Wednesday 11 February 2009

Thank Goodness For Football


You are looking at a girl who is dedicated to her cause.

Well reading her words anyway.

I'm playing away today.

Not in the sexual sense I might hastily add.

But as I write to you I am sitting in a seedy internet cafe in seedy Kings Cross in order to write this post, contemplating my return a little later to a seedy hotel room.

You think that's bad. The reason I am here is because I am on a two day finance course.

Aha! I knew that would get your sympathy.

It's not all doom and gloom though.

For a start I have just spent a wonderful 90 minutes in the British Library. In addition to such exhibts as original Beatle manuscripts (or rather scribbles on bits of scrappy paper as a number were) and a first edition of Darwin's "On The Origin of Species", I was treated to a recording of Stanley Matthews (the 'wizard of the dribble' so I gather) from 1954 (or rather Sir Stanley Matthews as he later became).

What I gleaned from that was that he was bonkers about football from as early as he could remember and took every opportunity to hone his skills as a boy. When he was about 10 he played in a team that won a match 18-1, Matthews scoring 9 of them. The next day at school he was summoned to see the headmaster, who gave him sixpence for his achievement.

As the interviewer on the recording said, he was a professional from that point on!

And that's not even the end of football delight for me today. After a meal in one of the local restaurants (should I go Italian or Indian?), I'm going to be snuggled up in my room, with a bottle of beer, a bag of nuts and the England match on the telly.

I'm missing my lover terribly of course.

So thank goodness for football.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

England, like your lover, will have to do better

cf

Derek said...

Stanley Matthews - how that name conjured up some lovely memories.
Just after the 2nd World War my father took me London especially to see Stan play. My Dad was an ex pro footballer and always played as a full back, no overlapping in those days,and he was keen to see how top players attempted to nullify Stan's contribution to the match. His comment as we came away was, after seeing Stan mesmerise the opposition, "In my day we would have kicked the bugger over the stand" but Dad had to admit with Stan's initial burst of speed over the first 10 yards they would have been kicking fresh air!