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Have I gone football crazy? Or only football mad? Or just football relatively sane? Or football thinking with great insight and clarity?
I don't know. But I do know that I have been to an awful lot of football (compared to my usual intake of the game) in the last four days. On Saturday I saw my daughter's team lose to Harpenden and then Tottenham Ladies get beat by Arsenal Ladies. Tonight I sampled some action from the men's League 2 as useless Barnet took on the greatest and most magical team on earth, York City. Phoebe Herring remains the best player I saw in any of these matches.
One of the Hitchin dads is a big Barnet fan and he took me along to the match tonight. It meant I did have to sit with the frankly quite impolite Barnet fans (who did quite a lot of sweary chanting, aimed at me and the other York fans). They all seemed lovely on a one to one level, but when they came together like a Barnet-based Borg they were quite intimidating.
It's an odd experience sitting amongst the wrong group of fans. York definitely had the best of it in the first half, scoring early (though the goal was disallowed due to a slightly controversial off-side decision) and then scoring again to go 1-0 up. Barnet, who hadn't looked up to much til now, rallied a bit and equalised two minutes later. It's hard to celebrate a goal when everyone around you is annoyed, but it's probably more annoying to be sitting amongst thousands of people who jump up in the air when your team concedes.
The referee seemed a bit fussy and made some dubious calls and seemed to be giving very minor free kicks to the team who was in possession anyway.
At half-time if felt like things could go either way. A point would be great for York, as Barnet are flying high, but a win would take us above them in the league (albeit with them with a game in hand).
Unfortunately the refereeing continued to be mega fussy and yellow cards were being handed out like flyers on the Royal Mile in August (and no one had done anything as awful as any of those Fringe performers). Boateng got a second booking as he attempted to take a quick free kick, which was a pretty light offence, and the competitive side of the game was ruined as York were now down to 10 men.
It looked like they might just hold on, but finally Barnet broke through and won 3-1. It didn't feel completely undeserved, but it also didn't feel completely deserved either. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the referee hadn't been a prick (he also sent off the manager and yellow carded what felt like about 60% of the people on the pitch! There was a bit of niggle between the teams, but very little in the way of reckless or dangerous play.
I think Barnet may have won it anyway as they came out in the second half with a new resolve, but disappointing to travel to Edgware in the middle of the week and have the contest pretty much ruined by the bloke in charge.
Hey, calling the referee a wanker. Am I proper football fan now?
The Barnet fans did not seem to mind that their win was very much down to extenuating circumstances and sang refrains like "You've seen Barnet, now fuck off!" to the York fans who I didn't hear swear back at us. It's all part of the banter, though a bit weird if you're sitting in amongst the people inviting you to depart in an unsavoury manner. I would have sung, "Well done York, you definitely had the best of the first half and we might have had a fair and decent fight were it not for some dubious decisions from the officials. Good luck in your promotion chase."
Am I proper football fan now?
For a man who doesn't go out very much any more this was still a fun departure and I don't think I am going to become one of the people (usually men) who follow their team everywhere and see every match and then vent their frustrations and release their emotions by shouting and cheering and crying and moaning at some men kicking a ball around. I don't think the men wearing the shirt I prefer beating very similar men in a different shirt says anything about me or that I can really claim their victories as my own. But it's just the kind of suspension of disbelief that people experience in the theatre. And it's just as silly as thinking liking a particular pop group or comedian means anything significant about your personality. And it's good enough fun if you let yourself be carried away with it.
And those Barnet idiots won't be singing when we (that's me and the York squad and no one else) thrash them 5-0 at home.
