Father and Son

Last Thursday we made our way to Canning Town to watch football. Now no one could accuse me of seeking out the more glamourous parts of London. Yet it seemed the game had come full circle. The match was Canning Town v Ongar Town played at the Newham Leisure Centre. I was there because my son was playing for Ongar Town. As we pulled in we both looked back upon the journey, and the fact that for three years when he was between the age of 10-13, we travelled there two nights each week for him to attend Charlton Athletic's Centre of Excellence. The hours spent next to the A13 perfecting ball control while the traffic thundered past. Last thursday while I watched in the stands, I was approached by a Bulgarian student who naively asked "How much are these players paid ?" Of course that's not the case, in most cases they pay to play, the pitch and the match officials have to be hired. After a day's work the player turned out, for the same reason as myself, because we love the game.