So another washout summer meanders to a conclusion as a new football season kicks & screams into motion bringing renewed hope for fans across the country. However poor your team's showing last season (which ended a mere 2 months or so ago) August always brings waves of renewed optimism, a new level playing field, which even by September, can only leave your team within a dozen or so points of the league leaders with more than a hundred points to play for...
After 20 years as a season ticket holder in the West Stand at Portman Road (that's home to Ipswich Town to the uninitiated), various reasons, including cost, frustration, lack of enjoyment & the desire to actually get a life led me to abandon the Saturday ritual 3 or so years ago.
At the time, it was a huge wrench to `let go' & sling the annual request to renew my season ticket into the re-cycling. Having spent a large amount of the previous 20 years telling fellow supporters that `this year will be the last time I waste my hard earned money watching this overpaid shower...', the actual step of putting my money where my mouth is (or to be more accurate, actually keeping my money in my wallet) came almost as much as a shock to me as it did to my friends & family.
Over the years ther have been some highs & , lows - Beating Inter Milan at home & then being at the San Siro for the return leg will forever be a great memory, the play-off final at the old Wembley Stadium where we won promotion back to the Premiership, getting the point at Oxford in 1992 to win the league & become founder members of the new Premier League are all high points. low points...to numerous to mention without extensive therapy...
I did think that I would struggle on a Saturday afternoon but soon settled into a routine of sitting in the local pub (The Swan in Bures) with a local Paper & a personal radio to listen to the (completely unbiased honest, but weren't we robbed there) coverage from BBC Radio Suffolk (That's the second plug for BBC Local Radio in 2 posts, I must be due a mug)
Quite apart from the time not spent travelling to & from the match which all told would wipe out the best part of my Saturday, the new arrangement has had other advantages, for example, if the game is going poorly & it is apparent that we would struggle to beat a veteran team from Sudbury WI as we go 3/4 or more nil down, I can turn off the radio, buy another pint of IPA & turn my attention to the Sudoko in the paper. If I had been at the game, I would have been becoming increasingly p*ssed off, before storming out ten minutes from the end, advising all who would listen that I would rather spend my time at home cutting my toenails. The impact of such anger & frustration was completely lost as the players would not have heard my disapproval, & even if they had would unlikely to have been concerned as they thought of their next overinflated paycheck, & I would then have to stand in the carpark waiting for the people who gave me a lift to return to the car & take me home.
I must also be honest & admit that the hours spent ironing whilst listening to midweek matches on the radio have on the most part been more satisfying than spending the evening rushing to the match after work & then fighting through the traffic on the way home after another frustrating loss to a lower league side in whatever guise the league cup happens to be in this year.
Anyway, Ipswich unbeaten in the league & second only on alphabetical order. Best post that quickly...
Since I've been with my new partner I've been introduced to the joys of youth football, with obnoxios screaming parents offering their offspring helpfull & vocal`advice', mostly in contradiction to what the manager / coaches are trying to convey - `kick him' or `get the ball' some of the more repeatable offerings. Its enough to make you think that £25 a match to watch the inept b*llocks dished up by the proffesionals is a bargain....
20 years ago, I would have scorned my current self & thrown such insults as `part time supporter' etc. Now I would Reply `I have a life' or `I have mortgage'. I also have a Radio Suffolk tinted view as to Ipswich's chances this season - it seems we are certain to win the league, the FA cup, the Boat Race...
August is a golden time of hope for all football supporters at whatever level of the game, so despite the weather, to all fans of whatever team, here's to a new season - enjoy the optimisim whilst you can...and emember, there actually IS life beyond the terrace, and to be homest, it's not that bad...
I think 3 years away from the overpriced frustration of watching professional football has made me a more mellow & easy going individual. I'ts certainly left me with more money for beer which can never be a bad thing & gives me more time to spend with the missus & the boys... oh well, I can't have it all ways.
Come on you blues...
Thursday, 30 August 2007
Thursday, 16 August 2007
Elvis Lives!
Today is the 30th anniversay of Elvis Presley's death on a toilet in Memphis. This is not a fact I am particularly facinated by & to be honest, this time last week, that is not a fact that I would have been able to quote to you...
Since being rudely awoken by the morning blast of BBC Essex on the radio alarm, it has become a fact that I have been disappoinginly unable to avoid for the remainder of the day.
All morning, between (sadly, (although ironically pleasingly) inaccurate), reports of road closures at junction 19 of the southbound A12, I have been subjected to a parade of sad uninteresting individuals (the special type who feel the need to ring their local BBC radio station on such occasions) telling the county where they were when they heard the tragic news all those years ago. Unsurprisingly, given the nature of the media 30 years ago, the majority were able to enlighten me with the fact that `I was watching News at Ten' or `I was listening to the news on the Radio...' or `I was reading the newspaper', although one caller did enthral me with the story about missing the news altogether due to being on holiday in Spain.
I'm not a devout fan of `The King' but the blanket coverage has got me thinking of my own memories...
...I do enjoy the odd listen to an Elvis song, & earlier in the year, on one of our fairly regular weekenders to the `home of lovely beer' (Bury St Edmunds) with my long (well medium) suffering partner, I was drawn to the duke box in one of the local pubs. Me & The Missus were playing Pool in one side of the pub (The Dove) & I proceded to select an eclectic choice, based mainly on `stuff I don't actually hate' whilst The Missus was in the Ladies. One of my choices was `Always on my Mind' & we both laughed out loud when, the song came on, the chorus was reached & all of a sudden, the dozen or so locals in the other bar all joined in with the tag line. OK, its not a hugely exciting story, but I'm sure, had I the time or inclination, that I could have held the county in raptures should I have chosen to ring the radio station... I guess you had to be there. I may even have won a mug.
