Tuesday night. Atherstone Town away. After watching yet another misplaced pass, another poor first touch, and yet another corner being drilled in far too deep, I slumped back in my seat, probably sporting a rather dissatisfied look on my face. So this is it, I mused. This is what non league football has to offer. A grim 0-0 draw in some backwatered hell hole in the Midlands. Literally the only positive thing about the whole game was that the tea was cheap.
Assisted by a conversation I was having with my Dad's best mate, and life long family friend John Burns, it hit me that non league football simply had to offer more than this. John then mentioned the idea of the legendary "92 Club", a kind of secret sect of football fans who had visited all 92 football league grounds. Impossible, I thought. Then, glancing down at the fixtures in the matchday programme, I discovered that Boldmere's next fixture was a home tie against Bartley Green, in non other than the Extra Preliminary round of the FA Cup. I then had what can only be described as an epiphany, a mental shock that jolted me into life and to all intents and purposes gave me an almost religious conviction I had hitherto lacked. What about following a tie, an FA Cup tie all the way from the Preliminaries, to Wembley? Such an activity would surely allow me to experience all the highs and lows and romances of non league football, while always teasing me with the lure of the glamour of Wembley Stadium at the end.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, here I am. Boldmere are due to play Bartley Green at home on Saturday 20 August. And I will be there.....
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