GRASSROOTS SPECTACULAR CANNOT BE BEATEN

IF you ever want to watch a game with plenty of excitement, goals, tough tackles and committed players, you do not have far to go at all.

No matter where you live in Tynedale (and beyond, of course), the chances are that a game that will provide you and your mates with ample talking points for the pub is within a few miles of you.

At grassroots level, you are guaranteed the passion and commitment which many modern football fans bemoan a lack of in the professional game.

While it is my job to get out and about at local clubs on Saturday evenings, I really do enjoy the feast of football that is thrown up for the few hardy folk who have braved the cold weather.

Where else can you go to watch a game of football and see nine goals slammed into the onion bag, as was the case when Prudhoe Town entertained Silksworth Rangers at the weekend?

What really gets my goat is that people ridicule non-league football, saying that the standard is so poor they would not bother getting out of bed for it. (Surely, they should be up and about by 2pm anyway!)

Okay, the standard is not up there with the likes of your professional footballers, otherwise they would be playing there wouldn’t they?!

But the quality is not bad at all and, anyway, the lapses and flaws of the local lads just leads to more goals being scored. So, you’re on to a winner either way.

Attendances for local non-league games are drastic and, while not quite one man and his dog, are more or less next to nothing.

But it would be great to see more people supporting their local clubs, who work so hard just to stay afloat in the sink or swim world of local football.

I have seen some cracking games in the Tynedale area and you could too - without forking out £40 a pop.