Post by gastropod on May 15, 2015 15:17:02 GMT
Some coverage in the national press:
Guardian article
Scroll down to number 10...
Guardian article
Scroll down to number 10...
10) Bristol Rovers go toe-to-toe with Grimsby in a Game of Hope
Listen carefully and you can hear the high-pitched hum of entitled whining that is an ever-present soundtrack below the line in the comments section of football websites everywhere. More often than not, it emanates from football fans whose football problems are strictly first world: a misfiring £50m striker, a team that’s come up woefully short in the Champions League or their squad of Premier League-winners not getting the credit they deserve from a conspiratorial media that is clearly peddling a sinister agenda. That kind of guff.
Fans of clubs in the Conference can only dream of having such misery visited upon them on a regular basis and on Sunday, two teams from England’s fifth tier will go toe-to-toe at Wembley with a precious place in the Football League up for grabs. Whatever the outcome between Grimsby Town and Bristol Rovers, one set of fans will surf home from Wembley on a tidal wave of elation, while the other will end the afternoon face down in a trough of utter despair. Of course fans of clubs at football’s sharp end are used to and well able for despair in all its myriad forms. Between now and Sunday it’s the almost unbearable hope that’ll kill those who follow Rovers and Grimsby, so if you know anyone in either camp do make sure to enjoy the kind of misery supporters of bigger, richer and more successful clubs will never truly know.
Listen carefully and you can hear the high-pitched hum of entitled whining that is an ever-present soundtrack below the line in the comments section of football websites everywhere. More often than not, it emanates from football fans whose football problems are strictly first world: a misfiring £50m striker, a team that’s come up woefully short in the Champions League or their squad of Premier League-winners not getting the credit they deserve from a conspiratorial media that is clearly peddling a sinister agenda. That kind of guff.
Fans of clubs in the Conference can only dream of having such misery visited upon them on a regular basis and on Sunday, two teams from England’s fifth tier will go toe-to-toe at Wembley with a precious place in the Football League up for grabs. Whatever the outcome between Grimsby Town and Bristol Rovers, one set of fans will surf home from Wembley on a tidal wave of elation, while the other will end the afternoon face down in a trough of utter despair. Of course fans of clubs at football’s sharp end are used to and well able for despair in all its myriad forms. Between now and Sunday it’s the almost unbearable hope that’ll kill those who follow Rovers and Grimsby, so if you know anyone in either camp do make sure to enjoy the kind of misery supporters of bigger, richer and more successful clubs will never truly know.
