A kind of mindful football. A visit to Skinners Field to watch Worcester Park FC
The contrast could not be starker having attended the Sutton v Northampton game with 3,588 souls. This Saturday it was Worcester Park FC v AFC Cubo with around fifty. Though in the years before the FA Cup run Sutton would have in terms of fans at the ground have what Marty from Spinal Tap would view as having a select appeal. My regular ground is the Gander which sends me up the road and over the busy A217 road. For this game it is the opposite direction but more scenic. My walk took me through Mayflower Park Wetlands near Worcester Park but up near The Hamptons Americano. My other favourite walk to a ground was to Craven Cottage where you can from Putney high street, through the park and up to the Cottage. Sometimes in football it is about how you arrive at the game.
Once I arrived at Skinners Field, home of Worcester Park FC, I made tracks for the exceedingly small stand right in front were the respective team managers and substitutes. In terms of fan participation an outbreak of singing is not on the cards, more talk less singing. I recognised the odd Sutton United fan, a chap who came down from Barnes who was a friend of the Worcester Park manager. He was also an Everton fan who did not have a regard for the former Everton boss Roberto Martinez. Will he now become a Frankophile. The atmosphere was closer to mindfulness than standing behind the goal at packed Sutton United home game. That lower league quite has its rewards, I find myself concentrating more on the game. The game at this level comes with its own Blu Ray commentary compliments of the managers in front of me and the players on the field.
The game itself was entertaining with AFC Cubo the better team on the day. They bossed midfield in the first half. Worcester Park came back into it in the second half, with their number nineteen showing some Roy Keane like presence in midfield. Worcester Park got a penalty which they missed. Then a player got sent off and AFC Cubo rode out the game to win three nil. The game ended with roaring affirmations from AFC Cubo players in the ‘dressing room’ followed I hope by a few pints in the bar to celebrate. Meanwhile about four Worcester Park players went off to take down the goal posts.
