Thanks allotments

I saw my first match at Church Road, picturesque home of Whyteleafe FC, in 1964. Or was it 1864? They lost 5-2 to Malden Town in a Surrey Senior League Cup tie that had three penalties, all of which were scored. Admission that day was sixpence.

It was a fiver to get in on Saturday for ‘Leafe’s pre-season friendly with Maidstone United. They now play in the Isthmian League’s Division One South and over the years I have to say I’ve rarely seen them win. They were hanging on at 1-0 against Premier Division Stones but were cruelly denied a victory when the visitors levelled three seconds from the end.

My train down from London was delayed for 52 minutes at Norbury due to ‘a dog on the line’. I hadn’t heard that one before but fortunately I was early enough not to miss the kick-off. The first half was goalless and quite uneventful. The ‘highlight’ was a volleyed clearance by a Stones defender that soared out of the ground, cleared a training pitch next door and landed first bounce in some allotments 50 yards away.

The home side changed all ten outfield players at half-time (I think) and they now had two No.14s, two No.16s, two No.18s and two No.19s. ‘Leafe actually took the lead just three minutes into that second period with a long-range effort that initially looked as though it was going wide.

It became a proper match after that, with a lot of the purpose and aggression that had been missing in the first half. Stones piled forward in the last few minutes and could have scored three or four. They equalised as ‘Leafe’s giant ‘keeper (6’6” at least) couldn’t get down quickly enough to turn away a daisy-cutter into the corner.

Then ‘Leafe kicked off and the ref blew for time three seconds later.

I read in a newspaper last week that The FA Cup ‘is already bordering on irrelevance’. We had 762 entries last season, the most of the competition’s 139-year history. Two million people attended the matches, with Semi-Final and Final crowds significantly higher than anything you’d get in the Champions League in this country. The Final, surely still the biggest match of the English season, is watched by nearly half a billion on worldwide TV.

Sounds pretty relevant to me.