It's getting to the stage where everyone has decided to have a blog. You are no-one if you don't put you thoughts down on paper (well, on the screen, actually). So I thought, why not? Give it a go.
I, like many other blokes, follow football. I actually watch football, at a ground, or two.
I follow two teams.
I have, for my sins, a season ticket at Huddersfield Town and, when I'm not watching them, I follow AFC Emley in the Northern Counties East Division 1. Neither of my teams will ever be in the Champions League but hey, if that was all the mattered, we would only support the Manchester clubs or Celtic.
Most folk have heard of Huddersfield Town. Championship club, three times winners of the First Division in the 1920s, John Smith's Stadium, Denis Law. This season, like we expected, we are bumbling along in the Championship, one week looking like relegation fodder, the next week, looking safe for another season.
AFC Emley are different. Most football fans have heard of Emley- twenty years ago, holding West Ham to a 2-1 at their place in the 3rd round of the cup?
Well, this club is slightly different- a sort of "son of Emley". The original club, Emley AFC, moved to Wakefield, became Wakefield and Emley, then Wakefield, and just died a death.
AFC Emley was formed in 2005 to bring back a football club to the village of Emley. We must be one of the easiest clubs in the country to find. How many clubs have a huge television mast about a mile from the ground which you can see from miles around? Aim for the mast and then the village are the directions to our place. It's also a useful aiming point for free kicks playing uphill at the ground. Aim for the mast and then hope the ball dips at the last moment!
AFC Emley is a typical club at this level. The players are local lads who want to play football and then enjoy their Saturday nights. Most of the players who play at this level will have come through professional clubs and been cut at an early age and now play for fun. They also ate mates with players on the opposing side and, after playing against each other, will be down the pub together later.
The fans are the usual mixture of folk at this level. Some have followed this type of football for years, never needing the expense of watching at a higher level. Others, like me, are two-team followers, watching a league side some weeks and a "second" team on others. There are no illusions here. AFC Emley are never going to rise to the dizzy heights of the Conference. That isn't the beauty of following a team like this. The joy is in the intimacy, the sense of being a part of an organic (for want of a better word) organisation.
I mean, at Championship, or even league level, how many fans know the players, get a hand-shake from the manager at every match, and provide Jaffa-Cakes for the players before the match?
Referees and linesmen are left in no doubt over the individual fan's thoughts on their decisions and have been know to join in the banter-
Saturday afternoon:
PA: "A pair of glasses have been found in the stand"
Linesman: "Before anyone asks, they are NOT mine!"
Of course, it's not all sweetness and light. Facilities tend to be basic. If you don't get wet from the rain, it's a posh ground! Lionel Messi's are a bit thin on the ground but moments of skill do happen. AFC Emley scored a goal this season with 20 seconds elapsing from the goal-keeper throwing the ball out to it hitting the opposition's back of the net. But it's cheap, at £4.50 a match and it's fun. Banter between fans happens. It's a bit difficult to avoid if you are standing shoulder to shoulder with them!
Anyway, that sets the scene.
I'll put bits and pieces on as they crop up.
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