The Serial Whistleblower, False Teeth and George Clooney

There was a time, for a very long time, when Saturday owned football. Weekend matches were the exclusive property of Saturday afternoon and it seemed that the only team that strayed from this tradition, anywhere in the World (as far as I knew back then!)  was Tranmere Rovers, who only ever played at Prenton Park on Friday evenings.

When the BBC and ITV bought the rights to broadcast live matches in the eighties, this resulted in some top flight fixtures being moved to Sundays, and occasionally Fridays. Then, along came Sky and, at the behest of this mass media monstrosity, Saturday has become ‘any other day’ for supporters of the beautiful game.

The last quarter of a century has seen most traditions connected with the game disappear faster than dodgy businessmen to sunny European countries and it is now television that rules football, not Saturday. Kick off times are everywhere, seven days of the week and, of course, for most of us it’s great to have so much action to watch.

If you’ve reached this point, you may well be asking what has all this got to do with Caernarfon Town Football Club?

The answer is not much, directly, but it does seem to me that the traditional Saturday afternoon at the match is a very rare occurrence these days, even for semi-professional clubs such as ours. Before carrying on, I should add that I fully understand the need to reschedule fixtures at Welsh Premier League level to accommodate Sgorio who do such a fine job of covering the game in Wales (my opinion of the date and time of our recent Welsh Cup tie is another matter).   

I also support Friday evening matches at the Oval. Business, attendance and atmosphere-wise, it’s a no-brainer, and it’s always an occasion to savour when the Cofis stride onto the pitch under the lights. It’s something I’ve wanted the club to do for a number of years and, thankfully, this season we have the opportunity to host most of our home fixtures on Fridays, which is working out well for everyone (except opposing teams!).

However, from time to time I do like to touch base with the old traditions, and our recent match with Barry Town meant we could do just that, as the sides squared off for a rare Saturday afternoon encounter.

Aware that the first team squad were having their medicals in the morning I got to the ground early in the hope of a few photos and interviews for the club’s youtube channel. I soon changed my plans, however, when I realised that it did not seem wholly appropriate for a middle-aged man, camera in hand, to be seen anywhere near the players as they undertook their tests, under the watchful eye of former Town goalkeeper, Remi Dolagala, also known as the Cofi George Clooney.  

A figure always seen early doors on match days at the Oval is Terry ‘Ten Clubs’, who proceeded to tell me, in no small detail, about his recent escapades around town. These included tales of his latest female admirers working in a charity café and his plans to buy a Caernarfon Town bobble hat for a well-known local football presenter, who shall remain nameless for now.  

Leo Smith on his Caernarfon debut

Rather more interesting was meeting a charming couple from Derby, who were making their first trip to the Oval. Roger and Brenda are autograph hunters, a hobby that sees them travel the length and breadth of Britain. It was interesting, but not surprising, to hear them say they had been to a number of Welsh Premier League grounds in recent years and been disappointed with the low attendances. With this in mind, I’m sure they would have been pleasantly surprised with the crowd of seven hundred and fifty two that turned up to see us take on the then league leaders.

Sean Eardley handed Leo Smith his debut in the yellow shirt and the recent loan signing from Wrexham did not disappoint, producing an assured display in midfield. In fact, his performance mirrored the teams’, as the Cofis made a steady start in an edgy first half but stepped up a level after the break to dominate proceedings.

Wonder goals from Sion Bradley and Nathan Craig were worth the price of admission alone, and the two-nil scoreline was a fair reflection of the match. Barry defeated us twice in the first phase and on both occasions I had felt we deserved more. They won at the Oval courtesy of a very late winning goal, whilst we had spurned a number of opportunities in a 1-2 defeat at Jenner Park, and so it was good to turn them over this time around.

Sion Bradley

In the last blog I mentioned how good Darren Thomas had been playing since early December and he carried on his form against Barry, setting up both goals with well-weighted passes, not to mention his excellent run with the ball leading up to Sion Bradley’s opener. Both he and Nathan were included in Sgorio’s five a side team of the week and rightly so. There were a few names in contention for the Player of the Match and it was Gareth Edwards who got the vote and again. The big man is having a superb season at the heart of our defence and if ever there is a case for someone getting better with age, Gaz is it. 

