We wuz robbed.Yonks ago, on the very cold South Downs of England, whilst playing against a Sussex University side, I cajoled our eleven by shouting out "Come on lads, we've only got twelve men to beat."
The twelfth man, the referee, took exception to this so I became the first player from my college to be sent off.
I was reminded of this last night whilst watching 'classy' Arsenal just about overcome 'gutsy' and 'gritty' Charlton. The twelfth man was someone called Steve Bennett who's dished out the most red cards of any ref this season.
Regular readers of Jakartass will know that I'm a supporter of Charlton, but I don't think that I've mentioned that my grandfather was, as a boy, a supporter of
Woolwich Arsenal, where post World War II, my father worked as a cost accountant. The football club moved across the river in 1913 so Charlton became the local club for the family to support.
I became a subscriber to satellite TV in order to watch
this match, a family derby so to speak, and it's a bit of a bugger to have seen Charlton, already down 0 - ! at home, lose midfield generalissimo, Danny Murphy, to a bounced ball which was deemed to be a display of dissent.
Which it was to be fair, but by no means as petulant as my outburst all those frozen years ago.
To the match: Arsenal played 'fluent, attacking football', and so they should have done with the likes of Thierry Henry on the pitch, yet at the start they were only four points above Charlton having lost their last three matches. Charlton did beat the bottom team, Sunderland, last week, but as this was our only win in eight matches even Jakartass, the eternal optimist, put the Addicks down to lose 1 - 2 in the office sweepstake. An honourable defeat I reckoned. And so it proved.
Until Murphy strolled off to the applause of we Addicks, there was always the chance for a draw. It was not to be yet there were obvious signs of a renewed resurgence of fortitudinous rectitude ~ honest guts and
passion in other words.
We're halfway through the season and Charlton have more than half the points deemed necessary to avoid relegation. If they can continue to play as well as they did last night against one of the Premier League's premier sides, then there is still much to play for.
Pride certainly. Glory? Who needs it?
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