No Tutu in two two

It was never a red card. The referee couldn’t possibly have seen what he deemed dangerous play. He was turned away and had a player between him and the man he sent off. In fact, everyone on the Slab had a much better view of the action, given it happened only a few yards away.

The facts of the matter are these: An Aldershot player kicked the football, trying to clear it up field. A Woking player was quite close to him, trying to take the ball into the goal area. The ball hit the Woking player at close range, sending him falling over. This was perfectly natural as the ball was quite forcefully hit. It was at this point that the referee blew his whistle and showed the red card.

As I said, it was never a red card. And I think the referee agreed with me. From this point on, his decisions all seemed a bit unsure and, oft-times dodgy. One of those times was when he awarded us a penalty. Speaking to Neighbour Dave later, who had an excellent view, it was never a penalty with Kinsella making a meal of a bag of crisps.

Still, I guess it was a bit of justice for the red card that we should go ahead 1-0 in the 86th minute. The first half had been a bit ho hum and, following a quick straw poll of the Slabbers, Nicktor announced that the majority would take a 0-0 draw. Of course, that went out the window with the goal.

Funnily enough, James couldn’t watch the penalty. He said as much, covered his eyes and, to make doubly sure, turned his back. After the ball went in, he rose with the cheers of everyone else only to then ask me where it had been hit. Fortunately, I was watching and took note because normally I don’t.

Then, as often happens, with six minutes of injury time added, Woking were also awarded a penalty which they scored from, and it was back to evens. Which, I think, was fair enough. It will definitely make next week’s return game interesting.

Also interesting was the chat I had with an older fellow, visiting with his son and daughter-in-law. They were Southampton fans who were enjoying a drink in the bar. For reasons I didn’t quite catch in the noisy bar, they were visiting Aldershot for Christmas and were given tickets in the Community Stand.

The old chap’s name was Peter Brian. He told me that his first football game was in 1948 when he went with his dad to see the Saints. He then told me about his name. Apparently, when he was born, his dad was over the moon. He whooped and hollered in great rejoice. His wife told him to go and get the baby’s name registered.

The joyous fellow jumped on his bicycle and headed for the registry. Unfortunately, there were five pubs in between and he felt the need to wet the head of his new born son in every one. He eventually made it to the registry and filled in the required documents.

Fast forward a few years and Peter Brian had to get a copy of his birth certificate. He applied to the relevant government department and the certificate arrived in the post. On reading it, the family suddenly realised that his name was actually Brian Peter. His mum, according to him, never forgave his father for that.

I think Peter Brian’s son will no doubt never forgive James either. He asked James what the result was likely to be, so he could have a little flutter on the game. James said that Woking were playing bad and Aldershot was playing well and, given their relative positions in the table, Aldershot should win. Easily. The son immediately took out his phone and laid money on a Shots win.

Even though the game was not the best, I always love the Boxing Day match and am now looking forward to a trip to Woking next Sunday.

And, early this morning, there was the news that Desmond Tutu had died, aged 90. A great man, a kind man, a funny man. Loved by millions. He once said

When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bibles and they had the land.

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/desmond_tutu_107531

This quote surprises me. If he felt this way, why did he embrace Christianity? Did he think he could fight it from within? He certainly didn’t join the Apartheid ranks in order to bring down that oppression.

I find it very sad that an otherwise kind and compassionate man with an excellent intellect and outlook on life, had to dedicate his life to religkious nonsense. Still, he did a lot of good so, I guess, like the penalty at the football today, it wipes out a couple of red cards not awarded to the Christian church.