Although I had had second thoughts on covering the players’ medicals, I did manage to find myself present when Sean got the squad together for the pre-match talk in the Board room and was impressed with how much he knew about our opponents, with little pieces of information passed onto the players about certain individual players.

I enjoyed being a fly on the wall at the session and can only say that it was as far away as you can get from a memory I have of my one and only manager in local football. He had been so hung over whilst watching us play in Holyhead that, whilst trying to issue instructions about five minutes into the action,  his false teeth flew out of his mouth and onto the pitch. But, as Eards would say, it’s all about levels, isn’t it?!

Finally, how refreshing was it to see Barry manager Gavin Chesterfield in his post-match interview giving Caernarfon the credit they deserved for the victory? It’s not often you’ll hear managers doing this and, if they do, they’ll nearly always accompany such comments with a hard-luck story about missed chances or the referee’s performance. Gavin didn’t go down this road and showed the class that one or two others in his position would do well to try to emulate.

Sitting in on the post match team talk

A trip up the A55 to the Deeside Stadium was next on the schedule and, on a wet and windy evening, the Cofis ended up on the end of a rather harsh 2-6 defeat to Connahs Quay Nomads. The scoreline seems odd for a match between sides occupying two of the top four positions in Welsh domestic football at the time but, in all honesty, the on-field action was a much fairer reflection of the sides’ merits than the result itself.

Town had defeated Andy Morrisons’ side at the same ground earlier in the campaign and, taking into account our fine recent form, I felt we were in with a chance of another decent result against the new league leaders. There were a number of Cofi absentees on the night but it’s a sign of the strength of our squad that Sean could still field a really strong starting eleven and bench.

Messi was unplayable against Barry

My initial optimism for an entertaining match evaporated as soon as I realised who the referee was. I mentioned in the last blog how poor the officiating had been during our New Year’s Day draw at Llandudno and it was a real blow to see the same official in the middle again so soon after that debacle of a performance. The rumblings of discontent amongst the Town supporters I spoke with said it all really and, sure enough, the serial whistleblower lived up to expectations, especially in a stop start first half.

As for the match itself, I thought the team played well and when Cai scored to make it 2-3, I felt we were on top and about to claim at least a point. Of course, this proved not to be the case and, in my opinion, Nomads striker Michael Bakare was the difference between the sides on the night. He was a real threat throughout and scored a stunner for the hosts’ sixth goal.

Cai was on the scoresheet against Connahs Quay

The final scoreline was a cruel one, as Caernarfon were very much in contention until the final ten minutes. I don’t feel anyone could fault the players’ commitment and desire, a point proved when the Cofi Army clapped the team off at the final whistle. And talking of the Caernarfon supporters, they were incredible on the night. There must have been around two hundred Cofis in the stand and the noise they generated was every bit as loud as that heard at our recent Welsh Cup tie. A Caernarfon supporter recently tweeted that, in twenty years of following the side he has never known such a positive feeling around the club and that sums it up for me too.

As always, Nathan and Eards were up for post-match interviews and I’ll make no excuses for repeating what I’ve already said on social media about Sean’s post-match comments. Listening to managers bemoaning bad luck and poor decisions whilst failing to credit their opponents has become a sad new facet of modern day football and those who do it need to look at Sean’s interviews. Win, lose or draw, he always has a good word to say about the opposing side and it’s a real pity that more managers can’t follow suit.

We have another two matches against the Nomads to look forward to before the end of the campaign and I can’t wait to see what Eards and his management team have up their sleeves to avenge this defeat. One thing’s for sure, the Oval will be bouncing for both fixtures!

A final thought for now: We’re fifth in the league, have a Welsh Cup quarter-final to look forward to and boast the best average home attendance in the Welsh domestic football. Not too bad for a relegation doomed long ball team is it?