Extra Time by Daniel Gray

Author:Daniel Gray [Gray, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472980373

24

Ball boys and girls

There is still in some grounds a ball person ritual just before a game begins. The chosen few, this adolescent pack in home regiment uniform, are announced on to the pitch and jog to the centre circle. There, they turn to each stand and wave. I have seen people wave back as they might at children saluting from a train, a moment of contented human connection. I have seen proud parents hail their offspring and blow kisses from behind the goal. And I have seen people respond by sticking Vs in the air.

More commonly now, ball boys and girls slide quietly to their positions like iron filings to magnets. There they crouch with their arms folded, sometimes on plastic footstools so that they resemble track­suited Cossack dancers. Ball boys and girls may cower in fear of blocking a supporter’s view, yet their heads rumble with tiny dreams of pitch encroachment and being invited to play upfront.

Their vantage point is ripe for such fantasising – there they are, hunched ahead of the front row, as if the entire match is being played out for them on their own heavenly lawn. Some heartening moments are real and there for those sitting nearby to enjoy vicariously: the ball boy or girl’s ecstatic grin and dancing eyes after an interaction with a player or manager; their tidy catch or neat header that sparks applause and scattered cheering; their collusion in time-wasting and towel games, evoking a feeling that they are your ball boys or girls, and part of the common effort. Such dark arts enable another bleak pleasure of being a football supporter – indulging in conspiracy theories and eager excuse making. Biased home ball boys and girls can be blamed for defeats and sorry away days. Where was the towel for our throw-ins?!

There are other skills to admire too; the dexterity and alertness needed to fulfil the multi-ball system is commendable. It makes for football’s version of Wimbledon’s mesmeric tennis ball drills, albeit played out by teenagers who, you suspect, aren’t strangers to a crafty fag, rather than terse head girls.

The football match is a breathing mosaic that brims with all kinds of life and movement. There are sideshows and fringe acts everywhere you look, distractions from the bland 0-0 and the hurtful home loss. Ball boys and girls are part of the carnival. That you are present for what may very well be the greatest day of a young person’s life so far is a delightful subplot.

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