This Tuesday Scunthorpe United drew 2-2 with Reading at Glanford Park. Now, this wasn't just any old draw for Scunthorpe, this draw assured another year of Championship football for the small club from North Lincolnshire.
I may have only seen a handful of Scunthorpe games, but I feel a huge sense of pride in this fact. I feel a huge sense of pride about the club.
Here's a few facts; Scunthorpe United was one of only four Championship clubs to be operating outside of any debt whatsoever. [Source for this fact? Football Focus, BBC], This means that the club doesn't spend big sums on players, and doesn't offer big wages for players. Scunthorpe Isn't an attractive option for a player wanting to make their fortune. So scunthorpe employs a very effective scouting system, they find the good players, who have been shunned by the teams who took them through the youth stages, and they develop them even further. A great example of this would be Billy Sharp, who after being kicked out of Sheffield United, came to Scunthorpe, and was the top scorer for 2 seasons. Sharp was then sold back to Sheffield United for a tasty profit! Martin Pattinson [Patterson?] came to Glanford Park three seasons ago, he helped fire scunthorpe into the Championship, and fronted their attack for a season in the Championship, after this he was sold onto Burnley.
In his second season at Scunthorpe, Martyn Woolford, who had previously been playing conference football, has risen into a star performer for the club, netting 5 goals from left midfield this season, including two against Newcastle United.
Also the striking pair of Paul Hayes and Gary Hooper this season has been impressive. Paul Hayes, now in his second spell at the club after leaving Scunthorpe for Barnsley, he came back after falling out of favour with the manager at Oaklands. He has netted 8 goals for the Iron this season thus far. Gary Hooper moved to Scunthorpe from Southend United for £125,000 and has, this season netted 18 goals overall. Last season he scored 30 goals overall, 24 in the league and 6 in various cups. Including one goal on the hallowed Wembley turf.
This method of buying, the looking out for talent, developing it, and then selling it on for a tidy wee profit allows for the club to create a nice persona for itself. The players that leave respect the club, the players that stay love the club.
This tuesday, the attendance was in the 5000's, this is a marked improvement on last season. And these sort of attendance provide that little bit of extra cash for the club to manouvere with. The extra cash could go towards ensuring top goalscoarers stay at the club, or it could even go towards improving the stadium + training facilites so the talent comes to Scunthorpe.
The club operates within it's means and has made a success of itself.
I'm unbelieveably happy that they have stayed up for another season. In October I saw the highlight of their season, a 2-1 win over Newcastle United at Glanford Park. I was standing in the terraces for this match, and the raw passion of the crowd was intoxicating. And the pride they had in their team come the final whistle was for me, rounded off when I overheard the kid infront of me telling his friend he was going to put his ticket inside an envelope and keep it so he could tell his grandkids he was there when Scunthorpe beat newcastle.
And y'know, people may read this and think why on earth is he ranting and raving about this club, when he barely gets a chance to see them, when there's a decent local club [Dunfermline Athletic] right on his doorstep.
You're right, I should be doing that about Dunfermline. I'd count myself as a Dunfermline fan, even though my support has wavered over the past few years, I just find it hard to be passionate about a club where the fans are as depressing as the football, and the players don't look like they enjoy playing/want to be wearing the pars shirt.
When I see a scunthorpe match, I am buoyed to my feet by the roaring chants from all corners of the home stands, even my Great Aunt is singing away next to me at games. I'm bouyed by the humourous chants from the fans "Who needs Mourinho? We've got our physio", I am even more buoyed and inspired by the fact that every player which takes to the field wearing a Scunthorpe United shirt runs until they can't do it anymore. They play with passion and heart. And I walk away from the ground with a smile on my face regardless of the outcome of the match.
What I see in Scunthorpe is a family orientated club, that puts financial survival over league success. It ensures that it will be there next year for it's fans. It builds from the bottom up, and now the plans seem to be working. Success, while only minor, is slowly coming to the club and the town. The Club provides hope to a community that is struggling with unemployment and social issues. The Steel/Iron works are slowly being shut down, and don't provide the amount of jobs that were once available to the people.
Slowly, this club is proving itself to the town, proving that it is worth their money, worth their support. the club is becoming the beacon of hope in the town. And the town are rallying behind it, the club is a constant in their lives, and in return they are slowly becoming the constant in the club's world.
