Rain and Charity Football


I didn't go to a match on Saturday, as getting anywhere from Rocester on public transport is a nightmare at the best of times. The deluge of rain over the week also meant that a number of games were threatened with being postponed, I had decided to try to go to Matlock Town's home game or Belper Town's, so it was probably just as well that I didn't bother, as Matlock's game was off and Belper's ended in a 0-0 draw.



On Sunday I went to Oldfields Sports and Social Club in Uttoxeter to see a memorial match for local hero Roger Croft. The game was between Uttoxeter Town Old and New, and Roger's All Stars ( team of ex and current professionals). Captaining Roger's All Stars was his son Gary Croft, who played for England's Under 21s and was at one time transfered to Blackburn from Grimsby for 1.7 million pounds. Other pros and ex-pros included Tony Mowbray, the West Bromwich Albion manager, Graham Fenton who won the League Cup with Aston Villa and now who is player/ Assistant Manager at Blyth Spartans, James Beattie of sheffield United, Mark Stallard, who now plays for Mansfield, but has also played for Derby, Fulham and Bradford City, Martyn Margetson, who played for Manchester City, Southend and Huddersfield and is now the goal keeping coach at Cardiff City, and Peter Thorne, formerly of Blackburn, Stoke and Cardiff, who is still knocking the goals in for Bradford City.



Not surprisingly Roger's All Stars won the game 7-1 and it was good to see so many players, who were probably involved in games on Saturday turn up for a charity game. The same can be said of the 'Uttoxeter' Team, whose starting line up was mainly made up of current Rocester players and players who left Rocester for Leek Town in the mass exodus of players and backroom staff from Hillfields to Harrison Park at the end of last season.



In the second half, the younger players were substituted for ex-Uttoxeter players who were probably all in their 40's and a goalkeeper who wasn't really a goalkeeper after Uttoxeter's goalkeeper had to leave the pitch with a broken finger. This probably gave the All Stars a bit of a flattering result, but a good time was had by all despite the torrential rain for most of the game.



The picture shows the players lining up before the game. The players in the white T-shirts are the All Stars, although they played in Blackburn Rovers' shirts and in red and black are the Uttoxeter team

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