Fine lines

The line between this being a glorious week and a wholly crappy week was very, very fine. Certainly, that's the way it seemed at about 4.15pm yesterday.

Sometimes (well, okay, quite often) completely mysterious stuff takes place on the football field. The penalty decision, and subsequent re-take, in yesterday's game against Whakatane fell into that category. We felt several incorrect decisions were made during the moments surrounding the incident and that, coupled with the fact the goal (when it finally did go in) gave Whakatane a massively undeserved lifeline into a game they should have been out of, led to a boiling sense of injustice rising to the surface.

We all see different things, and see things in different ways, so this whole kerfluffle shouldn't be surprising. I'm glad Neil appreciated the situation enough to know that the frustration expressed by some of our players was a natural human reaction and didn't start flashing the cards around.

He let us get on with the game... and that's what we did. The release of emotion when Ishy's goal went in was a real gusher, I'll tell you!

We all take something out of yesterday. I know the officials will review the key moments and will hopefully appreciate, in hindsight, that what they thought they saw happen didn't actually take place as they believe it did. The real elbower confessed as much after the game.

Thankfully, the only thing Whakatane's goal from the spot did was ensure the final quarter hour of the match was a Matamata master class. So maybe I should be thankful for the intervention from Phillip and Neil!

And yes, I know, I wouldn't be anywhere near this gracious if we hadn't won the game. But we did, so this will be a glorious week.

Good times

It's tough to know what to say or whether I should say anything at all. There are other's far more qualified, able and suited to offering a tribute to Brian Good than me. Indeed, they have already. I won't try to match them. I'll just give it my best, then go.

I could have known Goody better than I did, but I didn't and now I never will. To me he was remarkable in his unremarkableness. A regular kiwi guy, into his sport, having fun with his mates and being there for his family. That's how I knew him, anyway. I was never close enough to know any more.

My reality of Goody was confirmed for me by the slides at his funeral service on Wednesday. A regular guy doing regular things in a regular life. And that made him unique, like all of us. Those shots had me choked up. I don't do emotion, but on Wednesday I came bloody close.

This is not my tragedy. But I have this selfish way of making everything, even if just in a small way, and only internally, about me. Goody was only a few months older than me and had a young family, like me. He was more physically active than I've been during the last little while, yet he's gone and I'm still here. For the first time, probably ever, I feel genuinely mortal.

Guess what - life IS too short. It makes you think, but you shouldn't think too much, you should act. It's what you do that matters and you'd better do something while you still have the time. I'm going to try. Cheers Brian. Your passing was the punch in the face I needed. But I so wish it didn't have to be this way.

Great work

I stumbled across this short movie (http://www.greatworkmovie.com/) a couple of days ago.

Before I go on I suggest, respectfully, that you have a look. Go on, it'll only take a few minutes...

Okay, welcome back.

Now, you may or may not be into this type of thing. Some people are highly self-motivated and will just shrug their shoulders and say, "So bloody what?" For other people it could be just what you need to get going.

Personally, I thought it was pretty cool. And it got me thinking about doing Great Work in football. Specifically in my club, for my club and regionally. God knows the game in this country could use great work at all levels.

Do we really do great work in football, or do we all have ready made, built in excuses not to? Do we do just enough and, if something we could or should or wanted to do just happens to slip by the wayside then, "Bleeh, too bad. I'm just a volunteer. I'm not paid. I do this for the love of the game. I don't have to do it. Blah-de-blah-de-one-excuse-after-another-blah."

But is cutting corners, doing the bare minimum, setting low standards and failing to meet them really good enough? Do you really love the game if you sell it or yourself so short?

Okay, we don't all have unlimited free time. But we can all do great work with the time we do have available. If we really want to.

If you're a player you can commit to an extra night's training a week (even though it's so cold and miserage at the moment).

If you're a coach you can work a little longer with your strikers this week so they have a better chance of potting the crucial chance when it arrives on Saturday.

If you're an administrator you can make contact with a local business this week and ask if they'd like to sponsor your club.

If you're a referee you can talk with a player or coach after the game on Saturday and ask them how they think you performed.

If you're a fan you can bring along a couple of mates to your club's match this weekend.

Small things. But together they can all lead to doing great work for the great game in this great little country of ours.

Here's the movie one more time http://www.greatworkmovie.com/. Just in case you missed it earlier.

Taupo by the tail

It's been a long, long time since we tasted anything remotely resembling success against Taupo. We've been serial runners-up to Taupo's enduring championship success and, quite frankly, I'm getting a little sick of it!

They've done the double over us during the last two seasons. We'll say we've found some pretty bizarre ways to lose those games while Taupo, I'm sure, will insist they hammered us each time. Whatever anyone believes, the scores remain: 0-3, 2-4, 3-4, 1-2. Taupo has found a way to win and we've found a way to lose. And it sucks.

Taupo even beat us on goal difference in the 2006 end-of-season, cobbled together, play a few teams but not the others, top four play-offs. We managed a 1-1 draw in that competition (late goal from Lamby...), but Taupo won 5-0 at TA (did I hear you say, 'hmmm, dodgy result, that one...?') on the last day to knock us down to what would soon become the familiar silver medal spot.

The law of averages might suggest we're due a win. But the law of averages didn't help Tottenham when they failed to beat Chelsea in any game, in any competition, for the best part of fifteen years. As a Spurs fan I'm glad that run's been buried in the history books. As a Swifts fan I'm hoping the Taupo stranglehold is loosened tomorrow.

A first time for everything

It's time to give this blogging thing a go.

I've had a fair bit to say for myself on the Federation League forum. And we've had some decent discussions over there, too.

Now is the time to bring some of that 'creativity' (yeah, okay, I know...) back into the Swifts domain. Or should that be, Domain.

My aim is to opine (you can thank my friend Bill O'Reilly at Fox News for that word) on a frequent basis. I won't promise a fixed interval because there's no way I can know how often, if at all, those creative juices will be flowing. Let's just hope it's often enough to keep you all interested.

So, I'll do my best. Feel free to have a go, have a laugh or even have something to say in support of my blathering.

Okay, that's enough words used to say absolutely nothing. We'll talk soon...