Bowdon Killer Bees 5 - Sefton 2

Dear Reader

Allow me to take you on a brief journey through my hockey career:
When I was 17 and 18 I played in goal, and do you know what I could have been quite good. I’m sure that if I’d have carried on, trained hard, progressed well, I could have probably played regularly for the 2nd team, I may even have scraped a couple of games for the 1sts. Yes I think could have been a good player. I could react to hard shots, position myself well, and had no problem ‘accidentally’ colliding with opposing forwards.

So what happened I hear you ask, why is this one-man brick wall no longer in goal. And instead a criminally under-rated creative midfielder? (You've got the 'criminal' bit right! - 24x7 abusive Ed) Well the thing is I just didn’t enjoy it, there were times when I touched the ball once or twice in a game, and that was that. Just turn up, stand and watch and go home, not enough fun for me. So I played outfield, learnt to play brilliant defence splitting passes, and enjoyed being able to take a full part in the game.

And do you know what, my views on playing in goal are not unique in the Bees. We just don’t want to do it, but someone has to; so each week we take it turns, knowing that we all have to do it eventually, so we accept it and get on with the game. There are times in a team sport when there are weeks that you put in, more than you get out. And a Bees turn in goal, is that week.
The 19th Century philosopher John Stuart Mill, theorised on a Hedonic Calculus, where one persons suffering is philosophically acceptable, if it leads to a greater good for many. A classic example of this calculus is the poor Bee in goal, whilst the rest of the team run around and enjoy themselves.

So what’s all this got to do with Sefton away, I hear you ask. Well last Saturday, a player (without glasses! - Wanting to stay out of prison Ed ) was asked to play in goal and refused. He hadn’t played in goal this season, so he was asked, and he refused. Fortunately the one player in the side who has played sport to a serious level, and understanding the nature of team sport, volunteered.

And so to all present and future Bees, if you play regularly for the Bees, you will be asked to play in goal. If you believe that you are too good to play in goal for the Bees, then please don’t accept the invitation to play.

Oh the game; it was an enjoyable 5.2 win for the 9 stalwarts against a Sefton Badgers 11. Francis Fallon seemingly managed to mark 3 opponents at the same time, and Dave Phillips was a predictably dominant figure on the right wing.
Whenever Sefton seemed to be on the verge of making their numerical advantage tell, we always managed to produce a goal to keep ourselves comfortably ahead. Yokker, the Judge and Dave Phillips scored the goals, a couple of which were genuinely good pieces of hockey. Though my personal highlight had to be Johnny Grant deciding that as Left Back he would be more use being involved at an attacking Long Corner than staying in defence and marking 2 kids. So Johnny charged up the pitch, we lost the ball, and Johnny charged all the way back again.

Here endeth the Gospel according to Andy "Sermon on the Mount" Marshall.

PS a more normal match report would probably have made some mention of the Captain's journey to the game, and his discovery that we weren’t playing at Northern, when we were in a traffic jam in Liverpool City centre, when the game should have started. But I’ll leave that for a different match report.