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| Your bush needs a bit of a trim mi' duck! |
Tuesday 11th August 2020
Pre-Season Friendly
at Wales High School, Storth Lane, Kiveton Park
Kiveton Park (1) 2
Alex Hardwick 2, Jordan Cain 88
Thurgoland Welfare (1) 1
Danny McKenzie 30
Point & hope picture gallery: Click HERE
'When all else fails... try Wales'.
Since my previous visit to a football ground last weekend the FA have changed their minds and done a complete about-face pertaining to what the rules and regulations are as regards spectators attending grassroots football matches.
After leaving the game at Wombwell Town, I was suitably enthused by the impressive way that the host club had dealt with all social-distancing requirements throughout the afternoon and optimistic that what I'd just witnessed might be the shape of things to come any time soon.
Subsequently, in the aftermath of a pleasant afternoon, I wrote that: I've got a few more games pencilled in for consideration in the near future, but I will be playing it by ear as regards where I might be heading for the time being, on the understanding that rules are rules, particularly health and safety ones.
At the time of writing. there are plenty of options available, without either breaking the law or taking selfish and unnecessary risks, but those provisional opportunities are obviously subject to change at very short notice.
Hmm... very bloody short notice indeed as it turned out.
Meanwhile the lobbying of parliament and the Football Association via a number of '#LetFansIn' petitions and a social-media campaign to the same end are picking up a lot of momentum, but though I'm loathed to accept large segments of the FA's latest revised missive containing further punitive and restrictive measures and I'm firmly of the opinion that the authorities are guilty of an overly knee-jerk reactionary response to the situation surrounding the lower echelons of the game (rather than displaying even the slightest modicum of evidence that they possess the nous, or inclination to implement any kind of proactive action plan), I'm still very reluctantly continuing to stick to whatever rules they see fit to apply at any given time, in the (probably over-optimistic) hope that by acting responsibly, unselfishly and in full accordance with the current governance, it might help to speed along the process of a return to grounds for more fans to watch games in a legitimate manner, sooner rather than later. That said, I'm not holding my breath.
Besides the associated health risks involved, I wouldn't personally want to tempt fate by taking the chance of getting any club I visited into bother by begging and blagging my way into facilities that are supposed to be out of bounds for all spectators... and I definitely wouldn't ever consider myself to be special enough to milk such privileges either, but each to their own.
I'm all for being a part of the solution while not being a party to the problem, regardless of whatever degree the impatience and frustration I'm experiencing bends to... and how hopelessly futile it all seems to be as time moves on worryingly quickly, with next season looming ominously just over the horizon, but struggling to show itself in sharp focus because there are more questions than answers obscuring the view.
Pausing for just a moment, it is worth remembering it is a worldwide pandemic that is causing all of this disruption. New cases are continuing to occur all of the time (the highest new infections total since June was reported on national news only today) and though the numbers are thankfully nowhere near like what they were when the spread of the virus was at its peak, people are still dying. Offset that against the scale of suffering endured by a few sad anoraks (such as myself) who are unable to boost their tick-list of games/grounds attended/visited and it puts the reality of the whole situation into some sort of contextual perspective.
As football addicts, we're all missing our fix and craving our particular drug of choice (my own varied stash would make Betty Ford blush), but I'd miss my nearest and dearest a whole lot more if a lack of social-distancing caused the virus to flare up again and took any single one of them away from me. Missing a few games here and there sucks, I hate having to do it, but there are a whole lot of much worse things that could happen, Just saying.
People are squeezing onto overcrowded beaches, packing out beer gardens, standing shoulder to shoulder (and even running amok) at political demonstrations, while the government themselves are actively attracting people back into pubs by subsidising food (at the same time as paying lip-service to allegedly implementing measures to tackle the problem of obesity).
