Game
22, 2016-17
"And so ends this instalment of The Game
of Moans," I announce as I blow the final whistle. The player standing
near me starts to laugh. "Heh, sorry about that," he says. "I
know it was pretty bad today." I point out that it's always pretty bad.
But really I'm just delighted that he laughed - it doesn't happen often enough on
the football pitch.
 |
| Gareth and Cristiano setting an example - football's just for fun, right guys? |
Next I walk up to the home team's left
back. A few minutes earlier he'd made a fairly sour comment about me needing
glasses. In keeping with the Artur Alt Philosophy of "Hear less, see
more", I decided to ignore him. Two weeks ago I'd have pompously show him
a yellow card. "Thanks for your touching concern about my eyesight,"
I say, "but in fact I already wear contact lenses." For the first
time all game he cracks a smile too, then shakes my hand...
