Know Your Place And Be Proud!

The following article is written by Dave, Castlecroft Ranger's Chairman.  "It's written from the heart, a little insight into my head. It may not be everyone's cup of tea" says Dave.  Whether it is or isn't, that's for you to decide. To leave comments and thoughts, you can email us at our primary contact address (see side-panel) or drop a few words into the comments box, below the article.

Know Your Place And Be Proud!

Its a dog eat dog world out there and to survive you need to know your place. Take nature for example, the sparrow knows he’s one up on the pesky earth worm but has always got one eye looking back, just in case a hawk should appear. And, that’s the way the world has worked since the "Big Bang" (or creation if that’s your thing) and will continue to work until us humans finally manage to destroy this once beautiful Planet Earth.

So what’s this crazy Bill Oddie inspired ramble got to do with football? 

Well of course...nothing...on the face of it. Football does have its hierarchy though, the big boys at the top, the little guys in the middle and us the amateur game at the very bottom. Seldom, if ever, does a team rise from the ranks of amateur football any higher that the lower echelons of the EvoStik, of the top of my head I can think of very few beyond Causeway United and AFC Wulfrunians in our local area.

A very good friend and esteemed groundhopper Graham Yapp once described our level of football as "Level 42" and he is exactly right. No way up and no way down! We don’t have crowds really, we have friends, family and the occasional passer-by. Your season ticket holder at the Molineux or the Hawthorns doesn’t really understand us but respects our commitment and passion for the beautiful game.

If you don’t renew your season ticket with the big boys they simply replace you with another body willing to pay the astronomical yearly tariff. Down here at "Level 42" if you stop paying your subs, stop your fundraising efforts and lose interest the club ceases to exist. You are not simply part of the club you are the club, now this is good but also very very BAD.

Any organisation where its employees are also its clients is bound to fail in the long term : what, when we are all too old, too married, too caught up in taking the kids to...? We must look to a sustainable future. There is a model in American Sports although it is not an exact fit. I strongly believe that the future of clubs like ours relies on developing a feeder culture as seen in North American Ice Hockey.

A number of clubs run junior football only. The clubs finish at 18 or 21 and players are simply released many leaving the game altogether. Teams like us without youth set ups should look to teams like this as they have done much of the hard work for us and bring the talent through into the adult game. Likewise as the talent develops and matures we have a duty to give these guys a shot at football at a higher level and so should feed players into the semi-professional ranks and provide game time for those at that level currently not making it onto the park. The seasoned veteran still wanting a game can also find a home with us too and at the same time provide ‘money-couldn’t-buy’ experience for younger players.

We must act soon though, for there is a bigger demon waiting for us all, like the asteroid that did for the dinosaurs. Short sided football on plastic pitches on a weekday night soaks up talent. As it becomes more organised and teams have proper names and kits etc, more will be sucked into this new form of the game.. Players are spared the headache of being away from home over the weekend or can go to the pub with their mates and watch Soccer Saturday and before you know it Amateur Football is no more.

But we are not going to let that happen are we.

#grassrootsfootball #twitterfc

My Hero - My Inspiration : Rob Hornby

Born in Nottingham in 1962. Rob spent a great part of his youth in Birmingham. Currently married to Hazel, they have an eight year old son, Shawn. Rob also has three sons from a previous marriage.

At the age of 27, Rob fought and beat the disease, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. 

In his own words, Rob describes himself as "a very positive person, who lives for today”

These are Rob’s words, this is Rob’s hero and inspiration.

*****

DEREK TRANTER

Being raised at a early age from a one parent family was hard, in fact so hard that when I was just two years old, my mum returned home from work to find our house burgled and my bed slashed. This was when my mum broke down and I nearly ended up in care, as she couldn’t cope. In the 1960’s people were looked down on as being one parent mums, but my dad had legged it when my mum became pregnant.

My Grandad and Grandma lived in Castle Bromwich in Birmingham and asked my mum to move from Nottingham and they took me under their wing, whilst my mum could go out to work.

My grandparents did everything for me, bought my school uniform, took me on holiday and when we went on holiday every year my Grandad would take me to see Rhyl FC.

When I was eight, my mum met my step dad who would turn out to be “My Hero and My Inspiration“, always guiding me the right way through school and also taking me to West Bromwich Albion every week as a season ticket holder.

Bob Hazell (Wolves)

I was also in the Boys Brigade and played in goal on a Saturday morning, centre forward was Bob Hazell (left) who went on to play for Wolves & QPR. My step-dad Derek would turn up on the bus to every match and though I wasn’t the best of keepers would never moan at me but encourage me to do better the next week.

At the age of fourteen, his advice stood me well, as I went on to become the Birmingham Boys Brigade goalkeeper for two seasons, going to places like Northampton, London, Sheffield.

When I left school, he helped me find a job, but I wanted to return to Nottingham to try and find my real dad. I think it was a matter of wanting to know who I was. Sadly it didn’t turn out too well, as when I tracked him down, he told me to “clear off” in certain words as he had other kids and didn’t want to know me. This was a hammer blow to me, but Derek was there to pick me up.

In 1990, at the age of twenty-seven, I fell very ill with Hodgkins Lymphoma and with two sons aged three and one, it was very frightening as the survival rate at the time was  only 15%, in fact Marti Caine passed away whilst I was going through chemotherapy. Derek and my mum would travel fifty miles every week to see me and see that my kids were okay. It was whilst on chemo, that Derek told me to go out and get fresh air, even if only going to a football match. Whilst in hospital, he bought me up a newspaper and Dunkirk FC were at home in the FA Vase that Saturday, so we went.  I kept going and became Programme Editor and then went on some of the “Northern Groundhops” and then “SWPL Groundhops” meeting  some great people and having a superb time.

The cancer left me having three Grand Mal fit’s a week, which I still have to today, which has become part of everyday life to me.

When in 1999, I got divorced, my mum and step dad helped me a lot and when I met Hazel in 2001, they would drive me from Lichfield to Mansfield to see her before I moved in with her.

When we announced our wedding for 2003, Derek knew that Hazel’s parents were no longer with us, so he got out his cheque book and took Hazel and her two children and got them kitted out for the wedding.

I was asked to go on to the Central Midlands League Committee and wasn’t too sure about it to be honest, but Derek was there for  advice when I needed it again. I went on to the CMFL Committee and he said, “as you go on the 'groundhops', why not set one up yourself, I’m sure they would be popular..”

I was a bit unsure but took the idea to the meeting and was asked if I could guarantee crowds of 100 at each game, I said I don’t know unless we try.  The first match on the Saturday morning was at Greenwood Meadows with a crowd of 302 which is still a ground record for them today.

The 'Groundhops' became more popular and Derek was always keen to know how they were going.

Four years ago, Derek sadly passed away. He had been on a kidney machine for the past twenty years and had four transplants, although they were rejected by his body, they gave him that extra few more years on this planet.

At 'groundhops' I do always try and give two minutes thought towards Derek, as he was the one who backed me to give it a go. As I am organising the Notts Senior League Groundhop this season, I wasn’t sure how popular it would be and only time will tell, but the coach is full and advanced ticket sales are going well. Hopefully we will get more tickets sold before the event, which takes place on the 19th & 20th April. 

Rob finally adds, "I feel and believe that I am being “watched from above” by someone and I think you can see now why Derek was My Hero and My Inspiration".

*****

Links

Rob Hornby - #twitterfeed
Notts Senior League Groundhop