Arts for art’s sake?

Another Friday, another week, another glut of goals, another slew of incidents, another game, another few pints. Another blog.

Friday 31^st October, All Hallow’s Eve, and Association Football Organiser-In-Chief picked two ten (!) aside teams, (Yev’s customary late arrival notwithstanding). 

The two sides lined up as follows –

Blues: Bristol Paul, Ian Baggies, Mick, Steve, me, Mario, Daniel, Carlos, Alan, Ross

Yellows: Simon Gas, Alex, Yev*, Mark, Danny, Paul, Spizz, Will, Nick, Andy

As you can see, plenty of people on the pitch and with space at a premium neither side looked likely to ship the kind of tennis scores we habitually see week in, week out at Coram Fields.

Simon Gas – shockingly, improbably, unbelievably, not on the winning team for the first time this term – opted once again to allow all three Italian gentlemen to play on the same side and this Azzuri trio (appropriately dressed in Blues bibs) dominated possession in the final third, aided and abetted by Mick. That they were occasionally guilty of over-elaborating is perhaps forgivable given that there were trying to break down around eight or nine defenders at any one time. The Blues’ had a strong defensive pairing of Bristol Paul and Steve, who was lucky not to have suffered from concussion given that he had to head away the reserve ball, (more of which anon) which had been characteristically pumped up to the point of explosion by Simon Gas. They were slightly less secure in midfield as the defensive cadre were somewhat isolated by the veritable carnival of soft shoed players up front, a space that Nick, Will and Alex ran into time and again for the Yellows. Will was cleverly stretching the play as the Blues’ defenders tried to track the runs of not just Spizz and Will himself, but also Yev. It was from one such devastating run down the wing that Yev cut the ball back from the by-line for an easy tap in. 

The Blues three goals came courtesy of Mario, Ross and A N Other, Ross’s effort being the most memorable as he controlled the ball from around twenty yards out and spanked a volley that Simon Gas in goal could only partially parry, the vicious spin on the ball doing for him and providing the fifth and ultimately winning goal. 

Now in a new feature we look at the number of footballs shanked over both the crossbar and the fence and into the surrounding locale. I’m calling this One Flew Over The Pigeon’s Nest

Number of balls hoiked over the fence: two 

Offenders: Mario and Spizz. (Both balls were successfully retrieved).

Final score: – Blues 3 - Yellows 2

Another good turn-out at the Skinners this week, in what turned into an evening long debate about the whys and wherefores of paying for music versus getting it for nothing. I’ll have a go at summarising the various stances taken by said contributors – 

Mick: until 100 years ago people played music for fun, so why should people expect to be paid for it now?

Me: if you want decent music, expect to pay for it – people need time to create great art without the exhausting and draining demands of working life

Alan: Coldplay are everyone’s seventh favourite band [they’re not]

Spizz: if you flew five plumbers to California would you expect one of them to fix your pipes? [I have literally no idea what this might mean, but surely the answer to that question is ‘yes’]

Ross: record companies are evil and were only interested in making money. The internet means that everyone can make and distribute music, regardless of how much money they do or do not have. 

Thankfully Yev came to the rescue and bought everyone some more beer. Well played, Yev.

I’m not around next Friday owing to a looming West Country visit, so see you in a fortnight, when our leader travels to Chile to sip wine and upset the locals with offensive number plates.