Cod Almighty | Diary

Let pride help us avoid a fall

28 September 2021

Digging around in Grimsby Library recently, Middle-Aged Diary came upon a paragraph written in the Telegraph in 1920 when Town were about to play Brighton & Hove Albion for the first time. It explained that they had the longest name - in number of words - of any club in the Football League because collapsing Hove into Brighton was akin to calling a Meggie a Grimbarian. It was a comparison which didn't quite work, given that none of my digging has picked up any suggestion to rename the Mariners as Grimsby & Cleethorpes United.

"Hove, actually" is one of those jokes the people of a town tell against themselves, Hovians admitting to a certain snobbery when it to their bigger, brasher neighbour. I long ago gave up explaining to strangers in Wales and the south that my family connections are in fact to Cleethorpes not Grimsby, as I'd get only a blank look, and find myself adding that "It's a seaside town... next to Grimsby" to give the conversation an absurdist circularity.

If you come from a town whose name is the punchline for a cheap gag, you can either wear it with defiant pride or run from it several hundred miles. My experience over decades of sharing terraces and stands dotted around the country is that most Grimbarians do both: not so much flight or fight as flight and fight. It makes for a strong fanzine culture.

Bromley is a very different kind of place, but people from there have a similar dilemma. As Baz Whittleton points out in our rough guide to tonight's opponents, the stereotypical boring commuter belt town has a rich musical heritage, as though David Bowie and Siouxsie Sioux were simultaneously kicking over the traces and putting the place on the map. Bromley may seem anonymous, and they have not yet played in the Football League but they have their own pride, their own ambitions, and we are more likely to avoid anti-climaxes like last Saturday if we keep that in mind.

They also have a plastic pitch. Paul Hurst makes the point that two recently promoted sides played on an artificial surface, and both Sutton and Harrogate did just about have the best home records in the Conference; Bromley's last season was no better or worse than the teams around them. Hurst admits his concern but doesn't have the time or inclination to make special preparations for the artificial surface. He is trusting his players to do what they need to do to give a performance and to get a result.

It must be quite some years since Town last went into a game at the end of September knowing a win would take them to the top of any table. It would be worthy of a quiet celebration, but there will be 34 games still to play: defeat would not demand a wake.

The women's team have maintained their 100 per cent start to the season, and on Saturday the youth team learnt the lessons from last week's goalless draw with Scunthorpe to beat them in the Youth Alliance Cup. If you can't get to Bromley, you can watch Neil Woods's charges at Blundell Park tonight, in the FA Youth Cup.

Whatever happens this evening we'll still be proud Grimbarians or Meggies, whether by birth, family or adoption.