When Intermarchè cut the price of Nutella by 3 euros, they probably couldn’t have foreseen that a day later the citizens of Toulouse would be rationed to one pot per person in the wake of tension at the hypermarkets. Nutella has a high profile among the youth of Wokingham too, I think. At the Mulvaneys after the game, Mr and Mrs M were given the absolute runaround, making coffees, bacon rolls, cheese and pickle sandwiches and Nutella on toast – with butter – at the same time as trying to fit a 3 port valve to divert the central heating and hot water. Mrs M also needed to get her hair dye out so didn’t want the water off.
The butter question was divisive, but not critical; it certainly wasn’t going to spill over, creating a public order issue on the streets of Woosehill. The team had performed brilliantly in the game. ‘You’ve earned your hot chocolate and X-Box time today’ was Coach Peter’s post-match verdict – a verdict he was willing to act upon with an offer of hospitality on the outskirts of Wokingham.
They had played – over two games – with a great balance of freedom and discipline. The problem with that equation is that, all too often, discipline and organisation act as brakes on creativity. At its best, the balance between order and freedom means ‘go wherever you want, but watch each other’s backs’ – you’ll leave a gap wherever you’ve left. At it’s worst, the two forces cancel each other out and you’re left with fear and stasis.
Against Burghfield, the team were free-scoring but vigilant. Evan proved to be a key player in the first half, scoring after a run through midfield and again from the penalty spot to make the score 2-0 at half-time. He was then subbed off, against the coaches’ better judgement, and the game turned into a Wokingham goalfest, finishing 9-1. So was it the wrong decision to sub the double goalscorer?
Probably not. And was it wrong for Arthur Church to stay at the Bucks Free Press for 72 years, with a major stint as editor? He loved Wycombe. If you cut him, his blood would flow in light and dark blue quarters. He was a free member of the Free Press who found freedom in Wycombe. It didn’t matter if the Scots found independence or not – it wouldn’t affect him. He was happy where he was and sceptical about the rest. When colour photography first came in, he was presented with an option to print a view of the earth from space: ‘but it’s not in our circulation area’, quipped Arthur.
Next up was the hot-chocolate-meriting performance against Barton Rovers. Their manager was one of those people who are shaven-headed, overweight, shaggy-bearded and tattooed with a loud, gruff-yet-friendly voice and overall quite a lot of nonsense behind the ‘no nonsense’ attitude.
The players were simply ‘no nonsense’ though. In contrast to Wokingham & Emmbrook, there were no snoods, gloves, under layers, beanie hats, flashy boots or flowing locks – just sensibly short hair and a direct, aggressive approach. They scored first and ran towards their coach, bundling each other as if it was an injury time winner in the final of the Grecian 2000 Shutterstock Plate at the Madejski Stadium.
The euphoria was short-lived though, as Connor scored a hat-trick soon after and Hayden notched another before Barton seemed to suffer under sniper fire, hitting the deck time and again for no discernible reason. What is it that gets us moving? Big question. We were trying to unpack something to do with The Charge of the Light Brigade when a Reading Academy footballer – a lad from somewhere like Peckham or Stratford who usually seems nonplussed at the idea of sitting about in Winnersh and tends to see my lessons as a chance for forty winks – slowly lifted his head and his hand, shooting me a meaningful look. I thought ‘after all, he’s got it. Something’s hooked him here and he’s woken up – it’s the poetry.’ It was such a rare event that everyone stopped to listen, pregnant with expectation. ‘Sir, erm…I think I’ve lost my yoghurt.’ He’d changed the direction of the lesson for sure, but if you have to judge every situation as a unique moment and not according to a textbook then what could we do but commence the search?
Wilderspool Causeway 