BIG MOUTHS, FOGHORNS AND SEWAGE FARMS

Printed in the Southern League Central Division game v Bedworth United
on Saturday 17th December 2011. We won 2-1 in front of 312 to go top
of the league again.

Thanks to another meeting about trying to re-open the local boozer on
our estate as a community pub, I couldn’t make the home game v
Bedfont. Priorities! (Apart from 3 more valuable points it didn’t
sound like I missed much anyway). So I needed to find myself a local
game. Rather handily it was the third round of the FA Vase and a short
hop on the bus to Piddinghoe Avenue with an exiled Glossop North End
fan to cheer on Peacehaven & Telscombe FC. We arrive to a noisy crowd,
not what I’ve come to expect from my infrequent trips to Peacehaven.
St.Ives from Cambridgeshire had arrived en masse and were in fine,
witty voice. This isn’t surprising as one of them is Slough Town
legend and now St.Ives resident Graham Foghorn.

Now there’s been much debate in the programme and on the forum about
how much quieter we are nowadays; with people like Foghorn moving out
of the area and not being replaced by younger big gobs, this isn’t
really surprising. Not so long ago, it seemed every player had his own
individual song and even when we were getting spanked every week it
didn’t stop the singing. The main man advising us on the community pub
is an AFC Wimbledon fan and when he found out I supported Slough he
doffed his hat and said Womble fans still say that we were the best
supporters
Ever. Despite a 9-0 drubbing that relegated us to this level of
football we didn’t stop singing.

St.Ives fans sing about Peacehaven being as quiet as a library. They
also get a little bit excited with the ‘rocket’ you could see as a
backdrop to the ground. One young man goes all wobbly as he reckons
it’s a sex toy. Not quite mate; its part of the enormous sewage works
behind the ground; the size of four and a half football pitches and
impressively hidden by the largest green roof in the UK. Hidden apart
from the poo-rocket.

To say the Peacehaven fans were outsung would be an understatement.
I’ve never heard any singing at Peacehaven, seen anyone donning any
scarves or black and white bobble hats. There’s no flags behind goals.
I heard one St.Ives fan say he couldn’t come here every week. That’s a
bit unfair, as Peacehaven is a friendly enough well run club but like
so many Sussex County League teams is dominated by Brighton and Hove
Albion. Just to make the point of how much they dominate, Albion
played at Peacehaven the Wednesday before in the Sussex Senior Cup and
despite it mainly being Albion youth players nearly 500 came along,
their biggest gate for many years. In contrast St.Ives nearest league
club is Peterborough, a 40 minute car drive away and hardly a team
you’d go out of your way to support. Today’s attendance is 155 and at
least a third is Saints fans who have made the 300 mile round trip.
With their players geeing up their fans St.Ives get a 67 minute
equalizer thanks to former Albion player Junior McDougald before the
winner comes from an own goal in the sixth minute of injury time. The
St Ives fans go wild, the club pocket £1,500 and they are into the
last 32.

For Peacehaven & Telscombe it’s time to concentrate on the league and
quietly continue with their invaluable role in providing football for
the local community.  Foghorn will be joining us all when Slough play
his clubs nearest rivals St.Neots in March. Let’s make sure that by
then that more of us Rebels have rediscovered our vocal chords.