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Ballboys

arthur

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I went with an AFC Wimbledon supporter to watch them play at Brizzle Rovers last night. As at Crawley, the away fans had to buy a ticket from a booth with one person in it and then present it at the turnstile which seemed absurd. You would have thought BRFC would be aware there is a direct train from London to Bristol as well as a motorway, but they had decided to make fewer than a hundred tickets available in the tent behind the goal, electing not to open the terrace where Grecians normally stand. By the time they realised their mistake, and gone and got some terrace tickets for the solitary person to sell, there was a huge queue and the game had kicked off. "They're lucky we're not Millwall" someone remarked...

The game was nothing special, but what I noticed and found both unpleasant and weird was the behaviour of the ballboys. Once Rovers went two nil up they remained seated on little stools and languidly got up to fetch a ball if it came within five yards of them. The most notable example was the youth who was leaning on the hoardings behind the goal when the ball went out for a corner, rolling past him about a yard away. He made no attempt to stop the ball but waited until it had gone a good few yards further on and then ambled towards it.

My mate was of the opinion that they had probably been instructed to behave like this. If so, shouldn't the FA have some sort of standard that ballboys need to meet? Or maybe they have? Or maybe this is just "the youth of today? Or maybe I'm expecting too much...
 

ExeterCityLad

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The FA say that they will not intervene with the governance of ballboys, instead leaving it to officials and individual clubs.
 

grecIAN Harris

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I bet if Rovers were a goal down they'd be running around like mini Usain Bolt's. It's blatent time killing and you have to be naive not to realise that. I bet Rovers isn't the only place you'll see this happening.
 
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arthur

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I bet if Rovers were a goal down they'd be running around like mini Usain Bolt's. It's blatent time killing .
Of course it is - and the FA should have some minimum standards/code of conduct.

You also wonder why Rovers do it so blatantly - it adds to the prevailing whiff of tinpot, especially when they are compared to their neighbours across the City
 
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grecIAN Harris

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Of course it is - and the FA should have some minimum standards/code of conduct.

You also wonder why Rovers do it so blatantly - it adds to the prevailing whiff of tinpot, especially when they are compared to their neighbours across the City
I bet you'd see it a Sincil Bank, Adams Park, The County Ground to name but a few given similar situations.
 

Jason H

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I'm reminded of a story told of a match we played at Lincoln when they had John Beck in charge, and was a game I *think* we went from 0-2 down to win 3-2. When Lincoln were winning the ballboys were a bunch of overweight, unfit types who'd take 20 minutes to retrieve the ball. When we then came back and were in front, they were substituted and their youth team were hurdling barriers to retrieve the ball at breakneck speed.

Not ballboys, but I remember vividly the steward at Wycombe at the height of their timewasting fame during a Tuesday night 1-1 draw - the ball got a bit stuck under the stand and he looked like he was trying to defuse a bomb. The same game was one where at 1-0 their player at a throw watched the ball roll past him, it was retrieved and kicked back to him, where he watched it roll past him again. After we equalised he hurdled the stand hoarding to get the ball back quickly. Funny, that!
 

Billy The Fish

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As it's 2018 and they do things differently here I think you lot should be referring to them as Ballpeople.

Or Ball Retrieval Operatives. Just saying.
 

Alistair20000

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As it's 2018 and they do things differently here I think you lot should be referring to them as Ballpeople.

Or Ball Retrieval Operatives. Just saying.
Yes good point and I like the wordage. The modern world requires the use of at least three words where one would previously have sufficed.
 

Oldsmobile-88

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In RaWZ we trust....Amen.
Seen it happen at quite a few clubs.Jason’s example is classic John Beck,similar tricks at Cambridge Utd.

I witnessed a ballboy who was too quick off the mark in a dull derby game at Plainmoor in the early 1990s.
The ball was expected to run out by the corner flag,attack did not bother to chase it & the defenders stopped.
The ball stopped a yard from the goal line near to the corner flag,no players moved for it,so the ballboy came on & booted it back to the keeper :D
Much laughter & cheering,with the referee coming over to the unfortunate lad(thought he was going to yellow card him :D) to tick him off.
 

ramone

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If i had to agree with you we would both be wrong
Who were we playing when one of ours threw the ball at the player on the Doble side a few years ago , Possibly Blackpool ?

Found that amusing.
 
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