Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 8 Selling the game to the world

Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 8

Selling the game to the world

As a youngster I played three types of football. For Leeds in the University and Half Holiday League, for Old Parmiterians in the Southern Olympian / Southern Amateur League and for a whole variety of pub sides in the East London Sunday and Hackney & Leyton League both based predominantly at Hackney Marshes. It was for one of these Pub sides, The Brownswood Tavern, that I pushed my powers of persuasion to the limit. With Eleven O’Clock kick offs on a Sunday morning you are always introducing a random element for players in such sides. That is ‘getting so pissed on a Saturday night’ means that Sunday football starts very late! Anyway, this morning we had driven house to house throwing stones up at windows, chatted with mums on doorsteps and done what we could, to field a side. There were two crucial rules you had to comply with on a Sunday morning, First, you had to have at least seven players on the field at kick off and second, you had to start by 11.15am or forfeit the match. So there we were, 11.05am and just six players on the pitch. Desperate to play the game I did something questionable, but then I am persuasive around football. One of our regular supporters was a twenty year West Indian guy named Norman. He was there every week, hail or shine. Norman was also disabled, barely four foot tall and used crutches to stand up. Yes, I asked Norman to put a Brownswood shirt on and to walk two yards onto the field so we had seven players to start the match. Embarrassed, Norman reluctantly did what I asked, until five minutes later the cavalry arrived with six new players and he could come off again, might I add, to mighty applause from all at the ground. Looking back knowing my passion for the game I would still ask him today. Norman also quietly told me that that five minutes on the field sent adrenaline right through him, he loved it! Getting back to the Brownswood Pub later on, Norman’s story of his game role had grown to most of the first half. ‘Funny old game’ as Greavsey used to say😊⚽️

Greg Saunders a good mate. We played for the Brownswood Tavern together in the 80’s