Cod Almighty | Postbag
Postbag: up the bleedin' Mariners
23 September 2005
Up the Mariners, Up the Mariners, we're gonna win the cup one day. Up the Mariners, Up the Mariners, it's Grimsby Town that rule ok.Woohoo! Letters to the usual address: postbag@codalmighty.com. But, remember the orange
Born in the Ancholme Valley
OK, I have to confess that I was not born and raised in Grimsby even though I claim it as home. Martyn Wyburn missed a point when he tried to explain his reasoning for claiming Grimsby as home. The educational system in this country has failed to enlighten generations of children of the Ancholme Valley and the jewel that is Bonby. Once I left home I found I became ill every time I tried to claim Scunthorpe as home. As a town fan it is not possible to claim anything nice about Scunthorpe, and over the years I have adopted Grimsby as home.
I also live in Leicester and for the last twenty years have tried to educate the egg chasers and the Foxes about the joys of total football Grimsby style. I have taken a lot of abuse over the years but there is a small part of Leicester that is forever Grimsby.
from Keith Falla
Didn't play for Spurs
Here's a stranger than fiction offering from the pages of SportInter.com.
from David Jagger
Things tha only knows if tha's from Rotherham
When are you bringing out the "I was born in Croft Baker" t-shirts? I want one. I was born in Rotherham District General.
from Michael Shelton
Russ sucks
Russ asking the fans to 'suck' - presumably he only means during the half Town were attacking the Pontoon. We'd have been scoring own goals otherwise, something Town have always been capable of doing without any help.
from Mat Wystock
It's in the tea leaves
The Guardian's Four-pint Pundit has pointed out similarities between now and 1989 - falling house prices, potential new England coach with root-vegetable-shaped head etc.
I was inclined to agree. PM in third term. Hull in the Second division. Town promotion push in the 4th during the Second season of a bald, former non-league manager's tenure. J.McDermott. Passing and movem er 2005 is the new 2005.
from Chris Parrott
Westside
I'm from Manchester, is that like Croft Baker? I've never even been to Grimsby, I do like fish though.
from Janet Dixon
Letters Ed responds: It'll do.
Seeing red
Hi Codalmighty people. I'm a Town fan stuck in Northern Germany writing to drop a line about something that you might find interesting. I'm a squaddie in Germany so as such I can't get to many Town games - the only one I have been to this season was Chester away (Yes, the first game!) - so I watch my local team here in Germany, Werder Bremen. Yes they are a 'big' side but they are a 'fish' town on the coast that no-one likes and they often get patronised so I feel at home.
Anyway, the German fans have a history of protesting about anything they think is anti-football, the current one is a campaign of solidarity with a relativley small Austrian Team, Austria Salzburg. They have been taken over by Red Bull who have changed the team name and the team colours. Last weekend there was a protest at all German Bundesliga matches often with home and away fans showing matching protest banners at the same game - cool and clever. I couldn't possibly advise anyone else to take the same line as me and many thousands of others, but I won't be drinking anymore Red Bull for a long time. I know that this will not stop their sales completley, but hopefully someone somewhere is now reviewing the situation.
Anyway, just a thought. It shows that a concerted effort on the part of footy fans can have an effect for the good of the game. I would instigate a ban on ITV at my house in light of the way we were sold down the river, however as my missus watches Coronation Street I'd be risking never getting fed again.
All the best and keep up the good work.
from Tim Mosey
Letters Ed responds: Thanks for that Tim. I guess this has already happened to some extent in the UK with clubs such as 'Total Network Solutions'. It'll be a sorry day if it ever happens to a league club - but you get the feeling it's not far off.
Spurs have big men
Nice article, just a few points to make about it, quote: " about the height of his side. "We are not a big team," he has admitted in the run-up to the match. This suggests a problem at set pieces, offering dead ball magnet Rob Jones - and Town - some hope." Jol here is refering to our height upfront when Keane and Defoe start together, not at the back where we are tall and solid. Radek Cerny isn't on loan, we bought him earlier in January and he is a terrific 'keeper - unfortunately for him we have England's No. 1. Browny HAS made the step up putting in some great performances last season, but he's a little unlucky that we have so much talent in that area.
Im sure it will be an entertaining match and whatever the outcome of the game I wish you all the best with your season.
from Mark (Down at the Lane)
Letters Ed responds: Ah, well, it's all academic now anyway
Too much luck
Spurs fan here - really excellent and accurate Tottenham preview - you know your footie alright. Good luck on the night (but not too much).
from David Gage
Strutting the Blow Wells
OK, so I may be nearly a year late on this one, but I thought it would be worthwhile to confirm that sticklebacks really are called 'struts' and the red-bellied males are most definitely red doctors. I know this because my fishing chum Wilf told me this over 30 years ago. I should perhaps qualify this by saying that I once convinced him to walk in the pouring rain, on our way home from the Louth Navigation Canal, by employing the logic that if he ran he would be struck by raindrops falling ahead of us that would otherwise have missed. But then I believed this to be true myself.