But just because a lot of people are jumping on the 'give us an inch and we'll take an effing mile' bandwagon in a spectacularly extreme and stupid way, it doesn't mean that we all have to behave like ignoramus imbeciles of the worst order... does it? Since when did the crass actions of other parties (and individuals who ought to know better) become a barometer for measuring our own behaviour against? Regardless of how low our reserves of patience, understanding and tolerance might be running.Dominic Cummings is a wanker! And I'm quite sure that even the most blue-rinsed staunch Tory couldn't be even slightly tempted to argue otherwise... but that doesn't mean that we all now have an excuse to whip our cocks out and have a good old thrash n' all. I'm sure that most of you didn't go out and shag a pig when David Cameron led by example. What's good for the geese, is good for the geese! And the rest of us all have a responsibility to both ourselves and everybody else to be better than that.
Outwith any of the above, football is going to really struggle without fans, it needs both their morale-boosting presence and financial support more than ever right now, but the problems that have beset the sport, also require strong leadership and representation from the relevant authorities, to steer the beautiful game through these seriously difficult times.
To my way of thinking, the lack of the former commodity and the silence from those who should be fighting football's corner is deafening as per usual... apart from whenever they are presented with another opportunity to curb the actions of supporters (i.e. the very people who are the lifeblood of the game). Swinging the axe in a draconian fashion, offering only short term and temporary fixes (of sorts) to what is quite obviously going to be a very long-term problem is not a solution. Seemingly, the only discussion that the FA appear to have been having of late is the one about if they need an even bigger mallet to smash the proverbial walnut to smithereens with, or not.
Teams pay subs to various bodies of the FA so that they are all protected under a game-plan umbrella and provided with help and guidance whenever it is required. At this current moment in time, I'd wager that I could count the number of clubs who think that they're getting value for their money on the toes of one hand.
One anomaly that the 'new normal' FA rules have thrown up this week is that, it is all legal and above board, for spectators to be present at Kiveton Park FC tonight, but when 'Kivo' entertain Stocksbridge Park Steels Reserves at the same ground next Tuesday because the opposition plays a division higher in the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior League than tonight's hosts, different rules apply and it will effectively become illegal to be present in a wide-open space on the sidelines of a school football pitch, just a week after it was deemed to be safe to do so.
You couldn't make it up... but somebody obviously is doing.
Tonight, Kiveton Park staged their opening pre-season friendly, while Thurgoland Welfare arrived in Wales off of the back of a 6-2 win over JBM Sports over the weekend, in the blistering heat of the midday sun. Perhaps the crowd was made up of a collection of 'mad dogs and Englishmen'.
The visitors arrived, already suited and booted in yellow and green as part of a COVID compliant action plan. They were a goal behind inside the second minute when Alex Hardwick motored forward on the right flank, cut inside and struck the ball just inside the near post where it squeaked past the Welfare keeper who had closed downthe angle and given Hardwick very little to aim at. It was a well taken strike and a lively game ensued... it was certainly of a higher standard than I had expected, given that the pitch was baked-hard by the sun and it was hot enough for those of us who were stood around the pitch in a well spaced manner, let alone both teams who were busting a gut to put one over each other, in what was a well contested encounter.
The two sides were working the channels well and using the width of the pitch well and were evenly matched for the most part. Around the half-hour mark, Thurgoland were on level terms, with a goal created by Mason Gee, who displayed some great skill out on the left flank, where he chased down a lost cause, kept the ball in play, turned his marker and sprinted forward towards the dead-ball line, avoiding a retreating pack of red-shirted players, before pulling the ball back across the face of KIveton's goal, where Danny McKenzie arrived right on cue to provide the finishing touch from the edge of the six-yard box. The same two players scored five of their sides six goals at the weekend too.
From then on in, the game could've gone either way, with both sides looking well up for it and creating several chances apiece, but with the draw looking like the most likely outcome and probably the fairest one too as the clock ticked down towards the dying embers of the second-half, Jordan Cain stabbed home the winner inside a crowded area as Thurgoland bust a gut to clear their lines.
Kiveton had less than two minutes to defend their lead and they closed ranks and saw the game out, on a balmy night that saw both sides share the plaudits of those who'd made the effort to turn out.
A decent game all told, good company and two teams battling it out and going through their paces because of the love of the game.
I'd recommended getting along to watch either of tonight's respective sides any time soon if you get the chance... as long as the FA haven't shut football down altogether by the end of next week.
FT: Kiveton Park 2 v Thurgoland Welfare 1.
