Cod Almighty | Diary

Beauty where it is most needed

2 November 2022

Start here: John Harris and John Domokos's documentary showing how far the distracting drama of Westminster politics is from the reality of many people's lives. The former soldier who had sold his phone for food. The man standing in the vacuum of the docks where once there had been the eternal clatter of industry. The stoic dignity, the patient passion of people trying to make a difference.

What lives we could live if we remembered that markets are for people, not people for markets. The news of cuts to BBC local radio, leaving people we like, admire and rely on fearing for their futures, is the latest act of vandalism against what is truly valuable, just when a sense of community is essential.

Dylan Thomas once called his home Swansea an "ugly, lovely town" and he might have been writing about Grimsby. The video captures it all. And out of it springs beauty.

Unimaginable to Middle-Aged Diary, a plastic Grimbarian without an ounce of sporting ability: the feeling of donning the black and white shirt and knowing that you are representing your own, a town in real need of representation. Over the weekend Grimsby Town Women beat Gainsborough Trinity and remain unbeaten - four wins out of four - at the top of the East Midlands Womens Regional Football League Division One North. And last night our under-18s beat Walsall's to progress to the second round of the FA Youth Cup.

You don't need to have been born here. Stephen Wearne has gone out on loan to Torquay for a month, but he still may become as much of a Grimsby institution as Matt Tees or Craig Disley, or Neil Woods. Pele popularised the expression "the beautiful game" but for me it evokes not Brazil in 1970 but the interplay of Woods and Tony Rees in 1990, dazzling like the low winter sun, unexpected and treasured.

Since then, Woods has coached generations in the principles of the sport. If he ever writes an autobiography, it should be well worth reading. He chooses his words with care and has an eye for the telling detail. After yesterday's game he spoke to Mariners TV and the image of one of his charges not knowing what way to turn down the tunnel captures the sense of occasion for a hopeful, excited young man, stepping out for the first time to perform at Blundell Park.

Let's hope it is the first of many. Our hearts are with them.