From Joyce to a Giraffe at Sutton United.
Their are plenty of ways to ease yourself into a Saturday match. One is tried and tested, a few pints in the club bar. The other a pre-match lunch. You can combine the two activities. I opted for the pre match lunch. At the last lunch I was sat at a table with Sutton Utd four hundred and fifty game legend, Anglo Italian cup winner Micky Joyce. The club has a fair few former players playing an active part volunteering their time to help the club, doing anything and everything from the boardroom to the club car park. Having played for the club, they stay on to help because in the words of a Sutton United fan chant ‘they just can’t get enough of U, U,U. In twenty years from now will this still be the case? Maybe it will but the players from the Anglo Italian cup generation and for some years after that had other jobs and playing for the club had was perhaps in a small way akin to volunteering your time. This is referenced in a recent article on the Canadian premier league website title ‘The beauty of the cup gives York United a chance at a giant-killing upset that would humiliate Toronto FC.’ The article opens with this line:
It was early January and Matt Hanlon was spending much of his time laying bricks and building a new grocery store.
This is a reference to the time Matt Hanlon who scored the winning goal to despatch Coventry City from the FA Cup in 1989 by two goals to one. That game is clearly inspiring lower league clubs the world over. Giant killing in football happens but perhaps its an endangered species, York United were beaten four nil by Toronto. They’ll be feeling the same as Carlisle who Sutton United beat four nil. Though Sutton’s win was as far removed from giant killing as you can get. Though worth remembering that Carlisle were an English First Division side in the mid Seventies.
So that’s the history but what about giraffes. Well Sutton United have got you covered because our mascot is Jenny the Giraffe. At my table for the pre match lunch was Jenny the Giraffe. To be more precise the person who brings Jenny the Giraffe to life to the delight of the many younger Sutton United supporters. So many volunteer their time to make match day at the Gander a great experience and Jenny the Giraffe is no exception. What I learned is that Jenny the Giraffe is not just match day, its school fetes and most intriguing of all competing in football mascot charity races against portly Womble mascots among others.
There's a whole subculture of club mascots I was unaware off, its fascinating. Jenny the Giraffe doesn’t just rock up to Sutton United home games to go out on the pitch waving in a way the Royal Family do from a slow-moving car. They plan in advance, if its Easter, then eggs are bought to hand out, Chinese New Year its about handing out sweets with lucky messages inside. Though football mascots are established hand wavers and charity race runners there is no Fight Club for club mascots. Though I remember when Jenny the Giraffe came face to face with Arsenal mascot Gunnersaurus I thought here we go, Jenny could give Gunnersaurus a Glasgow kiss but it was thankfully a mascot love in.
Like so much at Sutton United even in the English Football League much is done on a volunteer basis born from a great enthusiasm for the club and that includes our hardworking mascot Jenny the Giraffe and the support team that keep Jenny on track.
That’s the Giraffe stuff over, now to the game against Carlisle. They took a few hundred fans to the Gander and apart from a fifteen to twenty minutes period at the start of the second half were they played like a team who had what must have been a lively dressing room team talk having gone on two nil down in the first forty five minutes. The first goal for Sutton was after about three minutes an own goal by Carlisle with Smith adding another after thirty-seven minutes. Even at two nil for Sutton, had Carlisle pulled a goal back it may have been one of those days were Sutton see out the last ten minutes like a team clinging to the side of a mountain waiting for the final whistle to guide them to safety. Instead Sutton Utd withstood Carlisle’s moderate onslaught at the start of the second half that petered out with Sutton adding two more goals to make it four nil. Carlisle had a player sent off and in the away fans area I believe two Carlisle fans were how should I say it, asked to leave the ground. All in all a great day at the office for Sutton United. This result also put an end to my career as a Sutton United super forecaster. I thought that were we beat teams it would be by one nil or two one margins not four nil. Rightly we focus on the four goal winning margin with some saying it could have been six. I think the clean sheet is something to be proud of. Deano in goal for Sutton United didn’t have lots to do but when the ball came in anger he responded brilliantly. Though out of all the goals my favourite was when Tanto and Smith combined. The goal was made by Tanto then delivered by Smith into the Carlisle net.
The pre match was good but the post match was even better with some Sutton United fans staying behind to toast a great victory while being entertained by a Martin Fry ABC pop band tribute act with gold and blue sequined suit jackets all under the guise of the Strikers are Key prize draw. Strikers are key that is true but a defensive unit that keeps a clean sheet is equally important as we continue our quest to get just over fifty points to earn another season in the English Football League. Onwards.
