Mixing it

With the weather suddenly becoming milder, the superfan hatched a plan to see seven games in five days. It included three on a very spring-like Saturday – at Indian Gymkhana, Old Actonians Association and Queens Park Rangers.

For the first day in this sequence, last Wednesday, the first choice was a Middlesex Premier Cup semi-final between Sport London e Benfica and Staines Lammas at Hanwell. All the vital signs were there: the floodlights were on, the corner flags were in and there were players milling about with kit bags. But the game was cancelled. Unbelievable.

Fortunately there was still time to travel one stop on the Central line for Bedfont Green’s Allied Counties League fixture with Hanwell Town at Avenue Park. The visitors won 5-1, watched by 16 people. Thursday’s preferred game in the London Underground League was also cancelled, I suspect because one or both teams didn’t have enough players. So I waited for QC Aces v Albion Reds in the Islington Midweek League, Reds achieving a 6-0 victory in front of three spectators.

It was so warm on Saturday that I nearly unzipped my anorak. The first part of the trilogy was Indian Gymkhana v Marsh Rangers in one of the Middlesex County League’s experimental morning kick-offs. Gymkhana’s Thornbury Avenue ground is close to Osterley tube and a official crowd of 141, a league best for the season, saw a 1-1 draw. Admission was by a £2 programme and I sat on the edge of a cricket sightscreen behind one goal.

The next game was Old Actonians Association v Old Esthameians in the Southern Amateur League, kicking off near Acton Town tube at 2.30. I shared an egg sandwich and a packet of crisps with about 200 ducks in Gunnersbury Park before walking the short distance to the ground. It was an excellent game, one of the best this season, Actonians clawing their way back to 2-2 after being two down.

I saw the visitors’ ‘keeper take a throw-in in the first half and the attendance for this Gunnersbury Drive classic was “just under two”. It deserved a bigger audience.

The trilogy was completed at Loftus Road, where the superfan saw QPR’s live-on-Sky Championship fixture with Ipswich Town. I was there half-an-hour before the 5.20 start and there was no queue at all as I paid £23 for my restricted view ticket. Ipswich won 3-1 and deserved the points. The woolly hat was back in service on Sunday, with a chilly wind blowing around Regent’s Park, and there were two more games to enjoy.

I found myself strangely drawn towards Pitch 8, where those stylish Swedish ladies in black tights under their green shorts were playing Camden Town in the Greater London Women’s League Division Two North. Word has obviously got round that KIKK are the team to watch on a Sunday morning and I counted 14 people and three dogs in attendance this time.

Camden missed about five sitters before finally taking the lead on 68 minutes. KIKK’s No.14, a skilful and enterprising left-winger, cut inside to equalise with a superb shot into the far top corner just five minutes later. Some of her team-mates were wearing long-sleeved black shirts under their short-sleeved green match shirts…and black gloves too. Even more stylish. It finished 1-1, with the Scandinavians looking the stronger at the end.

Then it was off to Baker Street for a full English breakfast served by 'Miss Croatia' and a walk back to the cold wind for The Good Mixer v New Musical Express on Pitch 9 at two o’clock. The team in orange, who lost 3-0, had 'The Good Mixer' on the front of their shirts and I thought it was a sponsor’s name. But apparently it’s the name of the team, as in 'Good ‘alf, Mixer!' That’s 5,611 games all told for The Barber now.