Match Of The Day
Our local football team - - have been trying to recruit new fans from the ever-swelling Polish population here in the Highlands. I noticed the club had bought advertsing space in the suggesting that going to a few home matches would be a good way to get involved in the culture of the the city. The adverts were in English and Polish. (not Gaelic, strangely enough).
Well the English version worked for the newly-arrived Zed family. All four us were at the game today to watch a thrilling goal-less draw with . I have to say, it didn't feel like a typical SPL match. The atmosphere was far too genteel. Now maybe that was because the sun was shining and we were sitting in the family section of the North Stand, but it was all rather pleasant. Like an organised summer outing. The home crowd is just far too polite. Even when a Caley player's shot at goal ended in an obvious blunder, the fans still applauded as if they were just glad that he had troubled himself to turn up. The Dundee United fans on the other had were more frenetic and were making most of the noise, despite being heavily out-numbered.
Listening to some of the chatter around me, I began to suspect that there were quite a few newcomers in the crowd. Two young boys in the row behind me were struggling with the basic rules of football. One explained to the other that if the match ended in a draw then the win would be awarded to the team who had shown most effort. Ah, if only FIFA thought that way.
After the match, we inched our way out of the car park listening to Richard Gordon sum up the day's football action on Sportsound. The official attendance at the Inverness game was given as 3,586. Compared to the attendance at the big Glasgow and Edinburgh clubs, that number seemed very personal.
If we're not there at the next game, they might actually miss us.
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