Time to face the music....

In the world of Indiana high school soccer we have reached the moment of truth. Sectionals.


I suspect the majority of the soccer / football playing people out there grew up with a lengthy season with a couple of key elements:
1) A league structure with fixtures (games) home and away versus each team.
2) Some kind of knockout 'cup' competition played alongside but independently of the league fixtures.

Alan Curbishley - 1979 season

I grew up with the English 'Football League' - 4 divisions in which West Ham played in either division 1 or 2. The league had a vertical design with promotion up and relegation down for teams based on end of year positions. The Hammers spent a total of about 5 years at different points in division 2 and trying to get back up. We had 2 cup competitions - the League Cup and the blue ribbon event, the FA Cup. Straight 'names out of a hat & knockout' competitions. No seeding - only a later entry point for bigger teams. The 3rd round in the FA Cup was always the best. I've written before about some heroic 'giant killing' teams who have taken division 1 opposition on at their small and oppressive stadiums - and then ceremoniously dumped them out of the competition.


I was always comfortable with this system. My love of the predictable security of tradition made it easier to deal with the Hammers' short comings. I rebelled a little when the League Cup picked up sponsorship. From 1982 it has been the... Milk / Littlewoods / Rumbelows / Coca Cola / Worthington / Carling Cup. I chuckle to see the progression from milk to coke to beer. It's lucky the first sponsor wasn't Marlboro Cigarettes, by now it would be the 'Meth Cup'......  

Guess who.....

The first placed team in Division 1 went on to represent England in the European Cup the following year. The winner of the FA Cup did the same in the European Cup Winners Cup (now the Europa Cup). Then, to bring the entire deal smoothly together, the season opener each year was the league and FA Cup winners playing in the Charity Shield, now the Community Cup. 


As I grew up different teams got a name for league or cup success. Teams such as Liverpool, Nottingham Forest were dominant in the League and went on, alongside others like Aston Villa, to enjoy European Cup success. Others, such as Tottenham, Arsenal and West Ham seemed to be cup teams yet lacked the consistency to win the league. Arsenal have made the most dramatic changes since my childhood days. Read Nick Hornby's 'Fever Pitch' and you'll get a feel for the 'boring, boring Arsenal days. A very 'white' defensive team with a reputation for winning 1-0. Pat Rice was part of that set up as a player - what a great job he and Arsene Wenger have done to convert that set up to what it is now. Arsenal are one of the few teams I would happily pay to watch.


Spurs and West Ham really sat as cup teams, having an old West Ham Academy graduate Harry Rednapp as coach, I suspect Spurs will stay in that mode. Comparing the successful teams now to then (the late 70's and 80's) - this was the deal....

And it was this big - no, really, I kid you not....

Manchester United - inconsistent. Even West Brom & Leeds were better than them. 
Chelsea - pretty awful. Always geographically trendy but more famous for a 'Chelsea grin'.
Manchester City - also awful. And the Chairman wore Britain's worst comb-over..
QPR - pretty good actually but then they put a astro-turf field in and we all hated them.




Here is the league table in 1979 (when I was 10 years old).

1	Liverpool
2	Nottingham Forest
3	West Bromwich Albion
4	Everton
5	Leeds United
6	Ipswich Town
7	Arsenal
8	Aston Villa
9	Manchester United
10	Coventry City
11	Tottenham Hotspur
12	Middlesbrough
13	Bristol City
14	Southampton
15	Manchester City
16	Norwich City
17	Bolton Wanderers
18	Wolverhampton Wanderers
19	Derby County
20	Queens Park Rangers
21	Birmingham City
22	Chelsea

No West Ham in site. They finished 5th in Division 2, but would win the FA Cup the next year beating Arsenal 1-0 at the old Wembley. 


So, let's get back to my issue. Our team, like all in Indiana, has played since August. We were allowed to train 'officially' Aug 1st - and now we reach the first week in October and the season is about to end - unless you keep winning of course. We play in a 5 team sectional requiring a 'play in' game to get the number down to 4. For the the last two years we have been drawn in this game and lost. 2009 we were sucker punched by a poor Arsenal Tech team (who, by the way play in green and white - I mean, come on! IPS urban team with the same name as the Gunners? They needed to change their colors years ago and get on the phone to Arsene!). 2010 we played local rivals Park Tudor and lost 2-1 with literally the last kick of the game in extra time. 


This year we play Cardinal Ritter. A team we can beat and lose too depending on what we bring to the table. I actually dreamt we lost 2-1 and was crying - it's my Hammers' roots showing through there... If we lose it will mean three years of abrupt misery. It'd be like going to the movie theatre / cinema to see the latest and greatest Spielberg blockbuster starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and the entire range of Hollywood superstars - and then, in the opening 30 seconds all of them dying leaving us with 118 minutes of 'and who the hell are you' type actors. Yes, deflated and entirely let down. 


So - considering the wide range of things that could go wrong next weeks blog will be fun. We could be Sectional Champions by this time next week.....or muppets.


Last thought - I shall shake the hands of the officials and introduce myself to them before the game. I may be nice. I may warn them to get the calls right or I'll make their 80 minute experience a living hell.