Based more on an enthusiasm for underage smoking, our angling success was invariably limited, restricted to the occasional roach, rudd or tiny dace. Our only attempt at night fishing resulted in Wilf hooking an extremely angry and aggressive swan and a catastrophic conflagration which consumed the borrowed tent as my paraffin lamp was overturned in the struggle. We used to 'punish' eels for tangling our lines and swallowing our hooks and getting us covered in eel snot by making them run the gauntlet of speeding traffic on the A1031 where it crosses Buck (or sometimes 'Waithe') Beck outside Tetney. It was also here by the bridge that Wilf once swallowed a handful of gozzers after trying to keep them warm under his tongue 'like the professionals do'.
Once we caught a truly gargantuan gudgeon, undoubtedly a UK record to be reported to Angling Times. We returned to Wilf's house with the specimen wriggling in a water-filled bait box only to be devasted by the pathetic verdict delivered by his mum's kitchen scales. On the return journey to the Beck the sky grew black and the rain started falling. As we passed the Ramsden's house at the edge of the village, a plan hatched. After brief deliberation the not-so-mighty gudgeon was dispatched through the air, over the wooden fence, and hit it's target - the Ramsden's swimming pool - with a satisfying splash. The oft-repeated tale of the miraculous appearance of the fish in the pool puzzled local folk for many a year.
Now the reason I read the Chapman's pond story in the first place was because I thought it was going to refer to Chapman's pond in Tetney, dug and originally owned by a branch of my mother's family. Evidently I was mistaken, but the tie in here is that Buck (Waithe) Beck continues its track eastwards to join the Louth Navigation Canal via the Tetney Blow Wells. These sink-holes, pits or wells are also, like Chapman's pond in Grimsby, long-held to be bottomless and with sheer sides. You name it and there's a story about it disappearing in the Blow Wells. Chief of these stories, and favourite amongst my mother's many cautionary tales, was the horse, cart and driver that were swallowd down into the murky depths one black night. This alone was enough to keep us well back from the dubious edges of the Blow Wells whenever we were on expedition, and hence we never scientifically tested the full degree of their bottomless-ness. Anglian Water now abstracts fresh water from the Blow Wells, so they could perhaps be called.
My fishing rod fell from the crossbar of my pushbike in 1976 and was run over and destroyed by a following car. I never bought a new one, and whilst I have had absolutely zero interest in fishing ever since, I do know that the UK record for a rod-caught gudgeon presently stands at precisely 5oz.
from Andy Crow
Letters Ed responds: That is BY FAR the greatest letter ever sent to Cod Almighty by an absolute country mile. In fact, I think it should be turned in to a film
WLTM
I'm looking for a mate I met travelling through Australia about 10 years. He was a massive Grimsby fan and I'm sure he still is. His name is Simon Prout. Top lad and would like to catch up with him as we lost contact. Have tried a few things but can't track him down. I think he is the only Mariners fan from Gloucester. I know he was a huge fan and never missed a home or away game. Skinny red-head milk-bottled lad. Just trying every avenue. Well done last night by the way.
from Chris Heenan
Letters Ed responds: Never heard of him myself, but someone else may have anyone?
Where were they last week?
How long before the attendance of 8206 from last night's game is compared to the 30,000 'fans' we took to Wembley a few months down the line? "We had over 8000 for the Spurs game but all we get for league games is 4000".
from John Nolan
Hammered
Congratulations on the result last night from a Happy Hammer. Always nice to see our rivals humbled - it's happened to us enough over the years. Look forward to meeting you in a later round.
from Posh Iron
Letters Ed responds: Indeed it has happened to you. Do you remember Valentines Day 1996 (apart from the cheap perfume and meal I bought you)?
Cash for splash
If that JPK quote on the splash-page isn't a future t-shirt design I'll eat my hat.
from Rich Mills
Grimsby born and proud
'Up the Mariners' is the best. I used to think the bloke on the left of the single sleeve was Mike Brolly and the chap in the middle Joe Waters. The other one? Er dunno Dave Boylen? I've got another Town single called 'Gonna see the Mariners' or something like that anyway.
I played drums on 'Grimsby Born & Proud'. Best moment was playing it at a packed pub gig in Hull and getting out alive. I am now living off the royalties in a beach hut in Skegness.
from Jonathan Tabois
Crappy classics
Listening to 'Up the Mariners' after our historic victory over Spurs in the Cup sent shivers down my spine. Really inspiring stuff 'Up The Mariners' and all crappy, yet classic football songs.
from Alan Hamilton
Still drinking after the Spurs victory?
God bless you Cod Almighty folk for the rendition of Up the Mariners'. I just played it really loud AGAIN and she is a beauty. Brings a tear to me eye sob I'm 12 years old again my cats getting his nuts cut off in the morning Harry H says he needs my bicycle, but I'm a frier and I'm not sure about you.
from Sean
Letters Ed responds: I think incoherence has got the better of you there, Sean