A Funny Thing Happened at Football

Last night saw Crawley Town playing Swansea City in the Capital One Cup, which is the new name for what was the Carling Cup. Swansea have recently been promoted to the Premiership, which meant that it was a big game for Crawley. The ground was fairly full with 3500 football fans in attendance, 900 of whom were from Swansea. In all it was a very good turnout for a Tuesday evening, despite the rain. The record at the Broadfield Stadium is about 4500, which was achieved at our recent League 1 game against Portsmouth. Unfortunately we lost that game 0-3 and we had 2 player sent off. Not our finest 90 minutes by a long way.


The game itself was very close, with Crawley giving Swansea a real game. Our performance overall was surprisingly good compared with our recent performances and bearing in mind that Swansea are now a top flight team. The banter between our fans and theirs really made for a great atmosphere and we even managed to get the others in the West Stand singing, which is virtually unheard of. Chants of “Are We In A Library?” from away fans are not uncommon. Ultimately, the visitors beat us by 3 Goals to 2, their 3rd goal coming in the 90th minute, just as the 4th official held up the board to let us know there was 4 minute of injury time to play. Such is life.

At halftime, Chunky, Steve, Ray and a few others always gather around to discuss the first half game play and drink tea, eat biscuits, etc. This time however there was a new face in the group and it was someone I instantly recognised as my Supervisor when I was an Apprentice over 20 years ago. I couldn’t for the life of me remember his name, so I didn’t mention it. I later found out from Ray that his name was Brian and they worked together. After the game Ray re-introduced us and when I told him my name he instantly remembered me. It then became clear that I had also worked with one of the other guys in the group. I’ve been chatting with him for the last 3 or so years without realising. It just goes to prove that it’s a small world.


Regards



Click Here to E-Mail Me Direct
Click Here to Visit my Flickr Account

The Rise & Rise of Crawley Town FC

What a season it's been. The FA Cup took us to Old Trafford where 9,000 of us made more noise than the 67,000 Manchester United fans put together. When I watched the TV coverage the following day, I couldn't believe the volume of our chanting. It was simply an amazing experience. A shame they beat us 1-0, but they are one of the best teams in the world. There's always next season 8-)

From there we just kept going up the Blue Square Premiership, trading places at the top with (the Real) Wimbledon. Not that shower who All the time keeping an eye out for Luton Town, Wrexham & Kidderminster Harriers. Last Saturday we beat Tamworth away 3-0, which sealed our promotion to the Football League.

Last night we played Luton Town at the Broadfield. It would have been a sell out crowd if not for Luton not being able to sell their allocation of 600 tickets. Only about 200 of them turned up. The theory is that because we'd already qualified they didn't want to give us any more money for no reason. Sounds like sour grapes to me, but at least they should get the chance to go up via the play offs. Personally I'd like to see AFC Wimbledon come up with us, but Chunky prefers Kidderminster for some reason. It's all in the lap of the Gods now I suppose.

There was a great party atmosphere, despite the fact that we drew 1-1 against Luton. We all stayed on after the game as we were presented with our Champions Cup. There was Champagne, lots of jumping around and singing. Despite the chill in the air, there was great hope for next season in 3000 hearts.

Chanting,
"We are the Champions, We are the Champions.
No time for losers, cause we are the Champions.
Of the League."
(repeat until you are horse)

Life long fan & joint owner of the club, Bruce Winfield, sadly died just before we achieved the title. It was largley due to his support and financial management that we were able to reach the heady hights of the Football League. He would have been so proud.

Thank you Bruce, we won't forget you!

David vs Goliath

As I think I mentioned in an earlier blog, I've never really been a big football fan. This was mainly due to me not being very sporty in my youth and all the thuggery at football matches. The final straw for me was the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, after which I became a Rugby fan and technology geek.


Many years later my Brother-in-Law Chunky moved in with us and being a football fan himself, got me interested again. I started watching Match of the Day with him and my Son, and eventually I started joining them at Crawley Town FC's home games.

After a few turbulent seasons, Crawley started to do quite well in the Blue Square Premiership, which is one level below Football League Two. Last year the club managed to pay off it's crippling debt and this season a new sponsor has enabled the team to buy some top players. At present it looks likely that we my win the league this year and gain promotion to League Two, where we can play with the big boys.


On top of this we have done surprisingly well in the FA, beating Swindon Town (League One), Derby County (Championship) and finally Torquay United (League Two). This meant that we were the first non-league team for years to get through to the 5th round. On Sunday 30th January this year we were drawn against one of the biggest clubs in the world. The Mighty Manchester United in an away fixture at Old Trafford.

Since then it seems that the whole Town has gone completely football mad. Our little town seems to be constantly in the local and national news. The Sun newspaper (sic) is a sudden sponsor. Even the Steve Boyce Band have written a tune to celebrate.

So this coming Saturday about 9,000 of us, myself, Junior and Chunky included, are travelling to Manchester to watch to game and you never now. We might even win! Wish us luck 8-)

COME ON YOU REDS!!!!


Regards



Click Here to E-Mail Me Direct
Click Here to Visit my Flickr Account