I love this club, because of how it's run, because of the attitudes which the manager and the players hold, because of how passionate the fans are, and because it operates outside of debt. This club isn't any old Iron.
Hi Ho Silver Lining, Hi Ho Scun United.
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Sir Alec Bedser
Whilst waiting for the ps3 update to finish I read the newspaper, 3 hours worth of reading and waiting too, I read it cover to cover, and in the final pages I reached the Obituary section.
However morbid it is, I enjoy reading these obituaries, through these I'm able to learn about an individual I otherwise would have had know knowledge of. I can learn about what they've done and what they've stood for.
The obituary that was in tuesday's Guardian newspaper, was that of Sir Alec Bedser. What immediately drew my interest was the blown up image of him bowling a ball in cricket whites. What intrigued me, was that Sir Bedser appeared to be a cricket great, a legend of the game, and I had no knowledge of who he was, or what he'd done to bring him to this stature in the sport. So I read on.
I found that Sir Bedser had emerged into the sport right after World War Two, where he was part of the RAF and saw action in Dunkirk, North Africa, Italy and Austria. Him and his twin brother emerged from the campaigns of the war and then immersed themselves back into the game of their childhood. Sir Bedser played for Surrey where they won the county championship 8 times whilst he was playing for the club.
In 1946 he made his test debut for England against India, and celebrated this achievement by taking 22 wickets in his first two tests. Wow, thats what I call an introduction to the international stage.
Through his career, he continued his wicket-tacking rate, ending with 236 wickets to his name at 24 runs to each wicket taken. And overall, including county wickets he took a massive total of 1924 wickets at 20 runs for each wicket.
And the wicket which stands out, is that of the legendary Sir Don Bradman, Sir Bedser took his wicket in an ashes match with a fantastic leg-break. A dismissal which Sir Bradman still says was the best delivery to ever get him out.
This admiration and recognisation from a cricket great is the pinnacle of the glittering career of Sir Bedser.
After this, Bedser got involved in the ECB, he became a selector for the national side, and was deeply involved behind the scenes. Sir Bedser played his cricket with determination, and he gave it his whole concentration, when he played cricket he made it his life, he'd put his whole heart into it. He believed that to be great bowler you had to bowl as often as possible to achieve a perfect bowling action. And in his role within the ECB he became dismayed at what modern proffesionalism was doing to the players he was to choose for the national side. Rather than bowling over and over, they would go to the gym, he was confused at this poor sense of direction.
This attitude to his sport, in my mind, was laid out plain and clear when i read a little story about him in a hotel lobby. At this point in time he was in his role at the ECB, and as he waited in a hotel lobby a fan walked by with a replica england cap on his head, with the badge emblazened on it's front;
However morbid it is, I enjoy reading these obituaries, through these I'm able to learn about an individual I otherwise would have had know knowledge of. I can learn about what they've done and what they've stood for.
The obituary that was in tuesday's Guardian newspaper, was that of Sir Alec Bedser. What immediately drew my interest was the blown up image of him bowling a ball in cricket whites. What intrigued me, was that Sir Bedser appeared to be a cricket great, a legend of the game, and I had no knowledge of who he was, or what he'd done to bring him to this stature in the sport. So I read on.
I found that Sir Bedser had emerged into the sport right after World War Two, where he was part of the RAF and saw action in Dunkirk, North Africa, Italy and Austria. Him and his twin brother emerged from the campaigns of the war and then immersed themselves back into the game of their childhood. Sir Bedser played for Surrey where they won the county championship 8 times whilst he was playing for the club.
In 1946 he made his test debut for England against India, and celebrated this achievement by taking 22 wickets in his first two tests. Wow, thats what I call an introduction to the international stage.
Through his career, he continued his wicket-tacking rate, ending with 236 wickets to his name at 24 runs to each wicket taken. And overall, including county wickets he took a massive total of 1924 wickets at 20 runs for each wicket.
And the wicket which stands out, is that of the legendary Sir Don Bradman, Sir Bedser took his wicket in an ashes match with a fantastic leg-break. A dismissal which Sir Bradman still says was the best delivery to ever get him out.
This admiration and recognisation from a cricket great is the pinnacle of the glittering career of Sir Bedser.
