Honour of the Line

by Brian Darley

  Most of the players then went home but Peter and some of the younger players stayed on to try and improve their first touch. I also decided to stay and really enjoyed it. Joe, the third team manager, had a word with me and said I had done really well but I suspected he said that to everybody. He also told me I needed to keep training at home especially learning to deal with high shots to my right as I seemed to often parry the shot as opposed to collecting it cleanly. He said it was likely I didn’t react quite as quickly on that side and set me some drills to help my reactions become quicker.

  We then showered and went to the clubhouse and had a coffee and a game of darts and rather lazily waited for Taff to finish work so that he could give us a lift home. We both felt justified as we had done extra training. Who were we trying to kid? Aunty Gwyn had done us spam fritters for tea and I loved them so much that I had seconds and thirds. She kidded us that the club would need to pay her extra to keep me fed. That night I slept really well, probably knowing I was going home in the morning but strangely I was now 90% sure that I wanted to join the club and be a professional footballer as soon as I left school.

  First thing the next morning I rushed to the corner shop and got a ten bob box of chocolates for Aunty Gwyn to say a big thank you. She had arranged for a taxi to take me to the station at 9.45 a.m. and with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye I said cheerio, but was happy in the knowledge I would almost certainly be back.

  The journey home was nowhere near as exciting as the outward journey and I felt really down as the train approached the outer sprawl of London. I hated it but sadly it had to be crossed to get to my home town. On arrival at Colwood Station I decided to call in and have a quick word with Jill and try and find out what was happening with Angela. It seemed Angela’s Dad was still seething and supposedly deadly serious about sending her up North to live and it seemed to me he was unlikely to be a man who would ever change his mind. He thought that to do exactly whatever he said was morally correct, even if said in haste. When I told Jill I liked what I had seen at the football club I noticed a really sad look on her face which I felt rather awkward about and just assumed she thought I was being selfish not caring about her younger sister bringing up a baby on her own. Assuming I stayed around I would not be any help as things would have to be kept secret and supposing Angela was packed off up North, she would still be over a hundred miles away from me and travel those days was somewhat more complicated than it is today.

  Back home Mum and Dad were pleased for me, although Mum (being a Mum) wanted to know how many games would bring me back to our area, but Grandad was over the moon and said he would travel the length and breadth of the country whenever possible to see me play. I then had to remind them all this was still a year away and my mind wasn’t totally made up and a year was a long time, but my words fell on deaf ears, I was earmarked for stardom in their minds.

  CHAPTER 26

  2 to 1 the Field

  School resumed on the following Tuesday and I so desperately hoped that Angela would be there. Luckily for me she was and Georgina agreed to keep look out for us after school dinner so as we would be able to meet up in the school garden for a chat. Because I had been largely off the scene during the last week I felt quite odd and a little bit out of the picture with all that was going on. At morning break I noticed a group of mainly the older boys who were not interested in football hanging around the bike shed with quite a bit of raucous laughter floating around. I asked Georgina’s brother John what was going on and he told me that some of the loud mouths were running a book on who had put Angela in the pudding club. The 2 to 1 favourite was the head boy who seemed flattered by his short price and most of the fancied culprits were in the fourth year. Even Mr Tindall, the games teacher was a best priced 13 to 2 and all of our year were 33 to 1 or more.

  Desperately I tried to put this from my mind and was just about to explode when the end of break whistle came to the rescue.

  Straight after lunch I waited in the playground for 12.45 to come on the school clock but with 5 minutes to go I could hear the sniggering from the older lads as they imitated tic tac men and waved their arms and shouted out their prices. It was like being with Grandad at Brighton Races. My rag finally went and I got hold of Ray Streeter, the head boy, grabbing him by the throat. Silly me, I’d never had a fight in my life but it was well assumed that I could look after myself on the football field. I had him struggling for breath and all around went silent, including most of my mates who were playing footie. I grabbed his lapels and pushed him away and somehow totally lost the little composure that still existed within and announced that I was the father and a rather eerie silence took over. You could have cut the air with a knife. Angela’s brother Peter overheard but didn’t have the courage to face me up, gutless git!

  Sheepishly I disappeared to the garden which I suppose to others seemed like my retreat and when Angela came I told her what had happened but, surprise surprise, she already knew. The news was spreading quicker than the black death. Neither of us had the faintest idea what to do next but Sue Page came to the rescue. She had asked Georgina where Angela was and with a heavy heart Georgina told her. Not to betray us but because she knew Sue was our friend. Sue told us she was free last lesson so she would take Angela out of class last lesson and I was to wait after school for Mr Tindall to take me home, which I assumed was for my own safety. By now the whole school, teachers, cooks, cleaners, caretaker, you name them, they all knew and Sue told me not to go out on my own and to be very aware for my own safety. She mentioned my saving grace would be that Angela’s Dad wouldn’t have a prayer of catching me if I legged it.

