Obviously no one told Setanta

Watching Setanta Sports News this morning while eating my mini Oatibix, I was pleasantly surprised to see highlights of the England v Holland under-19 game. That wasn’t just because England won, but because the presenters hyped it up by saying “And now, action from New Meadow, where England took on Holland last night…”

When you support a lower league team, just seeing the ground on TV is relatively cool. But obviously no one has told the Setanta crew that the official name for the ground is the ProStar Stadium, and “New Meadow” has been excised from the vocabulary by the STFC marketing thought police. (Even though on the big sign next to the stadium that announces the building plans, it still says ‘Site of the New Meadow’, as Cathy pointed out when we went to the Aldershot game.)

And a shout out to mum (‘Hi, mum!’) who told me at the weekend that, just like I refer to the ProStar Stadium as the PornStar Stadium, she calls it the Prostate Stadium. Which is just as bad, if not as rude.

The season starts early

I was one of the 3,000+ who turned up at Shrewsbury's new stadium to watch Town take on the A-Line Allstars. Because it was their first match at the new ground they couldn't fill it to capacity anyway for safety reasons, but they were hoping for 6,000. Although the first thing you learn in economics a-level is that price determines demand. £12 to see a collection of fading pros and Macclesfield Town trainees is perhaps a bit steep.

Still we could marvel in Gianfranco Zola's silky skills as he deftly swept the ball around League 2 defenders. It looked as if he'd somehow magnetised it to follow his foot obediently, and he could easily be the best player playing at our level if we could somehow tempt him out of retirement. Besides Zola, who is arguably the most skillfull footballer ever to grace Gay Meadow, Graeme Le Saux, Gustavo Poyet, Gianluca Festa and 48-year old Mickey Thomas added a bit of fun and star quality to the occasion. Ex-town legends Mickey Brown, Steve Cross and Tony Kelly also made it onto the pitch.

For those interested in results, Town won 4-0, with two of the goals scored by triallists my die-hard brother had never heard of. But who knows, they just might become household names in Shrewsbury by this time next year.

You can see photos in my Facebook photo album.