Cod Almighty | Article

by Andy Kenney

30 August 2005

Barnet 0 Grimsby Town 1

I'd find it hard to express in words the way I feel about watching football. I'm quite a sporty person but despise watching sport. I'd just rather be doing it myself. When I was offered a lift home on the condition that I had to watch the football first, I was put on the spot. Do I stick with my principles or just go and sit down for two hours of my life that I would never get back? What a dilemma.

But I decided to go. What did I have to lose, except for those two hours? Which is how I was roped into writing this article, so I apologise before going any further and shock you all with my lack of football knowledge.

So, Barnet and Grimsby. I only vaguely knew where Grimsby is and had never heard of Barnet before, so already it wasn't looking good for me.

As I took my seat, surrounded by a multitude of human diversity mostly sporting the black and white striped tops of Grimsby Town, and even a few of Cod Almighty's own T-shirts, I figured if this many people make this much effort to come and see Grimsby play then they can't be that rubbish. Can they?

The atmosphere was simply magical, with the melodious banter drifting forth from the stands punctuated with one man's shouting of the infamous C-word at every opportunity, I found myself actually in high spirits and looking forward to watching the match.

My hopes were to be dashed and dreams shattered. As the first half progressed it became more and more uneventful and did nothing for my negative outlook on football. Barnet were controlling the game in the air - with the exception of Grimsby's Jones, who out-jumped everyone and, along with Macca, made a great stand against Barnet's attacks. One speedy little mover did stand out from, sorry to say it, what looked like a lazy team. I can't remember who he was though. Reddy, I think it was. He was always making a run upfield towards the goal but it never led to much. One guy, who I now know to be called Newey, certainly stuck out like a sore thumb as he seemed a little incompetent and fouled a lot. Not everyone is perfect, so maybe I shouldn't be so harsh.

And with that the first half groaned to a disappointing nil-nil end.

With the will to live draining out of me, we settled down to watch the second half. "Oh joy," I thought to myself. "Another 45 minutes of mental torture." I was nearly crying on the inside, and to top it off they'd changed the players! Just as I was starting to learn who some of them were, speedy Reddy and someone else were off, with new people I had yet to be introduced coming on. Out of the blue the boys in blue had got a second wind. I blinked and nearly missed the first and only goal of the game. Andrew was brought on in the second half and wasn't going to waste any time: great header, back of the net! One-nil.

After this the whole match took a change of pace and everything seemed a little more interesting. There was a lot more action around the Grimsby goal, and lots of corners, although they all amounted to nothing. There was also a lot of action from the little man in green. The ref seemed to have a certain special 'fondness' for the Grimsby players, with a few bookings and then a sending-off for a chap called Bolland. On a scale of zero to how much the Grimsby fans don't love the ref I'd say the rating was quite high for this match.

Towards the end of the match I strangely found myself quite engrossed in the game, and even muttered the odd comment about the ref and how maybe he didn't know exactly what he was talking about. After some more people running round and a couple of close calls at both ends of the pitch all warrenting "oohs" and "ahhs" the game was over. Grimsby had won against the team that were top of the league, so I am led to believe.

Which concludes my first of hopefully many Grimsby Town experiences. And so with thanks to the acts of one faithful Grimbarian my eyes have been opened to the joy that is Grimsby Town. I look forward to seeing and hearing more about the Town!