This weekend wasn't all doom and gloom for me though. I did manage to take myself off to the fabulous Riverside Stadium on Saturday to watch Middlesbrough (my local team!) play Coventry. I haven't been to the Riverside in a while but I always enjoy going because I used to work there on the turnstiles. It was a really great job because for a football fan nothing beats the matchday atmosphere and obviously we got to be part of it for every home game. Plus it had the fabulous perk that once we'd let all the fans in and counted our tickets we got to sit and watch the match for free.
So having been a turnstile gnome it always feels special going back there to watch games. And lets be honest live football is always great whoever you're watching. I realy enjoyed the match on Saturday, it wasn't the greatest, most thrilling game ever but it was pretty entertaining and the atmosphere was good. Also Marvin Emnes scored which was what I had gone there to see. I'm a pretty big fan of super Marv and there's a story as to why. My mum goes to a pretty cool leisure club to swim and stuff and a while ago they got a pretty hot looking new member. Everyone at the club was convinced it was Marvin Emnes because well he clearly looked like him. So my mum being the chatty sort that she is decided she was going to have a friendly chat with 'Marvin' as everyone else was too intimidated. So she did. Then at some point int he conversation she asks him something about training with Middlesbrough and he says "I don't play for Middlesbrough." Gutted. It wasn't Marvin Emnes, it was a dancer who looked a lot like Marvin Emnes. But since that day I've been a big fan of Marvin's because we feel like we have a really weird connection to him. And now he's scoring goals like its going out of fashion, so it was fabulous to see him scoring a goal live and in person. Another thing about the match that I enjoyed was the hilarious tradtional half time entertainment of watching little school kids taking penalties against each other. Its brilliant, some of them are so tiny its a genuine surprise that they can hit a penalty with any force. And they always take a hilariously long run up at the ball. The schoolboy shirt over the head celebration is always a classic moment too. Middlesbrough weren't half bad too, they drew one-one and although the goal was a bad one to concede and the defending at times looked a little casual (rich from a gooner i know) they looked impressive coming forward. It was a nice open game with plenty of chances for both sides and they even played 'pigbag' at half time. All in all, a pretty good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment