Wilderspool Causeway

Squad rotation, though very much in keeping with the motions of the planet, consigned Evan to the bench for large portions of Henry, Hector, Auberon, Stanley and Horace’s visit to Woodley.

Rotherfield is part of Sonning Common, a place which doesn’t know what it is, containing citizens who don’t know who they are. It’s technically part of Oxfordshire, but what does that really mean now that the Civil War is over? The king was once held captive in Caversham House, but was allowed to cross Sonning Common once a week to play bowls in Cane End in an odd prelude to his execution.

Ever since, the deep south of Oxfordshire and the far north of Reading has been unable to truly settle. If you ask someone from that area who they are and why they live there, they will wobble.

Horace’s mother was unperturbed, however, and even bordered on the proprietorial, as if she was the guardian not simply of herself, Horace and her Range Rover Evoque, but of time and space in general: ‘the guy who organises this league prefers people to stand on this side of the fence rather than that side’, she offered. Jack’s dad was unimpressed, as was I. Coach Peter had a steeliness in his eyes; we wouldn’t bow.

The problem was that Wokingham and Emmbrook began the game with an element of indolence, as if there was time for a cigar and a drink of Ribena on the flagstones by the buttery. Rotherfield’s methodical style seemed to owe more to an advance grasp of trigonometry and chess than to footballing skill. When Evan was on the pitch, he startled Auberon with a powerful curling effort which hit him full in the face, knocking him prostrate. Once reminded, Evan went over to see if he was ok, and the Rotherfield parents were concerned yet mollified. Unaccountably, the ref awarded Auberon a free kick.

Whereas Wokingham seemed constrained by physical geography, colliding with fences, misapplying Cruyff and playing cross-field passes which were almost too good, as if they required an altogether bigger canvas, Rotherfield passed with brutal efficiency, unlocking the defence through an understanding of space rather than technique. They raced into a 4-1 lead, but Wokingham showed huge spirit and fought back to make the score 4-4 at half-time. Rotherfield resumed control in the second half but in a nervy conclusion to the game, Connor Mulvaney broke free and slotted it into the corner to make the score 7-7 with seconds to spare.

On the train after the game, we were surrounded by incomprehensible ‘banter’ from supporters of the Army and Navy rugby teams in relation to some kind of spurious surrender in the Falklands War.
‘If it wasn’t for the navy, you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere.’
‘Yes we would. We’d just use the merchant navy like we did in the Falklands. Anyway, we need you so there’ll always someone who’ll retreat before us.’

We looked out at the comforting sight of allotments. Jack talked us through an intriguing theory about being constrained by physical geography. He noticed some Altostratus and Stratocumulus: a chance of precipitation. Chris McCann recounted an afternoon in which he decided to walk through some allotments, simply by way of exercising a ‘right to roam’, of negotiating the boundaries of defensible space to challenge the rampant privatisation of common land and the will of anyone who would stop him.