Page 16 - Raynes Park Vale v Stansfeld

Sid And Doris Bonkers
SHOUTING FROM THE STANDS
wo weeks into 2022 and the first home game and we're all still recovering from
TChristmas! Or, we would be if there had been one. Omicron, empty shelves,
dodgy parties...err...I mean 'work meetings' - what an end to
the year! Here in the stands at The Vale we don't worry about
these things (apart from the parties...that hurt!!) because
we remember the gulls swimming in the goalmouths, the
cans of warm Fosters at the bar, the Chairman's hot-dogs,
the scary toilets, the 'just don't get relegated' hope of the
fans, the two-page photocopied programmes. Yes...we
remember when it was all fields around here!!
A proper bar with actual drinks
The start of a new year is always a time to look back at
what has gone before and look forward to what we hope
for and, it's fair to say that, here at Raynes Park Vale we
had a pretty decent 2021 and we can hope for a lively and
promising 2022. New manager, new players, (almost) new
clubhouse, a proper bar with actual drinks. New fans mixing
with the old faces, TVs with football in the bar, a fence,
new floodlights on the way, a turnstile...A TURNSTILE!!!!
It seems like every week brings some new treat to keep us
coming back to Grand Drive!
But...none of that matters because, on the pitch, we are seeing a revolution. Raynes
Park Vale are winning!! Not all the time but enough to keep hopes up! And let's not
Continued...
...forget the team that won us promotion to the CCL Prem and battled on with-
out the luxuries that we have at the club now. Without them we might not have a
Raynes Park Vale to visit today and we shouldn't forget that! Since then, though,
we have a new chairman doing great things for the club, new volunteers making
sure that everything works and fans get a good day out, a new manager bringing a
winning mentality to the club and new players who are showing themselves to be
just as determined as the old guard to show the world what RPV can do and with
new agreements in place we can safely say that We Shall Not Be Moved. It's enough
to bring a tear to Sid's eye...
"4th Round? 4th Round??!"
"4th Round? 4th Round??!" I'd never seen Doris so ashen-faced since Neasden's
one-legged 'keeper, Wally Foot, let in more goals than there were opposition
players. To say Neasden gaffer Ron Knee was tight-lipped after that
performance doesn't even begin to describe
his post-match interview.
I had to reassure her that it didn't mean
she had to go back to the bar a fifth
time to get a pint of mild and a port and
lemon.
"No! It's the FA Vase! We're in the 4th
round!"
Well....you should have seen her! You'd
think Mo Salah had been touched in the
area and not gone done like a sack of
spuds. We've been coming down to Raynes
Park Vale before Raynes Park even exist-
ed, before the football world had even heard of a single Gallagher (apart from the
one in Gallagher & Lyle - we do love some early 70's Scottish easy listening) - even
before John 'The Guvnor' Dalton was born. And that's a very long time ago! In all
that time the most exciting cup run was when we tried to buy two teas and a mug
of Bovril in 1999. You should have seen the panic behind the bar.
Sid & Doris Bonkers