the winner in time added on, before adding he wished he could play them every week. As ever, it’ll be a tiny minority, but Derby do seem to be attracting a number of a ‘certain type’ of late. I noticed a Derbyshire Police comment about teenage idiots in Stone Island making themselves very unwelcome at Pride Park recently. Note, I hasten to add, that a bit of ‘Stoney’ does not automatically make someone an idiot!
(Billy fronting up to the travelling Derby support, bless him!)
Online, the week has seen some vile abuse, not a torrent but more than a trickle, directed at Rhys Porter, a young Fulham fan with cerebral palsy, after he posted video footage of himself enjoying playing football. What’s wrong with people? In response, Fulham have added the lad to the squad on their website and the players made a point of finding him in the crowd and celebrating a goal with him yesterday. Lovely, but what the fuck… The lad had been posting on Tik-Tok as part of a fund raising thing he was doing for others with disability, which has raised thousands, when the trolls got onto him.
There was (mostly) good and (a tiny bit of) bad at the match I did take in yesterday, a fantastic afternoon at Maltby as Main took on the relative might of Bury AFC. A (mostly) carnival-like atmosphere as Bury brought a huge travelling support which made up the great majority of a crowd of 387. The travellers certainly added to the Main coffers and to a brilliant atmosphere. Huge flags, the first flares seen at Muglet Lane since about 1974 and a persistent drummer!
A side-note to the match, long-serving Charman Wilf Race, much loved and respected across the non-League scene, chose today to announce his retirement, citing fatigue and lack of new ideas as the reason. Wilf is a proper football man and a proper Maltby man; Chairman for eight years, manager for two stints. His motives are sincere and out of love for the club. Personally speaking, his warmth and enthusiasm in greeting myself, friends and family, all Johnny-Come-Lately out-of-towners, is a big part of why quite a few of us have ‘fallen’ for the Little Club With A Big Heart.
The match itself was a cracker, to the point I forgot to even check up on how Forest were doing until about 5pm. Main went one up, two-one down, had Conor Cutts sent off and still pulled back with a late equaliser to take it to penalties. Bury AFC looked a good footballing side and Main determinedly held on, playing up the slope in the first half before probably being the better side in the second, when Bury seemed to lack an outlet. Some Bury supporters around us felt that Main were a bit overly aggressive, whilst to us it looked that some Bury players went to ground a bit easily. No-one is innocent, as the Sex Pistols so rightly pointed out. Talking of which, I’m pretty confident that Bury might be the only fans with a song based on Anarchy in the UK. Nice one!
The brilliant atmosphere soured somewhat during the tension of the penalty shootout. Bottles were thrown, by all accounts in the first instance by Main supporters. A scuffle at the end involved supporters, players and officials, but soon petered out. Not necessary and again, no one seems to hold the moral high ground. Sad, but as always, a tiny minority amongst very decent people on both sides.
The shoot-out went the way of Bury, 4-3, although for the critical save the keeper was so far off his line he was almost past the taker. If he’d held on a nano-second, he could have rolled it into an empty net as the keeper passed himen-route to the halfway line.
Cue partying from the visitors, including what sounded like a particularly lively rave in the dressing rooms. Couldn‘t begrudge them, though some (again, that tiny minority) want to watch that they don‘t become unlikably smug. Number 7, I’m looking at you. You play for Bury AFC, not Barcelona and you want to show a bit of humility and respect. The goal celebration, having spent the afternoon falling over, was unpleasant. The comments clearly overheard from players and some supporters about Maltby being a Sunday League team with a “shit ground” were a bit rich too and did nothing to add to the afternoon. Enjoy it - you have something very special - but remember where you’ve been and what you still are and people will continue to admire you and get behind you. Forget that and risk becoming the non-league Man United. That’d be a shame, for football in general and for your 99.9% fantastic, deserving supporters too, lots of whom we enjoyed a pint with in ‘Spoons afterwards.
Finally, a shout out about the morons, locals presumably, who trashed the Maltby dugouts on Saturday evening. The club can ill-afford that. Any locals who can help (more photos and video on Facebook) should shop them. Pond-life.
The answer, by the way, Hull City
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