  First lesson of the afternoon had barely started before Angela and I were called to see the Headmaster. Mr Davis the science teacher was as soft as they came so I took a bit of a liberty and held Angela’s hand as we left the lab, which earned us a round of applause from our classmates. Somehow I imagined that if I were to take up football and ever appeared in the cup final this was the kind of adulation I could expect. How childish. Some of the boys began cheering and it began to sound more and more like a football match until poor Mr Davis finally regained some sort of control. Our science lab was separate from the main school building so we held hands as we walked through the garden and across the boys playground to the main entrance. The Headmaster’s office was up some stairs and as we walked up the stairs it felt like we were going to be shot at high noon. After tapping lightly on the door Miss Page let us in. She was there with the Head and Mr Tindall. Unexpectedly the show of fury never materialised and the Headmaster, who did most of the talking, said that all members of staff were there to help us through this crisis. Not once were we accused of tarnishing the school’s good name, but that was probably because it never had one in the first place except for producing good sportsmen and women. Both Angela and I played along with everything which was said and we apologised to Miss Page for causing her such embarrassment, mainly to make it seem that she had no prior knowledge which could possibly have affected her job and also we now both regarded her as our true friend.

  Straight from school Mr Tindall ran me home in his Morris Minor and I managed to get him to drop me off on the corner so as Mum wouldn’t smell a rat. After he had gone I hung around on the corner for a while so as not to arrive home early. As usual I had a game with Daisy, got changed and wandered off to Grandad’s. Georgina was waiting for me when I arrived and explained why she had told Sue we were in the garden at lunchtime but I reassured her no harm was done. All the problems had come from my lack of self discipline, which had finally blown the top off the pot. She asked what was going to happen and I told her that I thought Angela’s Dad would seek me out and then batter my brains to pieces. Dear Georgina then offered to be on look out duties when I played footie at the rec later that evening.

  During tea Grandad asked if all was well as he thought I seemed a little quiet. I believed he thought I was struggling with making the decision as to whether to becom
e a footballer or not. If only it was that easy.

  Everything seemed slightly surreal when I arrived at the rec to play footie. A couple of the girls came up and gave me a good luck cuddle whereas most of the lads took the piss, but in a very nice type of way. As we began picking teams one of my mates called Roy, who lived just opposite the rec said he wanted the father-to-be in his team, which caused quite a laugh from everybody, including myself. My mind seemed focused on other things as I had a nightmare of a game, letting in some soft ones and then when my turn on the field came around I missed a sitter from two yards with the goal at my mercy. Professional footballer – I would certainly not be able to let anything ruin my concentration if I decided to go for it and on the strength of this showing I would struggle to get into the cubs team. As the light began to fade Georgina raised my attention to a beige Morris Minor that had pulled up but I wasn’t unduly worried as the driver in no way resembled Angela’s Dad. A smartly suited middle aged man emerged from the car and enquired to the group of girls as to which one of the lads was Billy McFirley. Rather accusingly all fingers pointed towards me and he came over and showed me his ID card and introduced himself as Detective Constable Reeves and told me he was taking me to the Police Station to help with enquiries. Legal terms were worded slightly differently those days and the later ‘rely on in court’ bit didn’t exist. Dad was already waiting at the Police Station and I think it fair to say I was shitting myself senseless. Dad and I were given a few moments to ourselves and I was given a right old grilling. Poor Dad was confused when the Police first banged on our front door, he hoped it wasn’t true and assumed that if it was it would be my mate Georgina who I’d got into trouble. With the reddest face and embarrassment like you wouldn’t believe I had to come clean but instead of having a go at me Dad said that everybody would stick by me whatever. He said that when we got home I was to go straight to bed and he would sort things out with Mum. That was the least of my problems because the Detective interviewed me and asked for me to make a statement which I dictated to him and he got me to sign. The worst part was when I had to admit I had done it with Angela on numerous occasions. After the Detective read my statement out to me his Sergeant then officially charged me but I didn’t really listen to what the offence was officially called. Dad had to sign £10 bail for me and the Sergeant said he had managed to fit me in to appear in court the following Tuesday. He made it sound like he was doing me some kind of favour, what a saint I thought! I really despised his attitude as he spoke to me like I was a piece of dirt.

  On the way home I asked Dad what he thought would happen in court and he told me to take any punishment like a man and to stop worrying about myself and think of that poor girl.

