Matches attended
51
Goals witnessed
171
Average goals per game
3.35
Highest scoring game
Wolverhampton Sporting Community 2 v 5 Abbey Hulton Utd
Ten most seen teams
Maine Road FC 9
Cheadle Town 8
Cheadle Heath Nomads 7
Atherton Laburnum Rovers 4
Irlam FC 4
Styal FC 2
Foley Meir 2
Glossop NE FC 2
Colne FC 2
Longridge Town 2
Raffles won
Bugger all!
Match Reports Done - 12 (I was busy with noise and nature for sure).
End of season round-up
A late round-up and looking at the stats some ruddy slack work on my part. It has been a busy few years in many ways and a real test of the cerebral resolve and my willingness to get up and go. Losing friends and my touchline buddy STP Stu, the shitty health issues, the eternal mental health anxieties and the immersion into many other realms finds me struggling to do everything I want to do in the 24 hour days that refuse to stretch any further. I still managed to squeeze in just over a half century of games though with plenty of new grounds visited. It is all better than nowt and with my eternal dabblings with noise and nature, spending time with the good lasses, holding down a job and leading many wildlife walks I can't really grumble (but I am sure I will).
Maine Road FC is still a favoured haunt, they started the season well but things unravelled slightly and a play-off spot was missed - such is the capricious beauty of this raw and real game. As well as floating round to some rather marvellous new places such as Madeley White Star, Loughborough Dynamos, Tintwistle Athletic, Foley Meir and Pennington FC we visited a few places that were far from aesthetically pleasing but which had the DIY spirit that we are always happy to support. We have many new grounds to revisit that is for sure and as matters stand, a few extras to visit after the usual annual juggling. Add to this a few we missed last time around and already the calendar is cluttered and utterly unrealistic.
One gripe as regards the season last time around was the disjointed NWCFL matches that saw several months rammed to the rafters with fixtures and then a couple of months with hardly anything locally to attend. It all seemed rather unbalanced and in truth, I lost a bit of patience halfway through and tended to just do weekend games. When the candle is burned at both ends (and in the middle) the thought of farting around in the freezing depths of winter, on a worknight, just didn't appeal this time around. I did have a hernia operation in February too, which slowed me right up and left me in a great need of keeping the conkers cradled and warm rather than dangling forth on a wintry night on some Godforsaken touchline (nowt new there then).
Overall though I enjoyed what I saw, plan to spend the next campaign as equally well-spread and to hopefully get a good balance between the old favourites and some unvisited grounds that are long overdue a Fungal presence. The aim is to get closer to the 500 match reports target (427 have been done) and do a few more interviews for that fine publication Where's The Bar? I am sure that along the way I will meet some familiar faces and meet some new eager beavers whilst pondering a game that is played by many teams going nowhere, doing what they do with good passion and continuing to provide honest, approachable entertainment at level reality. As per, fuck the big teams, the coin, the ego and the success jockeys who feed on the rear of the shitting sell-outs. Keep it real, be thankful you are clued in to this wonderfully warted and raw-assed game and keep getting out on the touchline and helping things roll along. The key to all is to remember - this is just a game, let us keep it fun, welcoming and played in the finest of spirits. The macho bullshit is a weakness and the pointless bickering and niggles a sign of a lack of self-belief. Get out, smile, do it and just be thankful that you are part of something very special. Right - where's my knitted testicle cups?
