Categories: uncategorized
Tags: foundspeech, southeastlondon, local, food, millwall
Date: 11 May 2009 19:46:33
Overheard in a pub:
"Journalists aren't like us. They all live in a fantasy land. And TV is a fantasy land"
"Especially when Queen's Park Rangers are on match of the Day"
"QPR? QPR are all about Stan Bowles"
"Tell me about it!"
"I just bloody did!"
In the aftermath of the Millwall/Leeds match last Saturday. Which was a Big Deal at our local pub. The place exploded when Millwall scored - it was almost enough to make me a fan. Looking forward to the second leg on Thursday. We are promised pie & mash.
Millwall fans, of course, aren't like they used to be. As the small Millwall fan in the blue shirt explained to us while he was describing how he spent two months in Armley jail in Leeds for assaulting a police officer ("I should have got more"). But apparently they are all diamonds up there and the looked after him even though he was the only Londoner in the nick, and so got called "Cockney". Unlike Durham jail, "bed leg city", where he feared for both his life and his honour. Not that he put it that way.
I'm not any kind of a football fan of course. Though I more or less made my peace with football a few years back when Millwall was in the FA cup - it was a fun day.
I used to hate football when I was a boy. I was bad at it, skinny and asthmatic and slow, and we were forced to play at school whether we liked it or not. From my point of view sport was what games get turned into when they become compulsory. Secondary school was worse than primary
Sport on TV - which is not really sport at all of course, because its just something you watch, not something they make you do - is more fun if you care who wins. Just as horse racing is more fun if you have a bet on. So if I'm in the pub watching football perhaps I ought to have a horse in the race
So if I was a football fan, which would my team be? You can't just pick one, you need to care. It would be pointless just looking around for a team that seems to be winning a lot and deciding to be a fan. Though that seems to be what some people do, with all these Manchester United and Chelsea fans you find around the place. Pointless. There needs to be some local connection.
Well, I'm from Brighton, and I live in an area that supports Millwall, and I have some distant family connections with Newcastle supporters, so that gives me three candidate teams. How are they doing?
I took look a few weeks back and it seemed that Brighton and Newcastle were almost certain to get relegated from their leagues. And I didn't want that to happen. I did care, a little. Especially about Brighton. Not that I really care very much for the football team, but I do care, very much, for the city. I want the team to stay up for the same reason I want the new stadium at Falmer to be built. Its my home town.
And mysteriously, all of a sudden, they started winning. And now they are completely safe from relegation this year. So a result already!
And then I watched Saturday's Millwall/Leeds match in the pub, and realised that I did in fact want them to win. And was genuinely excited when they did. And am looking forward to the replay (at Leeds - a lot harder job to win there). And, on Monday, feeling in an odd mood after a very frustrating school governor's meeting (Our little school has been on the national news, and not in a good way) i popped into the pub and saw Newcastle thrash Middlesbrough 3:1. I was thrilled. 3:1! A sort of local Derby (though not as big as a Sunderland match would be) and both in the relegation zone so if there was a draw it was likely that both would go down. And now Newcastle is in with a chance!
So there we go. Maybe not one but three horses in the race. And possibly in different races as well, if Millwall go up (which is at least possible) and Newcastle stay up (which is now almost likely). So three bloody good results so far.
The only trouble is, that's probably as good as it gets...