After this, Bedser got involved in the ECB, he became a selector for the national side, and was deeply involved behind the scenes. Sir Bedser played his cricket with determination, and he gave it his whole concentration, when he played cricket he made it his life, he'd put his whole heart into it. He believed that to be great bowler you had to bowl as often as possible to achieve a perfect bowling action. And in his role within the ECB he became dismayed at what modern proffesionalism was doing to the players he was to choose for the national side. Rather than bowling over and over, they would go to the gym, he was confused at this poor sense of direction.
This attitude to his sport, in my mind, was laid out plain and clear when i read a little story about him in a hotel lobby. At this point in time he was in his role at the ECB, and as he waited in a hotel lobby a fan walked by with a replica england cap on his head, with the badge emblazened on it's front;
"If those comments did not mark him as a man from another age, his reaction
to an England supporter entering the lobby wearing an England cap most certainly did.
"You earn that?" he barked. The man stopped dead in his tracks, looking embarrassed.
"You have to earn that cap," the great bowler went on. "It's supposed to be a privilege."
This loyalty to his sport, and it's credibility was a nice notion. He certainly won the right to wear that cap, and through hard-work and supreme efforts he became a legend. Through sheer determination he mastered his trade, and achieved greatness in his field of work. And if only there was no need for him to have gone to war he may have reached even greater heights through using those 5 years at his physical peak to blow the world away with his bowling.
Sir Alec Bedser, cricket has lost a legend, a true hero, and I am sorry to know that I knew nothing of you until you have passed away. Your story has inspired me, has provided a sense of momentum to what i can achieve and in a lovely way I will take your lessons into account for this coming cricket season.
and just to finished this off, I'll leave a little quote from Sir Bedser, remarking on his disbelief that modern cricketers needed toilet breaks during test days to counter the affect of drinking so much to rehydrate, enjoy;
"I once bowled 30 overs in Adelaide in 100-degree heat and afterwards I drank 30 tins of Fosters and never had a pee"
And after those 30 tins, I bet he went back out to bowl and take more wickets too.
[EDIT: Here is the obituary in the Guardian which I have referenced;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/apr/05/sir-alec-bedser-obituary]
[EDIT: Here is the obituary in the Guardian which I have referenced;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/apr/05/sir-alec-bedser-obituary]
Monday, 5 April 2010
Half A Century!
That was what I was in London celebrating.
50 years of marriage between my Grandparents. Quite an achievement actually, a rather astounding one aswell. To think that these two people, have survived half a century of time together and come out on the other side.
And to celebrate they organised a big family party at the local golf club. It was lovely, having all the family in one place. Then it came to the speeches. And, after 3 pints of Fuller's London Pride, I was in a nice mood to just sit and listen, and reflect. And what I could not stop thinking, was that these two people; who I have embodied with the stereotype of moaning, grouchy old people who find being negative a way of life, I found that despite all of this, on saturday night, it all dissapeared, all I saw of them was two very happy people, madly in love. the stereotype was cast away, the shroud removed, and the true extent of who they are was made clear to me.
The power of love has kept them together for a good fifty years, through several heart attacks and a list of health problems, through two daughters and four grandchildren. I take my hat off to the two of them.
The four of us here at home, in scotland, only manage to see the other members of the family at best once a year. And whenever we go to the family parties I feel like a stranger. The nearest family member to us is a 3 or 4 hours car drive away, so for the past 11 years we've had minimum contact with the majority of our family. A fact which upsets me to a point. When I get to these events, I may be a stranger, but I love seeing everyone, and I love everyone being together and they take me in, talk to me, laugh with me, smile with me.
And I always come away wishing that the night hadn't have ended, that I could just stay one day longer with them.
I struggled to put names to faces at the party on saturday, and it's really got to me. I mean, in god knows how many years time, when I'm writing my wedding invites, will I know who to invite? I'll have hardly seen any of the people who I should be inviting, I hardly know them, they barely know me. It unsettles me these thoughts, because those who are meant to be closest and dearest to me, are strangers, I can smile and feel happy when I see them, but I don't know them, and to be quite frank, if I didn't go to the party on saturday, I'm sure they wouldn't have noticed that I was not there.
