I’ve been invited to speak on a podcast later this week to talk about what community ownership means to Lewes FC. I wish we were recording at the game yesterday, because they would have witnessed no finer example of what it means.
It means Baz, the night after he raised more than £400 with another Supporters Club Quiz, running around like a blue-arsed fly juggling volunteers and making sure every post was filled. That included the bar in the main stand, which he and Sean noticed wasn’t manned, and instead of tutting and walking on by, decided to roll their sleeves up and run themselves. (Warning: some viewers may find the following shirt distressing.)
It means Terry Morton, for reasons best to known to himself, entering countless competitions for bottles of expensive whiskey that he doesn’t drink and then donating them to the Supporters Club as superb raffle prizes.
It means Simon being diverted from selling his magnificent Supporters Club magazine to running the club shop, where he instantly broke all sales records by selling a shirt to each of a bunch of visiting Norwegians.
(The bad news is that if you want a new shirt, your only hope is to stand by the Norwegian Air desk at Gatwick this morning and mug a 6ft 5in bloke called Fredrik.)
It means Paul continuing to run hospitality this season despite losing his lower leg over the summer, and it means Janette doing everything she can to make his life easier by spending her week reorganising the boardakabin and making sure we’ve got the right equipment in there.
It means PJ selling the Golden Goal as he has done for donkey’s years; it means Alan ticking off the season-ticket holders and counting the beans; it means Stu and George selling the raffle tickets, and Jo, Dave and Connaire ensuring everyone gets through the turnstiles as quickly as possible. It means Ross doing the audio commentary for our partially-sighted supporters in the ground and our distant fans on Facebook; it means Duncan prodding the pitch to replace divots; it means Mike making sure that Susie got home safely.
It means Tim stepping in at the last minute to operate the PA and ensure the tributes to Colin Woffinden, Kevin Fingerneissl and David Arnold were read out immaculately, and it means Terry Parris making sure that we don’t forget those people who’ve contributed so much in years gone by.
And above all else yesterday, it means Barbara Arnold, who turned up at her normal time before kick-off to sell raffle tickets, despite the loss of her wonderful husband just days ago. The only thing that slowed her down were the hundreds of hugs she received from well wishers in the ground. And now well over £1,000 is on its way to the charities, in memory of those gems we’ve lost.
You want to know what community ownership means, it means that: selfless people doing good things in the name of a football club.
If things have been rough off the pitch these past few weeks, they have been pretty rosy on it. Three successive wins in October had left us in second place in the table and for a whole nine minutes here we were top of the league.
That was after Jack Enkh was downed in the penalty box and Harry Mills stepped up to calmly slot the penalty past the jiggling Maldon keeper.
Alas, our time at the top didn’t last as long as my pint. Some iffy defending from a Maldon corner ended up with Charlee Hughes bundling the ball home and we lost our way after that.
That was until the final 15 minutes, when a rash of substitutions spanked new life into the team and we suddenly started creating chance after glorious chance, but couldn’t convert. Noel Fisher should have scored when the keeper tipped a shot on to the bar and it fell to him only six yards out, albeit with a family-sized defender in the way.
Tyler Christian-Law came on and his first touch was a free header from a free-kick that should have been buried, though not as much as Jack Enkh’s wonderful cut back for Danny Bassett, that he poked wide at the near post.
Bobby Unwin spooned another presentable chance over the bar, before the ref waved away what looked like a good shout for a penalty at the very end, but it was not to be.
Still, nobody’s complaining about sitting third at this stage of the season, only two points behind the leaders who pulled our pants down on the opening day. We get next Saturday off now before Wingate arrive on the 31st. A well-earned break for everyone involved.
P.S. Everyone at the Supporters Club sends their best wishes to James Boyes and Charlie Dobres, who’ve been forced to put their feet up recently.
Lewes: Rogers, Cox, Spinks (Owen), Mills, Enkh, Cumberbatch (Hamstead), Garzon (Unwin), Allen (Tyler-Law), Fisher, Gondoh, Walker (Bassett)
Supporters Club man of the match: Jack Enkh, who won the penalty and was a poor finish away from claiming another assist.