Moments after this picture was taken Starlight Snooker scored and the place erupted
By David Barber. Wednesday, 12 March 2008.
The superfan has clocked up another 14 games in the last two weeks, taking him up to 144 for the season and 5,476 altogether. They included two Quarter-Finals, a Semi-Final and a Final.
Here are the results: Charlton 1 Sunderland 2 (Youth), Everton 1 Arsenal 0 (Women), Merstham 2 Needham Market 3, Starlight Snooker 1 AFC Carrera 2, QPR 3 Stoke 0, Clocktower 3 Camden Lions 4, Islington Admiral 7 Stokey 0, Victoria Line 3 Jubilee Line 0, The Cape 4 Covent Garden 3, Chelsea 1 Aston Villa 1 (Youth), Bexhill 1 Rottingdean 0, Old Town Boys 5 Lewes Bridgeview 1, BUPA 1 Fabers 2 and Times 0 Alhijra 0.
The second in that list was the FA Women’s Premier League Cup Final at Leyton Orient’s ground. I was invited to the pre-match dinner and given a seat next to a sweet girl called Fern, an Everton player who had to miss the Final due to a knee injury. I mentioned that I was at Liverpool University in the ‘70s and it turns out that she lives very close to where my "Hall of Residence" was in those far-off days.
The "game of two halves" is one of football’s worst clichés, but I’ve seen so many games this season which have had a second half that was completely different to the first. This was one of them. Everton took an early lead, but Arsenal created a hatful of chances after that and could’ve had four or five goals before the break. They seemed to have the ball all the time.
I told at least ten people during the interval that Arsenal would be "clear winners" and was proved wrong as the Merseysiders put in a tremendous second-half performance to lift the trophy. My predictions have tended to be ridiculed since I tipped Japan to win Euro 2004 and rightly so. Before the weekend I said it would be Chelsea v Man U again in this season’s FA Cup Final. Oh dear.
On one of my days off last week I went to Market Road for a "double header". The journey was dismal. Forty-five minutes after leaving my hotel in Paddington I was still in, er, Paddington. Not only were there no trains; none of the ticket offices were open either. I tried four different lines without success and was beginning to think I’d never make it to Islington’s "Theatre of Dreams".
When I did finally get there, I found the 4 o’clock game was a fixture in the London Underground League. So that’s where they all were! I saw the Victoria Line beat the Jubilee Line 3-0 before a crowd estimated to be two. The standard of play was actually quite good. I chatted to the referee at half-time and he explained in detail why he had cautioned a couple of players. He may have thought I was an assessor.
Monday, as forecast, had driving rain and gale-force winds. The conditions were ideal for watching a game at Paddington Rec, where there is no cover whatsoever. Not surprisingly, the crowd for BUPA’s game was slightly less than two. They had just eight players at the kick-off and when a ninth turned up a few minutes later, the referee almost immediately "sent off" one of the starters for not wearing shin-pads.
I had breakfast this morning with about a dozen Swedish girls. All blue-eyed blondes, all unbearably soft and lovely. I don’t know what they call it, but football’s had it.