The Friendly Game?

 

The new football season is (almost) upon us. It is preceded by the ritual of pre season friendlies.

These games are a curious affair. In the past you had local rivals playing each other – e.g. Newcastle and Sunderland playing in a testimonial match for a (former) player. These matches were certainly anything but friendly off the pitch and were often little better on the pitch.

For non league clubs, bizarrely they often provide their biggest game of the season if one of the local professional sides sends down an X1 to play the local non league side. Back in the early / mid 1980s, Newcastle used to send a youth/ reserve side to play Spennymoor United. The Newcastle X1 would be captained by first team player David Barton, only because he was a Spennymoor lad.

For the professional sides, it is often a chance to give fringe and youth team players a competitive run out against a side who want to win to boost local pride. I have been to 3 pre season games so far this summer.

Bishop Stortford v Colchester United 13^th July 2013

You may recall I went to watch Bishop Stortford at the end of last season and they were such a friendly club that I decided to revisit them. In fact, if they were a little closer to my home, I could be persuaded to go more often to watch them.

This game against a local opponent was played on a scorching hot day that was far more conducive to sun bathing than football. Despite this, both sides combined to serve up an entertaining game.

The crowd was disappointingly small, but ~I suspect the fact it was such a lovely day, it was so early in pre season etc all combined to keep the crowd small. There was only a small contingent of Colchester fans who made the trip, but they still probably out numbered the home fans, which included at least one Leyton Orient player.

When you consider that amongst the players lining up for Colchester was Republic of Ireland international Clinton Morrison, then you start to realise how well Bishop Stortford did to hold their visitors to a 2 goal lead (one of which was a penalty0.

As with my last trip to Bishop Stortford, it was a plane spotter’s delight with nearby Stansted airport being very busy on a summer Saturday.

It was another welcome and enjoyable visit to bishop Stortford. They seem to have embodied the best of the old amateur spirit in the modern professional game.

   

Leyton Orient v New York Cosmos 24^th July 2013

A famous name from the 1970s and 1980s provided the opposition to Leyton Orient for their latest pre season friendly.

I as usual went with my friends, Tony & Lisa and took advantage of their carer ticket to gain free admission to the game in return for taking them to/ from the game. It’s a good symbiotic relationship. My other regular Orient companion, Greg was unable to make the game, so we had a spare carer’s ticket. A gentleman in the café we frequent before the game needed a ticket, so I gave him the spare ticket. He insisted on paying for the ticket. I told him we’d got it free, but he insisted on it being paid for. In the end, I said I would take the £10 and donate it to UK COPS as I had done a sponsored bike ride the previous weekend. This met with his approval, but then he insisted on giving me another £5 on top of that towards the cause. God bless you sir, the generosity of the British Public is amazing.

Once again the stewards at Orient showed how good a club it is. They took the time to chat with all the disabled spectators and as usual bring them tea or coffee at half time. Orient truly is the friendly club. I have taken the trouble to write to the CEO Matt Porter to tell him how good the stewards are and asking him to pass on my thanks to them.

The crowd seemed to consist of lots of people wearing retro 1970s style New York Cosmos shirts & t-shirts. The game itself was very enjoyable. The Cosmos are a new team and play in the 2^nd tier of US football. Like most US teams, they are high on skill, but play a version of football that is almost non contact.

I have watched football from schoolboy to MLS level in the USA and the players are generally more skilful than in the UK, but less able to deal with the physical stuff. Orient won 2-1 in an entertaining game. A nice gesture by the Comos team at the end of the game was to applaud the crowd. They will be welcome again back at Brisbane Road.

Leyton Orient v Arsenal 30^th July 2013

Like last week, I went with Tony and Lisa to watch a very fast and youthful Arsenal X1 play against the O’s. Within 8 minutes, Orient, playing in their change kit were 2 up, both simple goals from crosses that Arsenal failed to deal with.

The game was a little like the Cosmos game, with Orient being the stronger side and the visitors being the more skilful side. Arsenal made it 2-2 before goals either side of half time made it 4-2 to Orient, but Arsenal fought back with a very late goal to make it 4-4.

Another enjoyable evening in the East London sunshine and what looks to have the potential to be a good season for the O’s looming with an away game at Carlisle this weekend.

Next week it’s a game against Coventry City in the Capital One (League) Cup. It’s a good job it’s a home game as Coventry City currently do not seem to know where they are playing their home games. They are a club in serious turmoil and serious financial difficulty. It looks as I type this that they will be playing home games, some 30-40 miles from Coventry at Northampton’s Sixfield Stadium. At present time, Coventry are rumoured to have only sold 300 season tickets. A far cry from a club that had over 30 successive seasons in the top flight as I grew up.