I can sense the anticipation from the home crowd as the number 6 receives the football just inside the opposition half. He always looks to thread a pass through to his striker or take it past a defender or two and get closer to goal and have a shot himself. But this is decent opposition and he is snuffed out this time. He’ll have another moment of magic before full time. I’ve been to enough games to know what he can do.
Football is a sport like no other. It brings out an emotion in people that I wouldn’t usually see in their every day life. My latest game I went to see had the referee being taunted by the away fans. I’m sure that these fans were educated folk who were hard working citizens throughout the week, but then on this day as the whistle blew to start the game, they were football fans. Shouting stuff at somebody for a couple of hours becomes acceptable.
I’m sure you’re wondering the importance of this game. What significance did it have in the run up to the Premiere League title? Was it City and Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium? The Merseyside derby? No, it was the Scarborough under 8’s match played at home in a field in Filey. The little number 6 wizard happens to be my son.
I love football. I’ve been brought up on it. I’m a passionate Liverpool supporter and I’m a passionate supporter of my son when he plays. But I can honestly say that standing in the cold listening to swearing, abusive language and wannabe Klopps sharing their tactical know how is not my idea of pleasure. Its hard enough every Sunday morning watching my son, I don’t want to pay £100 for a Premier League ticket for the privalage.
But the dilemma is that my kids love football too! Jonas, my eldest, is obsessed but there might be hope for Finlay. He seems to enjoy other sports and seems to show an interest in different activities away from sport too. I would travel to wherever it takes me with my kids to give them the opportunities to progress in their interests, but it’s going to get a little bit more challenging in the years to come.
It’s not just the fact that I find freezing my arse off in a field on a Sunday morning, plus the two training evenings, a bit tedious each week. But if Finlay wants to follow in his brother’s footsteps at football that’s double the training plus a different venue to travel to on the Sunday.
Just before the pandemic my wife handed in her notice at her job to start her new business. Exciting times. We took out a loan for my wife to get a car as she had recently passed her test. This would open up new opportunities for us and our kid’s extra curricular opportunities as we could both take them to their chosen activities. But unfortunately, as my wife had put in her notice at work weeks before the first lockdown she was not entitled to any financial support. And as the gym’s had to close, we knew that the money we had could not be spent on a second car.
A second car has always seemed as a bit of a luxury to us. Due to the extra costs and the environmental impact we were getting a second car totally out of necessity. And with fuel costs going through the roof I cringe going to the petrol station as it is. But buses on a Sunday morning to some random village outside of Scarborough aren’t very regular, so we were prepared to bite the bullet.
As always we will find a way for our boys to be able to do what they want. But I’m still encouraging them to discover new things. I can’t imagine parents screaming at the guitar teacher like how they do at football with the ref. “Oi, teacher, that’s a D major, mate. You don’t know what you’re doing!”
Or an angry dad with a hand gesture to the gymnastics instructor and certainly not barking orders to the Kickboxing champ teaching little Ocean how to Roundhouse.
Football is a different breed. My respectable dentist could easily be the dad throwing coins onto the pitch and heckling the man in black at next week’s under 8’s match. Who knows?!
So for the foreseeable, possibly at two different football pitches each week, I could easily be nodding to the parents next to me saying, “It’s allus parky in this bloody field”. And if my boys manage a top bins or two, deep down I’ll be more than happy to do it.
Never Give Up PT 