DAVE ,S TALES OF A SEASON ARE PURE GOLD
HOME AND AWAY, BY DAVE ROBERTS, PUBLISHED BY BANTAM PRESS, PRICE £12.99,
RATING OUT OF 10: 9 IF YOU’RE reading a good book you fly through the pages at a rapid rate of knots – that was certainly the case with
Just over 300 pages whizzed by as Dave Roberts told the tale of Bromley’s first season in the dizzy heights of the National League.
But this was no ordinary story. The author of The Bromley Boys and 32 Programmes had left Connecticut to move back to England after 33 years.
His American wife Liz made the move with him, but it’s safe to say she didn’t know what she was letting herself in for.
With family ties enticing them to live in Leeds, it meant even going to see Bromley home games would be a big effort.
Roberts was keen to pass his love of Bromley on to his wife and decided a tour of the country, taking in Ravens games, was the way to do it.
As he said at the start of Chapter 17,“My brother-in-law Nick had just come back from Spain after a week away, and Liz was desperate to follow his example and take a break from the English winter.
“Her wish was about to come true.We were on our way to Wales for a Valentine’s Day weekend in Wrexham – because nothing says romance quite like a weekend in Wrexham, with a Bromley game thrown in.”
That’s the beauty of this book – it’s not just about football. It’s about travel, observation of how the country has changed in three decades and friendship. How Roberts forms bonds with his fellow fans and, despite the mediocre football at times, they enjoy themselves.
Roberts writes with a light touch, coming up with a host of amusing stories as he climbs steep hills to get to games, can’t believe any decision that goes against his team, fumes at the BBC for not providing commentary on matches, watches games on twitter and gets lost on the way to away grounds. For example, describing Anthony Cook’s departure, Roberts wryly said:“And that was’t the only major catastrophe. As Mickey had predicted, Anthony Cook, one of our best players until the recent slump, had moved; although what motivated him to drop down a division to sign for extremely wealthy Ebbsfleet was a mystery.” Roberts goes back to his old childhood home to stay the night there before Bromley’s home game against Woking, repeating what happened there 45 years earlier before the same game (“The couple who had bought the house from my parents back in the 1980s had made the mistake of saying that I was welcome to stay at any time.”) It was worth the effort, Bromley winning 2-1. There are also some moving moments in the book, such as going with his old schoolboy pal John, forced to drag himself around on crutches, to the Woking game and the death of his dad. All in all, this is a brilliant book, with lots to enjoy, including his account of being the mascot for a day and travelling on the Guiseley Supporters Club coach to their match against Bromley. Bromley fans will love it, but this is a book that all football fans can enjoy and relate to. SUNDAY FOOTBALL, BY CHRIS BAKER, PUBLISHED BY HOXTON MINI PRESS, PRICE £14.95,
RATING OUT OF 10: 8 PERHAPS the front cover picture best sums up Chris Baker’s homage to Sunday league football – a player with fag in hand proudly shows off his paunch.
Yes, Sunday league has its repu- tation as the place where hungover players gather together with their mates to play the beautiful game, but no one can say it doesn’t attract its fair share of characters. Sunday league lover Baker undertook a twoyear project with his camera on the infamous Hackney Marshes to show off the game in all its glory, and it’s hard to argue that he hasn’t captured the heartbeat of the game. There are a terrific variety of pictures from the individual portraits to players celebrating … or awaiting ambulances. It shows that Sunday league is for all – black, white, fat, thin, small or tall – and even displays the human side of referees. What adds to the pictorial extravaganza are the quotes from players and referees dotted throughout the book. You know the type:“Our old goalkeeper wore glasses but couldn’t wear contacts. This was a bit of a problem as he could only really see a player or the ball when they reached the edge of his area.We conceded a lot of longrange shots that year.” Or:“Can you all just shut up?! Listen, there are too many people out there with egos wanting to be the leading goalscorer, that’s f***ing bollocks.We won’t win like that, we’ll only win if we play like a unit.” Baker calls his book a ‘love letter to the game that consumed me for so many years’. He’s definitely done it justice and, with Sunday league football coming under pressure from all sides, it deserves a wide viewing. Naturally, it will appeal to people who have played or reffed Sunday league football, but this wonderfully put together small hardback book merits a broader audience. As BBC presenter Dan Walker said in his foreword to the book:“Chris Baker has done something very special with ‘ He’s managed to capture the essence of football, reminding us of all the reasons why we have so much affection for the beautiful game.”