PRAYING FOR POINTS

 

Pinted in the National League South game v Farnborough Saturday 8th March 2025  We drew 1-1 in front of 1,017

Slough Town away is always an adventure and last Saturdays trip to Welling was as hectic as Piccadilly Circus – which was just one stop away from my hotel room in Leicester Square. Now Leicester Square isn’t exactly on my go-to list. The Tourist destination as busy at 3 in the morning as 3 in the afternoon. But we were going to a Bar Mitzvah. This entailed Friday night dinner, Saturday morning synagogue finishing off with a party in the evening at a posh hotel in Leicester Square – with the Welling game jammed inbetween.

Having a Jewish partner for many years, I’ve come to respect the support there is for their community and I wish there was a coming of age for all children. A Bar Mitzvah is a big thing, takes a lot of work to prepare, learning Hebrew, interpreting text, writing a speech and singing songs. It must be daunting for the person undertaking it but marking it is really important to the Jewish community. And they always seem to end up with a massive party and a free bar.

In one of the prayers, mingled in with the Hebrew, they talked about peace ‘May it be Your will, that war and bloodshed be abolished from the world, that a great and wondrous peace rule forever, that never again shall nation lift up sword against nation, and never again shall they train for war. But may all who dwell on the earth recognise and understand the basic truth : that we have not come into this world for strife and division, nor for hate and jealousy, contrariness and bloodshed.’

Everyone talks the peace talk but that doesn’t seem to be working out so well. Still, I was as shocked as most of the sane world, to see the Ukrainian president being berated for the cheek of being invaded by Russia. How dare he not kneel on the floor and be externally grateful to America. Not sign over all his countries minerals. And, and this is really the most important thing when your country is at war – not wear a suit. This is a new America, and its run like the mafia now.

So where does this apparent siding of America with Russia leave us all? I dread to think and I dread to think of my boys having to fight in wars that politicians children – and of course Trump himself – will always find a way to avoid.

In the bars at Welling, it was points not peace on the minds of Slough supporters, nervously looking over their shoulders at that bottom four back door.

I think its fair to say Welling's ground is falling down, a muddy grassless pitch with talk of redevelopment that seems to have dragged on for years. As we crammed into one of the stands, being careful not to get speared by those anti-pigeon spikes, the good supporters of Slough didn’t stop singing despite not having won away since the parting of the Red Sea.

Maybe the earlier points failure at Slough the station was a bad omen; and at half time 2-0 down it looked like it would be another points failure for Slough the football team. In the end we fought back and got a credible draw – another point towards staying in this brutal unforgiving league, while Welling perch precariously close to the drop. I hope they stay up; they’ve still got a proper high street jammed full of pubs. But until they get that ground sorted its hard to see much of a future apart from endless relegation battles.

So a weekend of football, music, food, prayer and the odd pint. When you boil it all down, its all about being part of something, about belonging. Which is exactly what supporting a football team should also be about. Luckily we’ve got the Slough Town community part in bucketfuls. Let’s pray for a few more points and a relaxing end to the season. And of course, some peace.