Whilst I don't know where I was when Elvis died (I was six, it was the summer holidays, there were more important things to worry about), I can tell you where I was when I watched my first Elivis impersonator. It was the Kings Arms, 26/3/05. Why am I so clear on that? It was the evening of the first episode of the newly relaunched Dr Who. Being unable to explain the importance of this to my (at that stage fairly new & therefore still trying to impress) partner, I agreed to record the programme & go on a night out to a nearby village (now our joint home) We left the house just after the programme started & to my Partner's increasing annoyance, the text messages started arriving immediately - was I watching, What did I think of it etc. I replied as fast as I could but once we had arrived & settled in the first pub of the evening I felt I should show a little more attention to my partner & a little less to the mobile. Also at this stage, `Wesley Presley' began his act - a `kareoke' Elivis singer & I felt reluctant to be texting in case it interfered with his radio mike! A very young chap, with the trademark sideburns & dressed in the early era black leather jacket, `Wesley' worked incredibly hard, setting up & monitoring all of the equipment himself. I've seen him once since at another local pub charity day & to be honest, would go out of my way to watch him again - if you see him advertised at your local, give him the time of day!
Anyway, the evening got me to thinking about how we associate certain things with certain people - Nick Hornby said in his book `Fever Pitch' that football had the capacity to make all the people who knew him think of him at certain times. I've asked friends since & its true. I know for a fact that pretty much every one that knows me thought of me when they heard the Ipswich result when we lost 9.0 to Man Utd some years ago & similarly when we beat Norwich 5.0 in a grudge local derby. The modern phenomena of text makes that all so much more evident & went some way to convincing my partner that I couldn't be as sad as all that if so many people were thinking of me all at once!
It's a weird feeling when you stop & wonder about it, to think that a single trigger can get all the people you know thinking of you like that. Makes me feel good anyway :o)
Always on my mind...
Since being rudely awoken by the morning blast of BBC Essex on the radio alarm, it has become a fact that I have been disappoinginly unable to avoid for the remainder of the day.
All morning, between (sadly, (although ironically pleasingly) inaccurate), reports of road closures at junction 19 of the southbound A12, I have been subjected to a parade of sad uninteresting individuals (the special type who feel the need to ring their local BBC radio station on such occasions) telling the county where they were when they heard the tragic news all those years ago. Unsurprisingly, given the nature of the media 30 years ago, the majority were able to enlighten me with the fact that `I was watching News at Ten' or `I was listening to the news on the Radio...' or `I was reading the newspaper', although one caller did enthral me with the story about missing the news altogether due to being on holiday in Spain.
I'm not a devout fan of `The King' but the blanket coverage has got me thinking of my own memories...
...I do enjoy the odd listen to an Elvis song, & earlier in the year, on one of our fairly regular weekenders to the `home of lovely beer' (Bury St Edmunds) with my long (well medium) suffering partner, I was drawn to the duke box in one of the local pubs. Me & The Missus were playing Pool in one side of the pub (The Dove) & I proceded to select an eclectic choice, based mainly on `stuff I don't actually hate' whilst The Missus was in the Ladies. One of my choices was `Always on my Mind' & we both laughed out loud when, the song came on, the chorus was reached & all of a sudden, the dozen or so locals in the other bar all joined in with the tag line. OK, its not a hugely exciting story, but I'm sure, had I the time or inclination, that I could have held the county in raptures should I have chosen to ring the radio station... I guess you had to be there. I may even have won a mug.
Whilst I don't know where I was when Elvis died (I was six, it was the summer holidays, there were more important things to worry about), I can tell you where I was when I watched my first Elivis impersonator. It was the Kings Arms, 26/3/05. Why am I so clear on that? It was the evening of the first episode of the newly relaunched Dr Who. Being unable to explain the importance of this to my (at that stage fairly new & therefore still trying to impress) partner, I agreed to record the programme & go on a night out to a nearby village (now our joint home) We left the house just after the programme started & to my Partner's increasing annoyance, the text messages started arriving immediately - was I watching, What did I think of it etc. I replied as fast as I could but once we had arrived & settled in the first pub of the evening I felt I should show a little more attention to my partner & a little less to the mobile. Also at this stage, `Wesley Presley' began his act - a `kareoke' Elivis singer & I felt reluctant to be texting in case it interfered with his radio mike! A very young chap, with the trademark sideburns & dressed in the early era black leather jacket, `Wesley' worked incredibly hard, setting up & monitoring all of the equipment himself. I've seen him once since at another local pub charity day & to be honest, would go out of my way to watch him again - if you see him advertised at your local, give him the time of day!
Anyway, the evening got me to thinking about how we associate certain things with certain people - Nick Hornby said in his book `Fever Pitch' that football had the capacity to make all the people who knew him think of him at certain times. I've asked friends since & its true. I know for a fact that pretty much every one that knows me thought of me when they heard the Ipswich result when we lost 9.0 to Man Utd some years ago & similarly when we beat Norwich 5.0 in a grudge local derby. The modern phenomena of text makes that all so much more evident & went some way to convincing my partner that I couldn't be as sad as all that if so many people were thinking of me all at once!
It's a weird feeling when you stop & wonder about it, to think that a single trigger can get all the people you know thinking of you like that. Makes me feel good anyway :o)
Always on my mind...
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