Keeper Of The Castle*

In football it is a well known fact that goalkeepers are different Some would say crazy, but let’s be charitable The notion of standing between the posts to deliberately get in the way of a shot from someone who wants to make the net bulge in awe of their power, is clearly not for everyone Indeed there’s a persuasive argument that suggests this selfless act of masochism is the confirmation of madness So keep in mind our keepers are borderline crazy and everything that follows makes perfect sense

Monday morning’s Ruskin Sports Village session was the gentle opener to another week of Walking Football frolics Forty players strutted their stuff to attract the eye of Football Supremo Andy Suitably impressed or otherwise, his choices lined up for Mr Jeff Betty’s magic thunder box to record their attendance for posterity

The teams selected were;

Purple - Enoch, Robin, Jeff Betty (sans ref’s whistle) Tom Stretch, Chris K, Jill Tomo and Mark A

Green - Snakehips, Beachboy, Lord Rainford, McSpeed, Big Tony and Brian

Old Gold - Rick, Chris Gilmore, Roger, Les H, Mark NR, Donal and Monday Michelle

Black - Les Meldrew, Haggis, Eileen, Wickie, Lefty Bridge, Citeh Geoff and Phil the Power

Red - Phil the Cat, Mike. Ages, Sheila, Ashy, Thatto Dave, Glen and Little John (hand down boy)

Blue - Steve Eccles, Billy, John Hill, Mike Thomo and Andy Man

Each morning prior to a session a poll is published when members can vote to indicate their availability for the session On Monday 34 voted to indicate they’d be playing In the end 40 players lined up, with two 7 a side matches plus a 6 a side game Is it too unreasonable to assume the missing non-voting members all decided at the same last minute that they would play after all? Why should Andy be expected to guess that people will suddenly turn up expecting to play He prepares the side selection based on numbers declared by 10 am, an hour prior to the start of the session What chance does he have of selecting evenly balanced teams working with such wildly inaccurate numbers?

It’s not difficult If you intend to play offer the courtesy of voting in the Poll

The six a side fixture featured Blue v Green, which was played in great spirit and exceptionally well refereed by Charlie Those bedecked in Blue raced into a 3 goal lead with some lethal finishing from Steve Eccles After the interval Green mounted a fine come back with a hat trick by McSpeed to draw the game all square In the dying moments another strike by Eccles stole a hard earned victory for Blue Some great play plus a string of good saves but Blue pipping Green at the death 4-3

Old Gold and Purple produced another close game Old Gold with an early two goal advantage squandering the chance to wrap up victory Purple drew level by the break 2-2 Goal scorers Mark and Michelle for Old Gold with Tom notching a brace for Purple

The game was decided by a penalty awarded for a ‘team not walking’ violation by Purple The irony was that Old Gold could easily have succumbed to the same offence but kept their discipline to secure the 3-2 win that summed up another excellent performance by all involved Old Gold played Black next up Haggis and Ian netted for Black whilst Michelle continued her good form with another goal An unfortunate own goal gave Old Gold their 2-2 draw Great entertainment value throughout the session

Red and Black finished with Black on top despite goals by Phil and Dave for Red A hat trick for Ian plus another from Haggis steered Black to victory

Red ended the session with the narrowest of victories over Purple, thanks to another penalty tucked away by Dave

Some titanic struggles, lots of chances created, goals scored but kudos to our keepers too A number of games decided by penalties a testament to their quality We were honoured by a visit by Sam Hackett, LJMU Sports Jounalist Undergraduate who was keen to explore Walking Football’s contribution to the local community He has a role with Liverpool Echo and we look forward to see his finished work very soon

If Monday’s availability poll caused headaches for our Football Supremo, by Wednesday his chances of a quiet life deserted in double rapid fashion An outbreak of Man Flu and other disorders was piled on by midweek European games The first casualty was the Innards game, which was abandoned due to a lack of viable numbers The impact meant the Outward Bounders became the only game in town As the weather dissuaded more players to seek warmer climes Our solitary game was a 7 v 7 game, which made up for the lack of active combatants by the quality of play

The hardy annuals braving the AstroTurf Steppes were;

John for Yellow whilst Grav 2, Ian,

Pink - Joe the Ghost, Chris 4G, Haggis, Chris 10P, Ian Harding, Grav and Little John

Yellow - Ian Ailton, Andy Man, Jason, Eileen, John Cousins, Lord Rainford and Joe Bellamy

The game was another cracking example of two very evenly matched sides going for broke Yellow took the early advantage but were pegged back by the interval Two apiece at the break Ref Jeff Betty ensured that play remained a fair contest, clamping down on those ‘not walking’ to observe LoTG Yellow playing on the edge with three not walking offences over them for a large period of time Pink took the lead after the interval, a lead they held on to for the remaining play Yellow did draw level at 4-4 but with six minutes remaining two goals without reply sealed a win that was fine reward

The final score 6-4 with goals by; Jason 2, Andy and John for Yellow whilst Chris 10P and Grav each hit 2 for Pink with Ian and Joe also on target Joe Bellamy has found his feet at last (rather than his knees) but was unlucky hit the woodwork on four occasions Fair to say his eye is most definitely homing in on the target

“A good close game played in a sporting manner!” offered Ref Jeff Betty, and who would disagree?

The week ended with the excellent news that Paul ‘Roger’ Moore had a positive diagnosis from his recent biopsy We look forward to seeing him back in his defensive duties very soon

Keeper Of The Castle* - The Four Tops (Motown royalty for your listening entertainment