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View from the cemetery - August 2019

Submitted by Ghostly Gadgie on Saturday, 3 August 2019

So that’s that for the season of minority sports, or summer as it is sometimes known. The annual two week tennis season produced an epic final between two of the old stagers in Djokovic and Federer, which unfortunately clashed with an equally epic cricket world cup final. I didn’t see either as I was on my travels, but it seemed a daft bit of scheduling to me. Still, at least England won the cricket, principally thanks to the New Zealand boy they had playing for them as it happens.

Then there was the Female Football World Cup, in which the England girls did their best, which as usual was not quite good enough. To be fair, as the team was principally a Sunderland Ladies Old Girls team it wasn’t so bad an effort really. If the rest of the country joined in our lasses might have had a bit more of a chance against the Americans. Very annoying Americans I might add. Of course the fact that an astonishing 2/3 or thereabouts of the national side owed their early time in football to Sunderland LAFC was not something either the BBC or the FA wanted to draw any attention to, given that the national governing bodies response to the fantastic efforts of the Sunderland Ladies in the past few years, with a fraction of the resources of most of the other leading clubs, was not to thank them profusely and ask for their advice on developing the game and young female footballers. No, it was to boot them down two divisions, on “financial grounds”. Yes, the FA are not daft, they will take dodgy money from Russians or Arabs over the hard working efforts of local clubs any day. Yes, Citeh and Chelski, it’s the future.

Anyway the real thing is back, and thanks for that. A bit of a new look to the NL First Division, and, whether we like it or not, a real promotion race in prospect, with three prizes to play for. Admittedly they may turn out to be booby prizes, but let us not quibble. The football should be good, and a chance next season for some unfamiliar North East names in the FA Trophy, which will be interesting. But who will be the three? Probably not Bishops.