Rabblers crushed by Rebels!

Saturday 19th September 2009
"The Rabblers" 1,
Worthing supporters' 5
Friendly match
At Belair Park

Report by Mishi D. Morath

It's great to play the likes of Worthing supporters'. A genuinely decent bunch of lads, who play for fun, and are-give or take- as rubbish, make that ineptly keen, as us! so I'm gutted to be out 'injured'. And what makes it worse is that I haven't a clue how. I've got pains in my shoulders, like pulled muscles or something, & whilst I'm not in agony, it's fairly constant enough to be annoying & restrict some movement. I'd put it down to 'old age', but I'm 'only' forty two. Oh dear, that'll be old age then.

I still turn up to watch, & some of our lads look a little concerned when they see how young some of the Rebels fans look, but that's not unusual, as anyone under thirty looks young to most of our boys.

Nick Courtnage, the person who runs the Worthing fans' team, AKA 'The Caveman', has asked in advance if the Worthing first team manager Simon Colbran can play for them. Our gaffer Mick O'Shaughnessy has no problem with that. He might be a former semi-pro footballer, but who are we to stop them having the chance to play alongside him? He did look a class above though, and got on the scoresheet from a free-kick. Shaun Dooley was more than happy to 'catch him' early on. Not deliberate as such, he explained it, with a smile, that 'I just wanted to let him know I was there!'

As it happens, when the match gets underway, we have a severe problem of 'first team-itus' and fail to take our chances, which will come back to haunt us. We are two down at half-time, but the game has been more even than the scoreline suggests. The second half is another story. As we start to weary & Worthing gain the upper hand. Though we did deservedly pull one back, with James O'Shaughnessy getting on the scoresheet with a quarter of an hour to go. Well taken, but scant consolation for the previous hat-trick of chances he'd missed. Towards the end we were going to 'sneak' on Vikki Grater, & she makes a bit of history being the first ever 'mother & son' combination to play for us, being on the pitch at the same time as her 14 year old son Louis Grater, who joined the fray earlier in the half.

Making his debut for us was Ennio Gonnella as one of a number of second half changes, who is the new club sponsor. Not the biggest of corporate tie-ups, I've heard it's three hundred quid a month, but it all helps. You may recall the Club were concerned he may have been offended by some supporters' choice language at Horsham YMCA. Clearly he wasn't, by asking to play this morning! After the match he asked for a few words, and explained how he was getting involved in the Club, & had heard on the grapevine how some fans weren't too happy with the way the bard had been run. He said he was laying on some decent food before games, reducing the prices of pints prior to kick off, and making sure the pipes were being cleaned regularly. He apologised for the way things may have been & hope we would use the bar more. Fair play to him.

And fair play to both teams. A really enjoyable moment, without a nasty moment in it. Despite the defeat everyone enjoyed it, this is what supporters' football is all about. Having fun and a bit of a laugh with the opposition supporters. Marvellous!

Time to head back to Champion Hill & the comfort of the 'new,improved bar' for the game between the 'big boys'.

Roll on the return down their way on the coast in January!