So this lack of family contact, this lack of familiarisation with my family, may have got me down, may have got me all negative as we travelled back on the plane. And I'm sure my mum was fed up of me talking to her about it. But it led me to a lovely little realisation. The realisation was, that up here, in scotland, well away from any family, I've made friends. Friends who I hold close and dear to me, and this realisation, it was the fact that yes I may be a stranger to my family, I may feel disconnected from them, but my friends are my family, they smile with me, laugh with me, and pose for pictures with me. And I know, that when it does come to writing my wedding invites, is that my friends names will come to mind readily. So I do have a family I've been in contact with, I see them every day and I've grown up with them, my friends are my family.
So in summary;
I take my hat off to my grandparents and their momentus achievement of 50 years in marriage.
I wish that I could have had a better relationship with the rest of my family aside from the close relatives.
I can take comfort in the fact that I have a lovely family, my friends.
50 years of marriage between my Grandparents. Quite an achievement actually, a rather astounding one aswell. To think that these two people, have survived half a century of time together and come out on the other side.
And to celebrate they organised a big family party at the local golf club. It was lovely, having all the family in one place. Then it came to the speeches. And, after 3 pints of Fuller's London Pride, I was in a nice mood to just sit and listen, and reflect. And what I could not stop thinking, was that these two people; who I have embodied with the stereotype of moaning, grouchy old people who find being negative a way of life, I found that despite all of this, on saturday night, it all dissapeared, all I saw of them was two very happy people, madly in love. the stereotype was cast away, the shroud removed, and the true extent of who they are was made clear to me.
The power of love has kept them together for a good fifty years, through several heart attacks and a list of health problems, through two daughters and four grandchildren. I take my hat off to the two of them.
The four of us here at home, in scotland, only manage to see the other members of the family at best once a year. And whenever we go to the family parties I feel like a stranger. The nearest family member to us is a 3 or 4 hours car drive away, so for the past 11 years we've had minimum contact with the majority of our family. A fact which upsets me to a point. When I get to these events, I may be a stranger, but I love seeing everyone, and I love everyone being together and they take me in, talk to me, laugh with me, smile with me.
And I always come away wishing that the night hadn't have ended, that I could just stay one day longer with them.
I struggled to put names to faces at the party on saturday, and it's really got to me. I mean, in god knows how many years time, when I'm writing my wedding invites, will I know who to invite? I'll have hardly seen any of the people who I should be inviting, I hardly know them, they barely know me. It unsettles me these thoughts, because those who are meant to be closest and dearest to me, are strangers, I can smile and feel happy when I see them, but I don't know them, and to be quite frank, if I didn't go to the party on saturday, I'm sure they wouldn't have noticed that I was not there.
So this lack of family contact, this lack of familiarisation with my family, may have got me down, may have got me all negative as we travelled back on the plane. And I'm sure my mum was fed up of me talking to her about it. But it led me to a lovely little realisation. The realisation was, that up here, in scotland, well away from any family, I've made friends. Friends who I hold close and dear to me, and this realisation, it was the fact that yes I may be a stranger to my family, I may feel disconnected from them, but my friends are my family, they smile with me, laugh with me, and pose for pictures with me. And I know, that when it does come to writing my wedding invites, is that my friends names will come to mind readily. So I do have a family I've been in contact with, I see them every day and I've grown up with them, my friends are my family.
So in summary;
I take my hat off to my grandparents and their momentus achievement of 50 years in marriage.
I wish that I could have had a better relationship with the rest of my family aside from the close relatives.
I can take comfort in the fact that I have a lovely family, my friends.
A Fresh Start
Well, this is me back on the blogging trail.
Lets hope I can go ahead with this without incurring the wrath of Matthew Jackson [Hansen?] this time around.
I can't really promise anything special for you on here, I'm going to try and develop any rants or thoughts I have, which can't be squeezed into 140 characters for twitter. But by no means will just be used as an angry venting tool, it'll be nice....hopefully.
I must send acknowledgements to the two bloggers which have inspired me to start this blogging lark once more;
http://parksyrc.blogspot.com/
and
http://thejamesboneblog.blogspot.com/
Many thanks lads.
Lets hope I can go ahead with this without incurring the wrath of Matthew Jackson [Hansen?] this time around.
I can't really promise anything special for you on here, I'm going to try and develop any rants or thoughts I have, which can't be squeezed into 140 characters for twitter. But by no means will just be used as an angry venting tool, it'll be nice....hopefully.
I must send acknowledgements to the two bloggers which have inspired me to start this blogging lark once more;
http://parksyrc.blogspot.com/
and
http://thejamesboneblog.blogspot.com/
Many thanks lads.
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