The players of AC Soulseek ponder the 45 minutes that are to come, though not without unhappiness, as they are 3-1 up at this point. Wasn’t I here basically a year ago? Yes, but I cannot honestly think of a more agreeable place to spend a Sunday morning in London — as long as it isn’t raining.
I was wondering whether to go with a picture that is a little less dark, dismal, drizzly and not a little bit depressing. On the other hand this seems to sum up the evening perfectly. I’ve seen some tedious football matches in my time but Halifax 1, Morecambe 0 on 21/1/26 now ranks down there with the worst.
On the basis that no fewer than 23 people (because you do need a referee) can be gathered in each area of space that comprises a Saturday afternoon football match, then there must have been at least a quarter of a million people in the UK doing what this guy was doing at the same point in time, 3.20pm. That’s just the people on the pitches, too. At least 30 other people, including substitutes, coaches and slighly weird people (like me) were also persuaded that watching Sheffield Union v Thornbridge Villa in the 12th tier of English football was the best way they had of spending Saturday afternoon. So add another million or two for all of them…. it can’t be completely wasted collective effort, can it? At this level it’s certainly not about making any money.
Another picture of fans arriving at a football stadium, but unlike Sunday, at least we saw a game today. Manchester City v Brighton was my first Premier League game since April 2022 and only the second in the last six years. Habits have changed…. but I suppose I still feel a certain sense of allegiance. And no, not to Manchester City. It was nice to see some old mates in the away end tonight, £30 for a ticket was an acceptable price and a 1-1 draw was a reasonable result. I pick this shot because of its Blade Runner-like qualities, as much as anything. Let’s turn on all those lights…. and worry about the electricity bills later, shall we?
Hull City fans approach their club’s ground for this afternoon’s quite important match against Watford. Both teams are in the play-off zone in the Championship. But what they don’t know yet (and nor, then, did I as I took the picture) that all this anticipation is to be made pointless in about twenty-five minutes’ time. At that point, fifteen minutes before kick-off, the game was postponed, because though the pitch was in great condition, ground staff hadn’t bothered to de-ice the touchlines or the technical areas so the managers and linesmen said, er, hang on — we can’t do our work on an ice rink. I took pictures of that too, and looking at them, they’re probably justified. But all it would have taken was some salt applied at about 1.30. Instead, all these people just had to turn around and go home, including all the poor buggers who had trekked up from Watford on a Sunday and spent god knows how much to do so (and I’m down £35 on the train fare).
The thing is all this happened to me (and, in this case, Clare) yesterday too, at Altrincham. For the same reasons. As I was, almost certainly, the world’s only person to have been at both of these games you understand that I’m somewhat prickly right now.
I wasn’t trekking all the way to Scotland without adding one more to my life list of football grounds, and as there’s not much else to the town of Forfar (though it seemed a perfectly decent place), Station Park, home of Forfar Athletic FC, can get the nod for today’s shot. At this point I think it’s 1-1; the final score was 4-2 to the hosts, over Elgin City, with Scott Shepherd of Forfar scoring all four of their goals and thereby winning the game more or less on his own. These things keep me going…
With five minutes to go in Chadderton v Burscough, the score still 0-0 and a big chunk of the Atlantic Ocean seemingly pouring from above, I am sure I was not the only one wondering why I was still there. At least this person had some protection. I notice the title of the post might also refer to the netting, which I have included mainly because it seems to enhance the rain effect. Did I mention it was raining?
I do generally limit the number of football shots published on here but after having had a couple of extra days to think about it, I do think this is the most pleasing shot I captured today. The view from the terrace at the Giant Axe (the name of Lancaster City’s stadium) encompasses both Lancaster Castle and the railway station — though I never captured the money shot, including both the ball and a train.
This shot was better than the match itself, which finished 0-0. In fact, the shot of Clapham Common two weekends ago was of a match that also finished 0-0. I doubt this coincidence is a meaningful one however.
There are, always, worse things to do on a Sunday morning — as long as it isn’t raining, and the showers just about held off until the match finished. Not that the players of either Mala Vida (which I’m sure means ‘Bad Life’ so perhaps it’s irony) or Parthenope FCs responded to my attention by being able to score a goal between them. But hey, the backdrop was pretty good.
Far too nice a day to stay in, something that the ladybirds had also decided — there are plenty of them around at the moment, probably getting in their last greenfly before it becomes too cold and they die or hibernate or do whatever it is they do over the winter. My pint of Guinness didn’t have any hanging around on, or in, it but maybe this one was just resting on the cool plastic for a while. Is ladybird.guinness.football a ‘What3Words’ waiting to be used?
Being 42 