The End is Nigh

As the temperatures plummeted outside and with our spiritual leader still in sunny exile in the Americas we happy few gathered once more to play football at the Finsbury Leisure Centre. I assumed team selection duties and with a motley assortment of gentlemen of various ages fashioned the following two teams

Bibs: Alan, Boro Dave, Dan, Mick, Paul, Simon Ink (hat trick)

Colours: Ian, me, Tom (ringer), Joe, Alex, Ross

With the game underway Paul lived up to his gubernatorial billing and ushered on another chap in the guise of a bloke called Tom to even up the two teams. This had little effect on proceedings apart from restricting our side to ‘stick’ goalie, (we had begun with rush) and given that I had elected to start in nets my toes promptly went numb. The team in Bibs always appeared to be in control and assumed a three goal advantage with Boro Dave and Simon Ink, who went on to grab a hat-trick, among the goals. Big Ian managed to score another long range daisy cutter this week, but it proved an all too rare highlight for the team in Colours who struggled to contain the superior middle passing of the Bibs, with Dan doing much of the damage with plenty of support from Mick and Alan. Too often the Colours struggled to retain possession in the middle of the field, with one stray pass eluding my right foot and resulting in Alan pinging a ball through to the completely unmarked Dave to slot home with studied nonchalance.

Final score: Colours 4 - Bibs 8

Myself, Ian, Mick, Paul, Ross and Simon Ink all repaired to the White Lion where talk touched on a number of topics; Paul, fresh from an eye-wateringly expensive trip to see the Rolling Stones at the 02, brought out his inner Charles Shaar Murray and regaled us with tales of rock’n’roll excess from the 1970’s, including drinking bouts with Gene Hackman and a review of a shambolic Stones gig in Hyde Park.

But all talk was overshadowed by the cripplingly depressing news that next Friday will be the last 7 aside game we play at Finsbury Leisure Centre this year and probably ever. Cliff had received an email saying that after next Friday – i.e. the 7th December – the pitch will be dug up and converted into two 5 aside pitches. Without Simon Gas around to confirm or deny, we had no option but to take this tragic information at face value. Many of the chaps have played here on a Friday night for twenty years or so, certainly dating back into the last century. It is a spirit-crushingly harrowing turn of events, and one necessitated presumably because it will allow Islington Council to make a few more quid from the pitches. Perhaps we should ultimately blame the pressure on local authority budgets (and in turn, the bankers). Perhaps it’s something as simple as a new manager at the centre wanting to ‘maximise income streams’. Who knows.

If anyone is reading this that may not have played recently, this Friday could be the last chance to score a goal or win a game at the FLC. We tentatively agreed to head to the White Lion for the 14th December for a general pow-wow about what to do next and to honour the end of year Christmas festivities; until then, play up and play the game!