Yesterday morning in Regent’s Park I saw one of my best Sunday morning games in recent years, Heroes of Waterloo edging Grantchester Road 3-2 in a game that had three penalties in a 10-minute period midway through the second half. The attendance was an estimated one.
It was blindingly sunny, surprisingly mild for the last day of November, and the pitch was the nearest one to London Zoo. It’s not often that you turn round during a game and see two camels.
The real ‘Hero of Waterloo’ was their goalie who made two magnificent saves from spot-kicks. Both were hit low and hard and they sandwiched a Hero penalty that was safely thumped into the back of the net. Mind you…if you’re facing the goal, surely the ball hits the front of the net, not the back of it.
There was some AFA action for 'The Barber' on Saturday on my first trip for more than a year to the ‘Cradle of Football’. The town of Barnes on the Thames is where football’s original laws were drafted and the first game under those laws was played. I had to walk over Barnes Bridge, dodging the cyclists and hearing the barked instructions to the rowers below, to reach Dukes Meadow.
There were six games – the cup ties at 1.30 and the league fixtures at 2.15 – and my choice was Old Meadonians v Latymer Old Boys in the AFA Middlesex/Essex Senior Cup. I stood behind the goal that Meads were attacking, the late autumn sun behind me, and had a close-up view of a goal scored after just 40 seconds.
After 20 minutes Meads were 2-0 up and had also struck a penalty wide of the right-hand post. Latymer (my dad’s old school) had some chances but it went a bit flat in the second half with Meads comfortable and looking unlikely to relinquish their lead. I’m always surprised how few goals are scored following a corner but there was a peach from Meads, a bullet of a header at the near post making it a completely unassailable 3-0 on 78 minutes.
There was a ‘crowd’ of five and one old boy told me that a current Middlesbrough first-teamer, Albert Adomah, played for Meads when he was 16 or 17. He also surprised me by revealing that the club doubled any disciplinary suspension received by their players. So a three-match ban would become six.
There were no problems on Saturday, the game being refereed efficiently and sensitively by Chris Rigler. It can be difficult without assistants, particularly with close offside decisions, but he kept it all together very well. Meads’ spot-kick was awarded for a clear push in the back on the No.10 and almost inevitably it was disputed. Has there ever been a penalty that wasn’t disputed?
I’m on 82 games this season and 6,742 in total.
Twitter: @thebarberfan
