League Football.

Today was the Nid's first game with his new team, Leicester Bharat. They are part of the Leicester Sunday Football League.

We started the morning running late. I hit snooze, but it didn't. Nid's phone didn't go off at all. Luckily I had packed most of my bag last night, so I didn't have much to do this morning. It was just under a 20 minute walk to the location, but it turns out that that wasn't where they were playing. We got a ride with Barnsey, who it turns out Nid has known for years from the neighborhood.

I waited while the team got changed, and watched some old folks playing tennis. They were all decked out, with actual little white skirts and polo shirts! It was quite windy, and I was glad for my jacket. When they were ready, we walked out to our pitch, and there was a little, well, shed, for lack of a better term where I could sit on a bench and be protected from the wind, which was nice. It looked like rain the whole time, but it held off until after we got home.

So, here are my observances for this, my first in person football game...

Less than five minutes in, even I got my foot on the ball. Happened three times actually. It was like a magnet drawn to me!

There were three young people there, drinking beer and smoking pot. They were with the other team. I was the only spectator for our team. It was 10:30 in the morning! On a Sunday! Apparently that is not uncommon for the Sunday leagues. I think next time I'll take my iPod because it really took away from the game for me to have to listen to their crap. Every other word was a curse word, and a good deal of their animosity was directed at MY HUSBAND! How DARE they?!?! But it was also confusing to me, because as they complimented him on some things, insulted him for other things, and spent half the game yelling obscenities at their own team.

Nid worked his butt off during this game, and while he was disappointed that he let several goals in, I can testify that he didn't "let" anything in. The verb "let" implies lack of trying, and he tried really hard to stop those goals. The team was missing 6 regular players, and several of the lads were hungover. One claimed only to have gotten home three hours prior to the game. The coach chastised them for this, as well he should have. It costs time and money to play these games, and if someone is just going to blow it off, they should not be allowed to play. It was also the first time many of this group of guys have played together, so I think they did quite well.

Lets see, I saw two naked butts. One of the drinking/smoking boys dropped his pants to moon someone, and took his time pulling his pants back up. Later, there was a streaker across the field. Nid says this was the first time he's experienced that. He ran from next to my shed to midfield, then down to their team's goal, where he put his shorts back on. As he walked by me back to his area, he did say "sorry you had to see that" to me. At least he was a gentleman about it? I dunno... I also learned that men don't seem to mind groping themselves when amongst a large group of other men. I somehow had not learned that fact until today.

Well, that's about it for now, I think. Barnsey gave us a ride back home, we only had to walk a few minutes across the park and up the street, which was nice. We hadn't been home for 5 minutes when it started to rain. I think it's about time for a nap!

Such a shame, that this is how the youth of today prefers to spend their time: