This…is going to be long so if I was you and you don't like long rants, I'd stop here. No seriously.
Anyway today we had a cup game against AFC Mottingham, for those of you who don't know about this team they have no shortage of what we'd call "scum" in their ranks and I shall explain why in a bit.
The match started out as a bit of a shaky affair, they were pressurising us a lot but it was no cause for concern as it's a recurring theme with teams who face us and aren't very good. Play fast and furious for the start and ruffle the other team's feathers early to mask the lack of stamina in your own team. So all we had to do was to be patient as I knew that the last half hour in the game would be crucial as that's when they'll be exposed as the unfit team that they are.
Things didn't quite go to plan as we conceded quite early on as miscommunication rears its ugly head and Ryan and Tommy failed to deal with what should have been a simple clearance leading to Mottingham scoring in an open goal quite clearly putting a spanner in the works.
The second goal came from a penalty which was from a clumsy tackle from Phil but I do not begrudge him for this as he is inexperienced in the left back role and I suppose will gain the experience and get better judgement of when to attack for the ball or to stand them off.
The penalty however was one that was actually poorly taken, they had already made clear their intentions to blast the ball so all that was required was to save the shot that was clearly going in the middle but that couldn't be managed. Suffice to say, that was disappointing.
So here we were, two-nil down but cracks were clearly showing in the other team, they could not pass the ball like we could, they did not have a dominant and imposing figure in the middle that could control the game like we did. The only time I got worried was when we starting to play a little desperate and stopped playing short balls and were all over the place and lost our shape but those moments were few and in between.
The second half was maybe a little better however I did have a few concerns at how slow we were to move the ball from the back. I get a little nervous when our centre backs and full backs get the ball simply because there is usually little room for error and past experience has shown me that when put into a pressure situation like that the right decision isn't always made.
I am a firm believer in that if myself, William and Ryan are playing in the middle then we should always have the ball the majority of the times when we want to attack therefore we should quickly give the defence an option to get the ball to us as quick as possible so we can do our job and supply the ammunition for our attacking forces.
So in the second half they scored after what should have been a routine save from a long shot somehow squirmed underneath our goalkeeper to give them a three-nil lead. Yep, this clearly inferior team were winning by 3 goals because of us, not because they were decent or anything but because we gave them all three goals.
We got a goal back when William decided to dribble straight from kickoff after their goal and somehow Mario had placed it in the back of the net to cut their celebrations short but not only that they had managed to get a player sent off to make harder work for them as their lack of stamina was now beginning to show.
Mario got us a second and a third goal to bring the score back to 3-3 and they managed to get yet another player sent off in the process and thus the game went into extra time.
No-one could break through during it so it went to penalties which...well we lost.
If you made it this far...good for you, that was the match report, a little background information about what spurred this on and my utter disgust.
AFC Mottingham are the most disgusting team I’ve ever played and yes while it wasn’t everyone in their team so I apologise in advance for tarnishing them all with the same brush but you really aren’t that much better if you condone that sort of antics. Football………I grow tired and bored of it, I barely even watch it anymore as I’ve already been more interested in playing it than watching. I love playing it so much as there is nothing like executing a slick one-two or a piece of skill to amaze people, there is nothing like thinking 5 steps ahead of everyone else, knowing what will happen in a move, what you want to happen in a move and yet still being flexible enough to change at a moment’s notice when things do not exactly work out as planned.
Football is a game which it simply about getting the measure of your opponent and trying to score more goals than the opponent and that’s what things should be left to. So when threats are made, when people start essentially behaving like thugs and hooligans it spoils the fun for everyone else and if you are the sort of person that gets a thrill out of breaking someone’s ankle or leg in a game of football then…I pity you.
I feel sad and annoyed at how football has this sort of “laddish” culture towards it and people don’t display the proper amount of respect that anyone as a human being deserves. It’s sad how people can gain enjoyment over wanting to physically hurt another human being and using sport as your excuse where if you did that in the street that essentially is assault. Don’t get it misconstrued as I am not saying that no-one should tackle anyone as there is nothing wrong with a good tackle and I in fact really do appreciate a good challenge but when you are rushing in a 50/50 challenge at 100 miles an hour for a ball you have no chance of winning, what is the obsession with trying to just swing your foot and hit whatever you can? I’ve never understood that and while I don’t criticize referees as they do a tough enough job as it is. This is one thing I felt he should have been a bit tougher on as nobody should have to jump out the way of a reckless challen…assault, concede possession of the ball and then receive absolutely nothing for it. It worries me how little protection we get from teams who basically have thugs who want to kick and punch their way through ninety minutes of football.
The things such as threatening to break someone’s ankle after a game or even worse threatening to knock out a referee of all people simply because he didn’t like a decision, it’s sad how this is what passes as grassroots football, it’s sad how a team as violent and as scum as they were can proceed to the next round of a tournament, no doubt they will be reported and yet nothing will happen.
Vincent Kompany recently came out with a statement saying that at grassroots football racism is most prevalent during it which while that is indeed true I feel this whole racism issue as of late has been nothing but a buzzword for journalists and papers to sell their stories and to simply make money while not actually caring a bit for the actual issue on hand. The thing is at grassroots football the whole attitude stinks from racism to wanting to win matches to sportsmanship to respect. I really like playing football and it saddens me how more people at this level don’t really feel that way.
This is why England will not win anything, too much emphasis is given on physical and brute strength while not enough is on skill and technique of players and when you mix that in with the leniency that is shown to thugs and villains of the game all it does is create an environment where people with skill and talent get viciously kicked and harassed out of the game and then it just doesn’t become fun to play anymore and then become disillusioned and then they quit. Sure you can say that they do not have the character to rise against adversity and if their belief is strong they should keep pushing to achieve their goals and dreams but to that I say BULLSHIT! Complete and utter BULLSHIT!
Why should they have to constantly fight against the system? A system that should be set up to encourage talent, a system that should be set up to weed out stubborn players and to promote a positive way of thinking, a system that brings in players that want to win and enjoy football not to be violent and hurt people and get your enjoyment from that because then you are simply just in the wrong sport. In media everywhere such as films and TV shows we are constantly shown that good people get rewarded while the villains get punished, no doubt a lot of the times you will see the heroes of the story win at the end. Never has that been so false in football.
While I am only one man who doesn’t really have that much power to change anything, it really is time for a change.
