The weak team which Carlisle put out against Workington Reds sparked a debate on the CUFConline and Workington Reds message boards about how poorly Carlisle have treated Reds recently in this fixture. I mulled on this and I wonder if next summer it would be an interesting pre-season event to have Queen of the South, Carlisle, Gretna and Workington compete in a Solway Firth Cup. Have a look at my suggested format, see what you think and perhaps email the clubs in support of the idea. I have yet to receive any response from any of the clubs on this.
Following the previous trouble with Sunderland, Carlisle city centre again hosted running battles in August. Pathetic. Coincidentally (or perhaps not) a BBC documentary was screened about violence at the 2006 World Cup. I was really hoping that soccer had seen the last of this behaviour. Hooligans, or lager/alcopop louts, or simply chavs/oiks? Whichever, they need to grow up or be locked up, otherwise they will end up being beaten up when they run into someone tougher, or a larger group. Similarly, there has been discussion about the antagonistic and childish behaviour of some fans (more accurately chavs/oiks) in the East Stand (CBS stand). I have observed this over the years, as I have also observed the stewards' inability to deal with them. I was therefore very pleased to watch from the Paddock at the Orient game as the stewards finally began to clamp down on them.
I had to eat my words after the Doncaster game. Chris Billy had an almost flawless game and commanded the central midfield in a game which saw Carlisle flow fairly effortlessly between 4-3-3, 4-4-2 and even 4-3-2-1 and 4-3-1-2 formations! I'd have been happier with a more comfortable win, but as this was the first winning start in seven years, I'll take it!
I followed up the Doncaster soccer encounter with a Rugby League (yes, 13 man egg-chasing) Doncaster encounter the next day at Whitehaven with a work colleague who had crossed codes in the opposite direction to attend the Workington Reds game the previous week. This was entertaining and saw Whitehaven run out deserved winners, confirming Cumbra's dominance over Doncaster, for this weekend at least. This Rugby League outing was one of a growing number of social events at work which I've been involved with.
The Orient game saw another excellent display of good teamwork built from individual moments of great skill. I watched the highlights on Lookaround 5 times! Shame about the missed penalty, though. Whilst it is still early days, I have been generally impressed with the flow on the pitch and the results to date. Some of this is possibly down to the improved playing surface, the only detrimental effect of which has been long passes are bouncing/running away too quick for the players on occasion.
The Bradford game was yet another work night out, with a couple of drinks and something to eat in the Beehive before we convened on the Warwick Road End to pay homage to the Mighty Cumbrians. This was always going to be a real competitive test, although the league is always more important, of course. This was reflected by Big Mac resting his first choice team in some positions, and going with the Alternates instead. Even so, we dominated this game and only failed to win in normal time because of an unfortunate deflection which took a shot past Anthony Williams. There was an interruption of 10 minutes when one of the old floodlight pylons lost power, and they flickered occasionally as we went into extra time. There was a moment of some amusement when some fans seemingly forgot about extra time and started to dash out of the ground! The extra period saw nervous play at times from both teams, but when it went to penalties, I somehow knew in my gut that we were going to win, and so it was. Special mention does however go the the HUGE Bradford 'keeper, Ricketts - he was phenomenal between the posts and picked some stunning saves out of the air.
Unfortunately, the chav/oik scum had also moved to the Warwick Road End as well. Although on this occasion they didn't seem to be chanting some of the rubbish they normally do (the No Surrender To The IRA chant did make a pointless appearence), they did apparently abuse some Carlisle United fans again, including particularly vile personal comments to some. It really is time the club permanently excluded them - they are a disgrace to Carlisle. There were even reports of them kicking a female Bradford fan. Pathetic little oiks. The normal fans are sick of their behaviour and the message board has seen repeated mutterings that if the club and police don't sort them out, then the fans will sort them out instead......
Oldham away - hmm, despite having their keeper sent off early in the game and dominating from the start, we couldn't beat the 10 men of Oldham. Ah well, one point away is perhaps acceptable, but it leaves a bitter taste when we should have taken all three.
I am still going to reserve judgement until after the Blackpool game, but perhaps going into September in the top half of the table will silence some of the criticism of Bic Mac..... Certainly, I am very impressed so far.
History - unless we learn from it, we are doomed to repeat it. We should also ensure the little pieces of history do not fall between the cracks of life. At the Bradford game, one of my group asked why the terraced area that existed before the East Stand was called The Scratching Pen. For those not in the know, this was because the roof used to be so rusty that when a ball landed on it or there was heavy rain, bits of rust would sprinkle down on people, and they would brush and scratch away this rust dust from the backs of their necks - hence Scratching Pen.
My web site has hit another milestone - visitor 200 000 ! It is strange to think that it is over 10 years ago that I started this site, and that it has been visited 200 000 times, although how many individual people that is, is another matter.... but anyway, here are the details of that significant visitor:
My Cumbrian section of this web site is still expanding. As well as the flag, I created the Cumbrian Separatists and some have even suggested we stand in elections as a "Monster Raving Loony" party for Cumbria. It is very hard to keep my tongue planted firmly in my cheek for so long whilst I type all this, you know, but anyone who has spent any amount of time looking through my web site will have worked out the often surreal nature of my ramblings..... Hopefully MI5 won't come knocking on my door with a large hammer and drag me off to Guantanamo....
It has been very therapeutic for me to get back to updating the web site in the last six months, but do remember that there is more than just "Reeves Is Offside Again!" on here, so why not check out the main site index as well.
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