Days Like This.........

Today (Saturday) is for me the highlight of the sporting calendar - FA Cup 3rd Round.  It is the day when the games "big boys" can be pitched against struggling teams 3 divisions below them - or from outside the league altogether - and can come unstuck. Every cliche in the game - its 90 minutes, eleven against eleven and so on - is brought into play. Newspapers carry stories about part timers getting ready for their big day: postmen, decorators, who look forward to their 15 minutes of fame. By 5 o'clock this evening there should be a story or two to look forward to although whether there'll be  a repeat of last year's competition  when all but one Premiership side had been put to the sword by the semi-finals is perhaps too much to ask.

Charlton's match today is against Norwich, a side only a few places above us in the Championship. So this is not one of the day's more enticing encounters. Phil Parkinson has so far resisted selecting some of the club's younger players, preferring instead more experienced heads (a number of whom are on loan) to get us out of the mess we're currently in. I hope he takes the opportunity today to give some of our  younger players a game. He hardly has anything to lose and you never know: putting trust in some of our talented youth may deliver him his first victory after nine attempts.

But for me, the beauty of the day is that something genuinely sporting survives pretty much as it always has done. It is a throw-back to a boyhood with  afternoon tea-times spent watching the scores come through on the teleprinter; or listening to Sports Report on the Light Programme.  Or queuing for longer to get into a juicy home tie;  or following the club to an away game. All this in spite of the fact that the big clubs do not always appear to take the cup too seriously or that television companies screen the juicier ties away from the traditional Saturday, 3 o'clock kick-off time. 

This is not me being a dyed in the wool fogey. I'm pretty passionate about Europe and thought we should have replaced the pound years ago. But it  is about recognising that some aspects of our life are pretty good as they are. That they are not broken and do not need changing. I think that the relentless pursuit of "market solutions" or Political correctness has too often left us worse off than before. I really regretted the loss of traditional Sundays in the 1990's because frankly I always felt that 6 days a week should be enough for shopping. Nowadays the supermarkets apologise for the law that obliges them to close at 4:00pm.  I think someone should pipe up and apologise for the loss of quality of life, the fact that we have no space left in our lives that is somehow different and is not for sale. 

So round 3 of the FA Cup is totemic. And I hope that the first Saturday in January retains its essence  of surprise, unpredictability and remains the day when a footballing David can prevail over the Goliaths of the Premiership.  That way part of our  heritage is retained,  for us to enjoy now and for future generations. Long may it do so.