Winter Sports - Football
GR SSCUTTER Who’d have thought?
Our anonymous, and somewhat grumpy groundsman, Mr AKA Grasscutter, has his interest rekindled by the ups and downs of the Premier League
When I was a young man growing up - Mrs Grasscutter says men never grow up - my preferred sports to paticipate in were tennis in the summer and football in the winter.
I used to enjoy the fitness regime of a night out on the razz, followed by a 10.30am kick off, followed by a lunchtime pint or three, followed by a return home, where mum had dutifully put aside a Sunday roast for me to heat up in the oven. Do you remember the inverted plate put on top that squashed everything pre-microwaves?
The pitches we played on back then were pretty poor for most parts of the season, but we seemed to play every weekend, regardless of the weather, and it was not unusual to play with a covering of snow - as long as it wasn’t too deep, obviously!
As time went on and family commitments took over, my weekend fitness regime took a back seat, so much so that I never got back in the driving seat and my interest in the game waned, even though I was now working as a groundsman.
But, just recently, my interest has been rekindled by the shenanigans in the Premier League, most notably Leicester City and Chelsea. I have no particular affiliation to either team, but their respective form has tweaked my interest, so much so that, on match days, I now find myself sneaking a peak at Final Score on the BBC.
I’ve always been happy to sit and watch our lot play because, as I’ve stated previously, there appears to be more passion in the lower leagues; something I refer to as ‘proper football’. But it would appear that Leicester and, to a lesser extent, Bournemouth and Watford, have brought that ethos to the top flight, casting prima donnas aside as they go on their merry way.
At this juncture, I’d like to thank those teams for rekindling my interest, and I now find myself watching Match of the Day with Mrs Grasscutter’s dulcet tones emanating from upstairs; “when are you coming to bed?” Many of you will know the scenario, I’m sure.
I haven’t yet broached the subject of getting Sky Sport, that might be a step too far for my
142 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016
own health, although I have a back up plan (aka argument); “there’s loads of tennis on Sky Sport” I will tell Mrs G, should I ever consider forking out for a subscription.
Another ‘person’ I should like to thank is Mother Nature. Whilst some of my colleagues in various parts of the country have suffered terribly from the recent deluges, we have been more fortunate. Sure, it’s been wet, very wet on occasions, but my army of volunteer supporters armed with forks have helped me to get games on and, when it has been dry enough, a local ‘man and verti-drain’ has run his machine over the pitch. It was even suggested to me recently that “we should get one of those”. Now, that would be a bonus. I know I could put it to good use.
The plus side has been the milder temperatures, which has at least allowed me to keep good grass cover on most of the pitch. The goalmouths have taken a bit of a battering, as too have the linesmen’s runs, so they will need continuing remedial work to get me to the end of the season.
My most recent manager has been very understanding when it comes to warm ups and downs, as too have most of the visiting managers, although a couple of them have brought their previous ‘playing days prima donnaship’ with them. I don’t baulk at putting them straight!
“
It would appear that Leicester, Bournemouth and Watford have brought that ethos to the top flight, casting prima donnas aside as they go on their merry way
It’s the second week in February as I pen this article, and it seems hard to believe that, this winter, I have only had a few days of frost, and even that went quicker than usual because of the higher soil temperatures. It’s certainly been a funny old season.
At the time of writing, Leicester have just thumped Man City away to open up a five point gap at the top. Who’d have thought?
Keep the faith, and keep cutting the grass. After all, that’s all we do!
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