Cod Almighty | Diary
Don't ask me to choose an accountant
16 January 2014
There are some folk who will tell you Grimsby is an out-of-the-way sort of place, disconnected from the wider world. That the big social, political and environmental issues of the day never find their way into conversation on the Waltham omnibus. Well, don't you believe it! You original/regular Diary has discovered this week that nothing can be further from the truth.
First up, diversity and tolerance. All this Hitzlsperger talk, you see, has overshadowed another footballer from the Grimsby area who bravely went public with his sexuality several years ago, using social media to come out as heterosexual as far back as 2007. The player is now turning out for King's Lynn Town in the Northern Premier League after recently leaving Boston United of the Conference North. But the Diary is surprised to learn that during his spell with the Pilgrims, the player signed a dual registration loan deal with Spalding United which allowed him to play for either club as and when required. I don't know about you, but I never thought I'd see Straight Peter Bore swinging both ways.
Our next big issue is ecological sustainability, and specifically the fall-out from Tuesday night's floodlight failure at Forest Green. Rovers, of course, are a club attempting to minimise their negative impact on the environment even as the Mariners remain hell-bent on moving from the ideally located Blundell Park to a new stadium which for most fans will be accessible only by car.
Sure enough, the blackout was greeted with glee by those Grimbarians who spent their childhoods pulling legs off spiders and can't bear the idea of change, particularly any change that might stop the world becoming steadily more shit. This group has been quick to present Tuesday's power cut as a devastating blow to the case for renewable energy. And indeed, that's exactly how it might appear to the 0.0000000000207 per cent of the world's population who closely follow what goes on when Grimsby Town play away at Forest Green Rovers.
Notwithstanding their parochialism, the Town fans calling for Rovers to be deducted points/thrown out of the league/liquidated continue to make themselves look silly. Why? Well, for one thing, I'd be willing to bet that one or two other games over the history of football that have had to be abandoned because of floodlight failure have been hosted by clubs that were making no attempt to switch to renewable energy sources. For another – and here's the clincher – Rob Sedgwick at the Fishy has pointed out that Forest Green's floodlights aren't even green yet anyway.
Just to make you feel even humbler, meanwhile, a group of Forest Green fans is organising a whipround to fund a return visit for their Grimsby counterparts who made such a long journey for nothing on Tuesday. I know, right? No thanks there to the Town supporters who have been calling for various dire sanctions against FGR – or indeed to the Mariners Trust, which has rather disappointingly and unprofessionally joined in.
In other, more parochial news, the next in the excellent series of matchday guests invited to Blundell Park by the Mariners Trust will be Alan Pouton. The former GTFC and Gillingham midfielder will appear at this Saturday's home game against Gateshead, presumably waving at us from in front of the dugouts, drawing the half-time lottery, and hopefully reconstructing a few of his most famous stepovers.
And finally today, Lee Wattam has become the third Town youther to go out on work experience recently. After Caine Winfarrah's switch to Gainsborough Trinity and Sam O'Malley's move to Scarborough, young striker Wattam will be hoping for some game time at Boston Town, in between making tea, playing Minesweeper, and being sent down to the storeroom to ask for a long weight and a can of striped paint.