Cod Almighty | Diary
It may be a mausoleum, but it's our mausoleum
1 October 2013
Today's Middle-Aged Diary is copied and pasted from Too Good to Go Down's Twitter feed.
Ponder this while you read on: how many players have won full international caps while on the books at Grimsby? This is related to a question TGTGD and denizens of CA Towers were kicking around yesterday, following the datum that no current Hull City player has ever played for England. Let's leave off the "Tigers" by the way; no matter what our differences, Hull supporters don't deserve that. By contrast, a crude bit of plasticising does deserve to be ignored. We'll return to the internationals question in a while, after you have had time to think.
There is not much hard news. No one seems to be asking whether Paul Hurst will appoint an assistant, our major shareholder is holding his peace and only Soccerbase has any remaining interest in Rob Scott. The footballer encouraging children to read is a familiar, but nonetheless worthwhile, staple of quiet news days, and Shaun Pearson does the job with particular conviction, coming up with a solid book recommendation away from sports biographies. With Chris Doig's travels also suggesting a hinterland, we now have our most cultured pair of centre backs since Paul Futcher was partnered by Peter Handyside.
What better on such a quiet day than to whip up an artificial fuss? The reaction in Tamworth to their defeat on Saturday appears to have been somewhat graceless, but it is the Lambs blog, in which author Chris Philpotts states that he has never visited "a more depressing ground" than Blundell Park, that has got some of us aflutter. The piece was, as far as I can tell, first picked up by TGTGD but then taken up and misquoted in the Telewag.
Tempting on this kind of occasion to set up straw men, rather than look at the real argument. The piece does not say the Mariners have no "desire" to get out of the Conference; only that there is no hope or expectation of it happening. Nor does it criticise facilities at Blundell Park, lest anyone thinks some disparaging references to Tamworth's own home are in order. On the contrary, the piece is a back-handed compliment to our status, saying simply that Blundell Park is typical of the grounds of ex-Football League clubs, clubs of a size that "could easily live in the Championship let alone the Conference".
The reaction may be a case of "I'm allowed to criticise my family, but you are not". The blog echoes the views of some Town fans who think we are too big for this "tinpot" league, and reflects our uncertain start to this campaign. No doubt Philpotts's views were coloured by Tamworth's defeat, but it feels to me like an honest report of what it can be like to visit Blundell Park nowadays.
Back to the internationals. I have never found an authoritative and up-to-date list of current Mariners receiving full caps, but this is what I have been able to piece together in a rough kind of chronological order:
Tom Chapman, 1 cap, Wales, 1897
Hugh Morris, 1 cap, Wales, 1897
Richard Morris, 1 cap, Wales, 1906
William Andrews, 2 caps, Ireland, 1913
Dai Collier, 1 cap, Wales, 1921
Pat Glover, 7 caps, Wales, 1931-1939
Jackie Bestall, 1 cap, England, 1935
George Tweedy, 1 cap, England, 1936
Harry Betmead, 1 cap, England, 1937
John Coulter, 2 caps, Northern Ireland, 1938
Johnny Scott, 2 caps, Northern Ireland, 1958
Joe Waters, 2 caps, Republic of Ireland, 1976, 1979
Chris Nicholl, 2 caps, Northern Ireland, 1983
Keith Alexander, 3 caps, St Lucia, 1990
Aidan Davison, 1 cap, Northern Ireland, 1997
Danny Coyne, 1 cap, Wales, 2002
Darren Barnard, 6 caps, Wales, 2002-2004
There are a couple of near misses: Jack Lewis was an unused Wales sub in 1976, and Jean-Paul Kalala travelled to the African Cup of Nations in 2006 with Congo but did not get a game. If you got the pre-Glover Welshmen and Coulter, hold your head up high and travel with confidence to the next pub quiz (providing it's one organised by a Town obsessive.)
This list may not be authoritative, so if you can correct it, please let us know.