By Poolie Kev
December 22 2005

Poolie Kev had a weekend of contrasts, with the defeat at Walsall following a convivial evening at Edgely Park; why, he wonders, can two sports that often share stadia be treated so differently by the authorities? My last game before going off on the annual pilgrimage to avoid the festive hysteria took me down the M6 from me Gilly’s place to Walsall. Our record against the Saddlers has been poor since they came down in the season after we went up, only one point in nine. Saturday was to prove no different and we lost a goal to the one pass we allowed Paul Merson virtually all game, who obligingly stuck it on the end of the in-form Matty Fryatts right foot in the eighty fourth minute. Rats!! As if it wasn’t cold enough, the chilling sight of the ball rolling softly into the corner and another game disappearing down the tubes sent a shiver through the freezing Poolies.

Now the evening before and with the assistance of Matt Critchley, a sports specialist from Manchester’s Channel M TV, me Gilly and me had been to see Sale Sharks v Castres, a French team, in the Heineken Cup. At half time we checked their facilities and were pleasantly amazed at what we discovered. Underneath the stand at Edgeley Park is a huge carpeted bar containing a Guinness Bar with eight servers constantly supplying the thirsty hoards, an eighty foot, eight station snack and drinks bar with an amazing array of goodies, televisions all over the place and above all WARMTH!! Furthermore they have a few bods circulating among the crowd with tankers on their backs dispensing lager in a plastic glass (can you say that??) IN YOUR SEAT!! As if this wasn’t mind-blowing enough, one of the match sponsors was Cadbury’s and again at half time, a team of tracksuit clad youths circled the pitch and threw packets of Jaffa Cakes into the crowd. Are these rugby lot spoiled or what??

So pre-match at Walsall I pulled into the car park at one thrity-ish and repaired to their excellent sports and social club. They’ve got it just right at Walsall in this respect, in that they have a members lounge and a public room, it only costs a quid cover charge, it’s right next to the ground, the prices are good, there’s a cheerful selection of pub grub being served up and the staff are welcoming and friendly. It was doing brisk trade on all fronts despite there only being a meagre attendance of 5000ish and there was perhaps 100 Poolies in there. How different to the in-ground catering where I waited a full half-time for a soggy sausage roll and a cup of lukewarm tea costing about three quid.

So where are we going with this then Kev I hear you ask?? Well the point is, that although the catering has come on leaps and bounds at Vicky Park, and the bar underneath the Camerons Stand actually looks like one now and I know it has it’s regulars at pre-match and half time, can you imagine the revenue the club could generate if say, they opened a sports and social club on the scale of Walsall’s??
Just a thought.

It’s refreshing to see that attitudes to the football fan seem to be changing. The days of signs outside pubs on away days saying ‘Home Supporters Only’ seem to be vanishing inch by inch as businesses realise that the disposable income is there to be had. The big obstacle yet to be broached is the daftest one ever. Go back to the rugby bit above and wonder why Edgely Park rings a bell?? Right, Stockport County. Now on Friday night you can buy your pint and take it back to your seat, you can even buy a pint IN your seat, they’re still there on the way out trying to sell you one for the road, I kid you not. AS LONG AS IT’S A RUGBY MATCH.

In the same stadium, served by the same people, at the same price, in the same container, sitting in the same seat if you like, during a football match you are not allowed to have an alcoholic drink in your hand IN SIGHT OF THE PITCH. They paint yellow grids on the floor to make sure you can’t see any grass. At Tranmere they have stewards monitoring a line on the floor and if you put your foot over it with your pint in your hand they grip you p.d.q. It’s the most insulting thing ever. Particularly when you’ve just paid £2 to watch a tin being poured into a disposable container knowing that your beer costs one quarter of that down the supermarket.

Now you can give me the argument that football fans and rugby fans are far different animals, if animals is the correct word, and I know that to an extent that is true. But what on earth is the point of this ruling?? If you can stand one side of a wall drinking, why can’t you stand the other?? Barmy. If you explained from now until, well, the end of time, I’d still never understand it.

Anyroad up, I wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and the best of everything in the New Year. Just be careful what you wish for because it might come true!!