Cod Almighty | Diary

If Edgar Davids isn't there to see it, does a window break?

26 November 2013

Right, it seems we have a further year to knock about the idea of a stadium at Peaks Parkway, and as you got the benefit of Middle-Aged Diary's completely ill-informed opinions on the subject last week, we'll leave it for today.

How newsworthy is a brick? On Twitter, one person has upbraided Miss Guest Diary for yesterday referencing the one that was flung at the Barnet coach on Saturday evening. The gist of the complaint seems to have been that such things happen in every town and city, so why bring attention to them when they happen in Cleethorpes?

There are several answers to this. At the most trite, one act of hooliganism is one act too many. On the other hand, let us acknowledge that this particular act has made the papers because Edgar Davids was in the coach and tweeted about the incident. It is hard to say, in that context, whether Chris Parker's quote ("From what I have been told, there are regularly little incidents in this area as the away team leaves") mean the club, the police or the community have more or less of a problem.

Davids and Barnet seem to have acted with a certain degree of class over the affair: "This was a regrettable incident especially in the light of the courtesy and welcome we received from both Grimsby Town Football Club and the fans." Although of course by publicising it, they have made sure we are aware of their own courtesy.

How many times do you suppose, in the course of his long career as a rugged central defender, did Justin Whittle rise for a high ball, an opponent behind him and, feeling himself slyly pushed in the back, readjust his balance by swinging his arm back, perhaps not worrying too much where his elbow might land as a result? Whittle, I would guess, shook the hand of many a striker with whom he had spent 90 minutes mutually testing the powers of observation and the level of tolerance of the referee. Only one of those strikers was in a position to refuse that hand, then splash himself across the media explaining, at length, how he wasn't going to make a fuss. There is no comparison between the behaviour of Davids and Alan Shearer, but whether the celebrity likes it or not, their status distorts the picture.

How we use the fuss over one brick, when there are so many related incidents every fortnight, is up to us. My view of sport is old-fashioned: I like to be blissfully partisan, untrammelled in my emotions, for the duration of a game, but to mix amicably with supporters on all sides before and afterwards. Grimsby's isolation meant the club in its early days had to work hard to foster a reputation for being welcoming hosts. Blundell Park was a place where opponents expected a warm welcome but a hard match. It would be no bad thing if we used the impetus of this exposure to start to win back that reputation.