2012-13 Uncovered: Tuesday 20th November - Bari My Soul At Burroughs

   Message boards and forums up and down the country were getting all het up.  About the Israeli incursions into Gaza and the Palestinian response?  Nope.  The ceaseless clunk-clicking of more and more revelations about Jimmy Savile and his little ring of sordid friends?  Of course not.

   The issue that was getting people so enraged and intolerant was, erm, standing up at a football match.  Supporters of Premier League and Football League clubs, in the past week or so, have been whining incessantly to each other about it.  Some want to stand, others don't.  And neither have any time of day at each other's view.  

   It led, incredibly, to someone getting a broken nose for their troubles at Craven Cottage on Sunday, after an argument broke out about it.  The fuckwittedness of those involved puts them up on a par with politicians or Scottish football administrators.

   My view?  I couldn't care less if people want to sit or stand.  If those standing aren't obstructing the views of those wanting to sit, there's no problem.  At non-league level, of course, that isn't an issue, as people don't behave like knob-heads about it, by and large, and haven't done for decades.  It's also why there's no segregation below the Conference.

   It seems, however, in the pro ranks, it was the supporters who think it's a massive deal that they go to a game, and make huge noises about how great they are, that were making the biggest fuss.  You know the type.  Try to take all the credit if there's any sort of atmosphere.  Criticise everyone else if it's quiet.  Every club has them.  At Southend United they call them 'the North Bank'.  

   This was the background to yet another trip to Burroughs Park this evening and onto another issue that causes extensive argument - clubs being bankrolled.  Rovers opponents tonight in the Essex Senior League Cup were London Bari.  

   Winners of a Sunday league last season.  They by-pass the feeder Saturday afternoon leagues and gain straight entry into the ESL, move in with Clapton, and get rid of all the players they had.  Click on the club history section of their website and it's completely blank.  It's no wonder there was more than a hint of resentment in other quarters, with established and well run clubs passed over.

   Again, though, it's all about opinions.  Mine?  Although I prefer a club to be self sufficient and at least have some links with the community, you can't blame clubs if someone comes along, with an offer of enough financial backing to put the club on a decent footing, and they take it.  Their problems will come, though, if and when the backer backs out.  Their fall will be that much harder.  And it will happen in this part of the non-league country, too.

   Ed, Bri and I were in full agreement about one thing though.  It was bastard cold.  Since the weekend I'd been woefully short of money.  As this was a cup game, though, the Rovers season ticket wouldn't be any use.  In the end I let my heart rule my head and went.  If I known it was this cold, though, I'd have let my nads rule my heart and stopped in to see Celtic get beat.

   We needed the game to warm us up, to liven everything up a bit.  Rovers were trailing 2-0 from the first leg and needed an early goal.  There's a corner on the right.  Bit of a scramble.  Then a lob.  It's there.  Game on.  

   A desperate defender kicks the ball out of the goal via the crossbar but it's way too late.  1-0 to Rovers on the night.  2-1 to Barry on aggregate.  Except play is going on.  Somehow, the goal hasn't been given.  We have our main talking point, that something to get the evening going.  But not the way Great Wakering Rovers would have wanted.  I shouldn't.  But chortle.

   The game carries on, with the match officials showing their even handedness, making ridiculous decisions against both sides.  Having said that, tonight on show were the two whingiest, loudest, moaniest teams I've heard on a pitch for some time.  You'd be embarrassed even if it an under 7's side, let alone fully grown adults behaving like that.  For whatever reason, everyone in football today has gone proper radge.

   In amongst the male menopausal festival going on in front of us, London Bari score a world class goal.  A lob from around the halfway line, the scorer apparently seeing Rovers keeper Louis Godwin-Green off his line.  They rightly go berserk with a goal like that.  It's only heresay though.  I, of course, wasn't watching it, too busy chortling at Bri's miners torch on his head.  Don't ask.

   The celebrations, of course, lead to a bout of handbags, and around five minutes of the match officials deciding to tell someone off jolly hard, with one yellow being shown.  The level of football wasn't particularly good tonight, but the entertainment factor, not necessarily for footballing reasons, was high.  That'll do for me.

   It continues in a similar vein during the second half.  Dreadful officiating, occasional flashes of brilliance, all very watchable but mostly for non-footballing reasons.  Danny Heale makes me even poorer by netting an equaliser.  Barry soon head upfield though.  Not a great deal of skill but a lot of pace.  Until this guy cracks a low volley across goal from the left hand edge of the area.  Louis had no chance.  2-1 to the visitors and everyone applauds.  All five of us, anyway.

   The next goal is even better.  One touch football right cutting through the Rovers defence on the right, the perfect through ball inside the area, first time shot, 3-1 to London Bari.  Did I say not a great deal of skill?  Sheer delightful football, as Kenneth Wolstenholme once said.  Rovers get a consolation, but by that time, everyone knows that consolation is all it is.

   The rest of the game was spent who could shout and moan the loudest.  The winner, sadly, was the Rovers player-boss Trenks, who mouthed off at the lino for a good 10 seconds after a 50/50 decision went against him, out on the touchline, way out from either goal.  So, so childish.  How can you expect a side to behave when the manager does that?  The refs and linos may be patchy in quality at times, but I lose any sympathy for players when they go on like that.

   We head off home, frozen, but given a bit of value for our six quid.  Barry deserve to go through on the night, but do they deserve to be out there on the pitch to start with?  It doesn't matter now, they're through, and deservedly so.  They took their chances, Rovers didn't.  And that's the name of the game.

   As the shadows spread spookily across Burroughs Park, the talk is of games ahead.  We're all feeling the pinch.  Not that we're contemplating cutting down on games, just paring to the bone the cost of getting there and getting in.  Chipper's mate is friends with Fleetwood manager Micky Mellon, who sounds more like an act at the Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club.  A ticket blag is in the offing.

   Something I'll happily stand for.

   Great Wakering Rovers 2,  London Bari 3  (agg. 2-5)