The Cup Tie: Chapter 2

I suppose it must have been the second Saturday in January. The Christmas decorations had just been taken down and the colours of the festive season had given way to the grey of winter. Everyone was dreaming of the summer with its blue skies, sandy beaches and warm seas. The weather that day was overcast and rainy. We had a cup tie to play in our County’s Senior Cup. The opposition were as good as us though we reckoned that if we won we would then have an easy run to the final.

I was playing in my usual, and favourite, position as a right winger. Being a fast player, defenders had problems keeping up with me. We must have been playing for about 35 minutes and Paul, one of our central defenders had made a massive clearance into the space in front of me. Although starting my run from the half way line, I was first to the ball and was closing in on goal. Their goalkeeper, sensing the danger, came out of his penalty area in order to tackle me. But instead of winning the ball he just brought me down. That offence should have seen him sent off and our team given a free kick. But while everyone in the ground, even their players, saw the foul the referee somehow missed it as he waved play on. I was livid and was determined that the referee knew what I though of him. I forget what I actually said but the next thing I remember was standing in front of the referee while he held the red card aloft. What was worse was that my dad was one of the spectators. So instead of their team being down to ten players it was ours.

I knew Alan, the team manager, would be furious with because he had warned me about speaking back to referees. But then Simon, the team captain, had also given me similar warnings. Looking back, I was a stroppy little sod with a big attitude, and it wasn’t a case of if I’d be sent off but when.

There was no point in sitting in the dug out and getting an ear bashing from Alan so instead I decided to have a shower and get changed. It was silly really because I knew the time would come when I would have to face Alan and my team mates. I stripped off and had my shower and as I was drying myself I could hear the half time whistle. They all seemed to take just a little bit longer than usual to get to the dressing room. When they came in I was still stark bollock naked and a sixth sense seemed to tell me they had something out of the usual planned for me,