No real football left Rob Hutchison at a loss over the weekend, until he was lured by the prospect of a carvery for £8 at the Hayes Lane ground of Bromley FC, from the Conference South. He enjoyed the day – as our Pete Sixsmith, who lightens the load of being a Sunderland supporter with frequent forays into non-league territory, might have told him he would – though the home fans would have preferred a different outcome …
Pete Sixsmith makes no secret of his love for the non-league game and, indeed, for the oval ball (provided it’s played to the RL code), the corker and stumps, the (formerly) doped-up Tourists de France and – for all we know – tiddlywinks {again, RL code only). You, too, could enter this world of honest endeavour. Here’s how …
“My fault, my failure,” Jack Kerouac wrote, “is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.” Pete Sixsmith’s lack of control over his passion for non-league football took him (mercifully?) far from SAFC v Colchester the other night, memories of some stonking exam performances by the lads and lasses at Ferryhill Business and Enterprise College (does that mean school?) fresh in his mind …
Fair weather supporter, that’s me. One defeat at West Brom, the toys are slung out of the pram and I miss our most important game of the season until the next one comes along. Disgraceful, I know.
During years of exile from the North East,
Malcolm Dawson has developed, along with a duty to watch Sunderland at every opportunity, a fondness for games involving non-league visitors from the region. No Sunderland yesterday, for today’s obvious reason, but Whitley Bay were within striking distance …
My flirtation with this season’s FA Vase began with a trip to Gresley to see the South Derbyshire side’s clash with Spennymoor.
Then a trip to Roker Park, Stotfold to watch Shildon, at the behest of Salut! Sunderland‘s Mr Sixsmith appealed as much as the thought of forking out over forty quid to see us tonked by Chelsea didn’t.