  At school the following day there was no sign of Angela so Georgina said she would go round to see her after school and try and find out what was going on. I was called to the Headmaster for an update and when I told him I had to appear in court he sent for Miss Page to see if she would be willing to attend court and give me a character reference. As usual Sue was there when needed and I began to realise she was becoming a bigger part of my thoughts as time passed by.

  That evening at the rec Georgina told me that Angela had been sent to Lancashire to stay with her Aunty and have her baby there and was unlikely to ever return to our area as her parents were considering giving up the pub to take early retirement and get away from this awful low class area. I could totally understand their annoyance but, all said and done, this awful area was helping to line their middle class pockets so I thought of them as ‘up your arse’ hypocrites. It was difficult to put my feelings into words. Was her going away a relief? I suppose in some ways it was which goes some way to proving my childish selfishness.

  On the Saturday I popped into Woollies to see Jill but she seemed really quiet and not at all herself and I was so worried about losing all the people I cared about in one fell swoop. Even watching an end of season game with Grandad was a bit of a chore as my brain was on overtime wondering what the hell to do next. On our way home from the match we stopped and shared a pint of winkles from the local shellfish stall and I didn’t really enjoy them either. Deep down inside I am sure he knew what was going on but dear old Grandad, as usual, tried to make my life as happy as possible and didn’t say a word. The whole weekend just dragged and Monday at school was no better. The classroom seemed so empty without Angela around but at least my mates never rubbed my nose in it which was some small consolation. Georgina was my only classmate to know that I had to appear in court and as usual she never muttered a word to a soul. At the end of lessons Sue asked me to stay behind – in her kindest voice she told me to try not to worry as she would give me a glowing reference to the Magistrates on behalf of all of the staff at school. Sadly this was of little consolation to me. After tea with Grandad I went to the rec but didn’t enjoy the game at all and went home early. I didn’t sleep a wink that night which was hardly surprising but shamefully I was only worried about myself.

  CHAPTER 27

  Commando Custard

  I got up early feeling and looking as miserable as sin as I was still very tired but surprisingly all my fears had subsided. Somehow I managed a couple of slices of toast and marmalade and a pot of tea before having a bath and sprucing myself up a bit ready to face my date with destiny. Mum had polished my best shoes for me and ironed my best white shirt and arranged all of my smartest clothes. As I got dressed I felt like I was getting ready to go to a wedding not going to the gallows at high noon. It was a three mile walk to the Court and I really didn’t fancy it in that outfit. It was also terribly uncomfortable and the shoes were crippling. It didn’t help that it was boiling hot which only made matters a hundred times worse. Dad couldn’t afford to lose time at work so he was going to park the coal lorry at the Court and pinch an hour to be with me. To make things a whole lot worse Mum was a bit tearful when I left but I reassured her all would be fine. Once I arrived at the Court I began to get the jitters, especially when I walked into the building which was actually the Town Hall. A rather magnificent building with marble columns and spacious marble stairways everywhere. To say the least it was all rather imposing. The sign pointed up the stairs to the Court and when I got to the top of the stairs reality struck. There were policemen everywhere plus a gathering of other lads with their parents who were obviously in trouble and there was an eerie silence about the place.

  Out of the blue Jill appeared and I assumed she had been sent by her father to report on my fate. Jill had taken some time off work and had driven to Lancashire on Sunday to see Angela. Apparently Angela was getting really uncomfortable and it seemed, by all accounts, that her baby maybe arriving somewhat prematurely. Jill told me that Angela wanted me to choose our baby’s name but no way could her Dad find out so Jill was our secret go-between. It only took me a few seconds to decide on names. Stan for a boy and Jenny for a girl but deep down inside I so longed for a boy who could be good at footie, hence the name Stan after the greatest player of them all. Jill said she would take care of everything and wished me good luck before giving me a peck on the cheek. I could see in her eyes she was so unhappy which saddened me deeply.

  Dad arrived with his suit jacket on but smelling of coal. The poor man was forced to wash in the Town Hall toilets which wasn’t the ideal preparation. Also he was risking his job but there was no alternative, juveniles had to be accompanied by a parent. We were soon approached by the arse of a Sergeant who told us we were the second case. The bastard made it sound as though he was giving us an early Christmas present when all he was interested in were his solved crime figures. I loathed his type. Sure they had a job to do but his attitude was vile. He had barely finished his party piece when Sue turned up. She certainly brightened my day and appeared to do the same for the other males which were present. She looked a million dollars with a tight black skirt, classy long jumper and her long flowing red hair let down for the occasion. If she couldn’t pull this one off nobody could.