building up to something!

Phew we are almost there and we survived!!! Yes folk time to wrap up the season is a coming and where do we look for our football fix, The Euros, The Olympics, whatever you choose I hope you enjoy! 

As a Raith fan I should be used to the "sqeeeeeky bum" that comes with the end of the season, but you know what I am not! Last Saturday's (April 28th 2012) match against Queen of the South was one of those games that put the wee heart to the test. A must "point" match to keep alive the possibility of the Scottish First "Fife" division of football. 

The sun was shining down on Stark's Park and the game sounded like a wee ray of sunshine on what has been a pretty damp season. Jamie Walker was The Kingdom's answer to Messi by all accounts and of course the player of the year Dave McGurn saving more than our bacon on many occasions!

This wee dish of Paella and Bovril comes from the Queens match. Raith 3 - 1 Queen of the South

PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL TEAM AND THE GREAT PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT HAPPEN. 

Paella and Bovril

Football for many is a form of escapism, escaping the job, escaping the weekly supermarket shop, we football fans use 3pm to 4:45pm every Saturday to get away from it all.  But sometimes do you just want to escape football?

I love my football don’t get me wrong, I get a little twitchy around 4pm local time if I am running the risk of missing the football on the internet, but I do like a bit of football “down time”, well my girly friends likes me to have some time away from the game. However a few Saturdays ago there was no escaping the wonder that is football.

“Mes que un club” is the motto of  FC Barcelona, and it could not be more true, this merry band of champions is far more than a club to the city of Barcelona. From the Costa Brava to the Costa Daurada, for pretty much the whole of Catalunya these guys are gods. But do we need coverage of a match starting 12 hours before the kick off on a channel that does not even have the game? Apparently you do, plus a whole week of evenings leading up to the match with replays of previous meetings between Spain’s giants of football. The countdown was on every Catalan channel it could be, right up there in the corner of your screen! You would have to be living high up in the Pyrenees Mountains in a cave with no electricity to escape the madness.

El Clasico is possibly one of the biggest commercial matches going at the moment. Mega millions playing the big bucks in one of the most famous stadiums going, this match was HUGE! Barcelona was buzzing.  My usual Saturday trip to the supermarket was awash with the red and blue of Catalonias “first” national side.  Entire families decked out from head to toe in Barca colours, babies to great-granddads, mums and grannies, everyone was proudly showing their allegiance. If 700 Madrid fans were in town, you were not going to see them amongst the sea of stripes.  I on the other hand was prancing down the freezer aisle in my pink Raith away top getting excited about a wee match with Falkirk.  Who needs the twinkling toes of Messi and the hair gel of Ronaldo when you have Brian Graham up for a hat-trick!

I had everything set up, the laptop for the Falkirk tv feed and audio feed from the guys at Raith Rovers Abroad, the iPad for the text box and the iPod for Twitter, I was in football, technology geek heaven. All I was missing were the 3D glasses.  I had even got myself some jelly reptiles!  The game was one of lows and highs. The injury to Laurie Ellis, (get well soon!), plus a hat trick from Brian Graham meant that afternoon was spent on the edge of the sofa, screaming at a bunch of microchips! The game was that good even the other half turned off the PlayStation to watch most of the match.

With just enough time to shower and change top the next game was about to start, and before the ball was even placed on the centre spot the Nou Camp was a sight to behold. I was watching on the tele and it made my jaw drop and go wow, nearly 100,00 Barca fans holding aloft wee coloured-paper squares to make a mosaic that was a sight to see. Giant red and yellow Catalan flags, phrases in Catalan, the Barca coloures, these guys were up for a win, and a spectacular one at that!  I can’t say I would describe it as a Barcelona spectacle, the result said it all really, 2-1 to Madrid in a match where Barcelona looked tired and off their game. The party that had been planned and was bursting to explode after the match did not happen. A few fireworks were let off, but nothing like a “normal” night after a win, no cars going round honking horns, or bars having a wee party after the match.  There was a surprise on the night, but not the one that results in a big fiesta!

So in answer to the question I asked at the start “don’t you just want to escape football?”  Deep down I do not think so, and for sure if Barcelona had won the Clasico and the party had really kicked off, no question would need to be asked. But after all that build up, all that organization, and then a damp squib on the night, maybe next time just the 6 hours build up!