Thursday, December 22, 2005
Mansfield Policeman 1st
So it's a boxing day match, early kickoff, away at Mansfield. Take my daughter to it . No-one else I know wants to go.
Before the game, Mansfield players kick signed footballs into the crowd - signed by the Mansfield squad. (Which at that time included Kevin Kent - no-one else important that I can think of)
Eventually they kick a couple into the away end and I snaffle one for Katy. It's black and white and it's free - and she wants a football for some reason. People near me tell me to kick it back onto the pitch, but no way. I'm keeping it. It's mine.
Anyway, the game's been going on for a while and it's a bit bad. Vale not playing well. Referee is Keith Hackett - then very well known, and now he's in charge of refs in the country or something - and he's not having a good game, well not from my point of view anyway.
Eventually Ray Walker does something daft and Hackett sends him off.
Trigger for loads of abuse from Vale fans and from me in particular.
If I recall correctly, I called him a wanker.
Then I corrected it and said that if he knew where it was he would be a wanker.
Said ? Called ? Bellowed / Shouted very loud, to be honest.
Copper standing ( as you did in those days) a few feet away suggested that I "moderate my language, sir " - he gave two reasons - one was that there were quite a few children in the crowd who might not appreciate it....and second ( the killer) he added, "And besides, sir, he knows what he is without you having to tell him"
I liked that. Liked it even more when Robbie Earle ( well before he was a pundit) scored the only goal of the game, against the run of play, against just about everything in the game, for a win we did in no way deserve. At the end of the game, the copper said to me " You see sir, justice was done in the end, wasn't it , just like I said ?" and I thanked him for his comments and went home.
There's another one about Mansfield and the police later on - must be something in the water round there....
Before the game, Mansfield players kick signed footballs into the crowd - signed by the Mansfield squad. (Which at that time included Kevin Kent - no-one else important that I can think of)
Eventually they kick a couple into the away end and I snaffle one for Katy. It's black and white and it's free - and she wants a football for some reason. People near me tell me to kick it back onto the pitch, but no way. I'm keeping it. It's mine.
Anyway, the game's been going on for a while and it's a bit bad. Vale not playing well. Referee is Keith Hackett - then very well known, and now he's in charge of refs in the country or something - and he's not having a good game, well not from my point of view anyway.
Eventually Ray Walker does something daft and Hackett sends him off.
Trigger for loads of abuse from Vale fans and from me in particular.
If I recall correctly, I called him a wanker.
Then I corrected it and said that if he knew where it was he would be a wanker.
Said ? Called ? Bellowed / Shouted very loud, to be honest.
Copper standing ( as you did in those days) a few feet away suggested that I "moderate my language, sir " - he gave two reasons - one was that there were quite a few children in the crowd who might not appreciate it....and second ( the killer) he added, "And besides, sir, he knows what he is without you having to tell him"
I liked that. Liked it even more when Robbie Earle ( well before he was a pundit) scored the only goal of the game, against the run of play, against just about everything in the game, for a win we did in no way deserve. At the end of the game, the copper said to me " You see sir, justice was done in the end, wasn't it , just like I said ?" and I thanked him for his comments and went home.
There's another one about Mansfield and the police later on - must be something in the water round there....
