Allow me to start this one with a small rant. The annual season of Remembrance is with us where we remember and honour the members of the armed forces from the end of the First World War up to current armed conflicts around the world. The launch of the 2009 Poppy Appeal by the Royal British Legion was on Thursday of this week with the help of Dame Vera Lynn and Hayley Westenra – the “forces sweethearts” from different generations. So far so good but what always sticks the in craw of your ageing scribe is the tendency of some people – mainly politicians it must be said – to start wearing their poppies in advance of the official launch date for the appeal. Just what are these individuals trying to prove? Is this some sort of “one upmanship” – you know the type of thing where people try to demonstrate a sort of “holier than thou” approach to anything? And, where did they get their poppies from? It would never be suggested that they retained them from the previous year as that would be most uncharitable however, the question remains. We could apply a similar principle to Christmas starting in August and Easter starting just after Christmas but must recognise that these latter events have been largely annexed from their original meaning by commercial enterprises, this does not and should not apply to the annual Poppy Appeal.
OK, thank you, rant over – I feel better for that - and we move on to Alsager.
The origins of place names provide endless fascination for many people. In thinking about Alsager, it could be that we can draw inspiration from other place names beginning with “Al”. Al in Arabic means “the” and many of us will have taken holidays on the Algarve in Portugal. In Arabic, al – garve translates as “the west” and represents the furthest westerly region conquered during the Moorish invasion of Europe from North Africa during the 12th and 13th centuries. In the region known as the Algarve we find the popular town of Albufeira - this translates to “the lagoon”.
(Recommended visit if in Southern Spain – the Alhambra (the red fortress) close to Granada in the province of Andalucia). So how does this help us with Alsager? Not a lot really as the Moorish Empire in Europe never came further north than what is now the region of Catalunya which includes the city of Barcelona – aaah Barcelona, my favourite city in Europe – chilled San Miguel in outside bars along The Ramblas watching the world go by….. remember Winsford?
But back to the subject in hand. If we try to apply Arabic interpretations to place names such as Alsager and Alfreton we come unstuck very rapidly. The “Al” bit remains easy but we find no words in Arabic related to “sager” or “freton”. We could have a bit of fun by combining English names with the Arabic “al” and arrive at “the wiser one” for Alsager and, a bit more worrying, “the one marked with small pox” for Alfreton. Bit of a concern with that last one but, never fear, GNE have a long way to go before we could meet Alfreton in a league match – Blue Square Conference North for Alfreton at the moment.
Getting back to Alsager, it is suggested that what we now know today as Alsager was a Saxon farming hamlet with the name “Eleacier” – reference the Domesday Book – but this is disputed and there are alternative suggestions.
Of more recent times, Alsager has been granted “Fairtrade Town” status. On the face of it this is fine as, so far as your ageing scribe is aware, Fairtrade is about giving a living wage to people in impoverished countries, mainly in Africa and South America, in return for the provision of goods and services – mainly foodstuffs. No problem with this, as a general principle, although it does give some cause for concern if we consider the provenance of the pies – we will see!
A journey through the countryside of Derbyshire and Cheshire in the Supporters Club minibus, ably piloted by Shifty again, brings us to a quite picturesque ground in leafy South Cheshire. Signs around the ground inform us that Alsager are members of the Unibond League. Indeed they were but having finished 14th in the Unibond South Division in the 2007/8 season, they were demoted to the North West Counties League due to FA ground grading rules. They really must change the signs; don’t you just hate signs which are out-of-date? Clubhouse is perched above the ground with a panoramic view of the pitch from the balcony in front. Inside the clubhouse its cans only for the Bitter drinkers – Tetley’s Smooth – yuk and the 40 or so GNE supporters again dominate proceedings. Official attendance later given as 52.
£5 entrance which is not exactly through a turnstile as Shifty has parked the minibus right inside the ground – not on the pitch I hasten to add, that would make life difficult – and we need to go to the back of the turnstile to pay – interesting arrangement. £1 for a programme of, frankly, poor quality with little information and no distractions such as word searches, quizzes or impossibly difficult crosswords.
Alsager Town are known as “The Bullets”. This, apparently, comes from the fact that there is an ordnance factory, still operating, in Alsager. Plenty of potential for jokes here relating to the “firing of blanks” by the Alsager strike force etc. I leave you to fill in your own as, otherwise, this paragraph could go on forever.
Suitably refreshed, we make our way down the hill to pitchside and install the flags on the railings. Pies rated as “not bad”, “6 or 7 out of 10” are rescued by lashings of tasty gravy – not sure which part of the pies is considered to be “Fairtrade” – any suggestions? Yet again we see an example of the home club underestimating the strength in depth of the GNE travelling army as the pies have run out by half-time. Having read the last sentence, your ageing scribe needs to watch the wording a bit as the pies were not literally running out – that would have been quite something if they were, dressed in all white perhaps and running out onto the pitch ready to take on allcomers. Isn’t our language wonderful?
After 45 minutes, it’s half-time and 1-0 to the home team. Man of the Match so far is the Alsager goalkeeper. At the end of the match, the superior football shown by the mighty GNE is rewarded and Glossop register a 3-1 victory.
The journey home ends in lashing rain but a good time was had by all and we now get a week off, possibly for good behaviour!!, as there is no game midweek – what are we going to do until Saturday??
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