Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 29 February 2012

29 February 2012

Thanks for joining us on this Day of Leap. I was going to start by making reference to Town's 'leap' up the division, but that would've been bloody awful, even by your West Yorkshire Diary's standards. Mind you, anything I do today doesn't count. The slate is wiped clean tomorrow, as if today never existed. That's how 29 February works, right?

Let's begin by congratulating Michael Coulson on his performance for the England C team last night, who drew 1-1 with their Italian counterparts at Fleetwood's Highbury ground. Micky Coulo played the full 90 minutes on the right wing and did well by all accounts. Town favourite Liam Hearn was also there, watching his teammate from the stands. There was a lot of love shared between them on Twitter yesterday, as the stalkers among us will know. I was led to believe that Anthony Elding was there too but doesn't do that Twitter stuff, so his affection remained offline.

It's difficult to say how Elding suddenly went from zero to cult hero with the Town fans because to me the transition wasn't that obvious. A few scratchy performances from the bench early on in the season, coupled with some borderline OGs that were later claimed as AEs were alright, I guess. But what really seemed to solidify his affection with the Town faithful were his performances - beyond football - against Lincoln City over the festive period.

Ever since he received a two-game ban from the FA for making that alleged gesture (do I still have to say 'alleged'?), a lot of fans have been left in the dark as to what this gesture actually was. Thankfully, CA reader Phil Shorter has been in touch to explain all. "Elding was playing to the John Smiths stand at the Lincoln game - pointed to the Lincoln supporters and made what is universally recognised as the 'tosser' mime. Don't expect there would be any evidence." Thanks for that, Phil. Yeah, I mean, who needs evidence? I can only surmise, in the absence of any evidence, that the prosecution's case was led by Lionel Hutz and that Elding's solicitor (ever mindful of his client's untouchable social media standing) just said: "Yeah, two game ban, whatever. Hashtag eldingfacts. BOOM!" and walked out.

Anyway, on to today's news. Town stopper James McKeown has been telling the Telewag that he looks up to England and Man City keeper Joe Hart, which may or may not get people in the mood to think about England's friendly against Holland tonight. I guess it depends on whether namby-pamby friendly internationals float your boat, and whether you feel a connection at any level to those that wear the shirts and represent your country. For the record, my boat sank after striking the iceberg of egotism at some point just after Euro '96.

At the opposite end of the sport's spectrum, the Telewag also reports that the 116-year-old Grimsby & District Saturday League is on its knees and could soon fold - news that has saddened Dave Boylen. The paper also reports that former Grimsby, Cleethorpes & District Sunday League vice-president William Rennie sadly passed away last week. The 'Serious Scot' seemed like a man who could tell you a tale or two given his experiences. Our thoughts and best wishes go to his family and friends.