Last night at the stadium of Reading FC, a football match took place in aid of the charity Help for Heroes. This charity was born of of the reluctance of our Labour Government to help our wounded soldiers returning from abroad. The mere fact that this has escalated into one of the major charities in the country speaks volumes for the true feeling of the nation towards our Armed Forces, that of love and comradeship. The politically correct brigade tried to stifle anything to do with our Armed forces long ago, and to a certain extent were winning, but they have seen, rightly, that the nation will not tolerate their stance. We are by nature an apathetic nation, letting a lot slide by that we really should be fighting against, the political brigade fuel themselves on this and the country is dying as a consequence.
The match. Rules were very losely applied, the number of substitutions had got lost, even to the commentators, who included Joe Royle, and a great night was had by all. The undoubted star of the night was Paul Gascoigne. In a very enlightening and fun filled first half, he ran his socks off, feinged injury and rolled around the field to the amusement of the crowd and opposition and then, when standing on the field, and with the cameras full on him, he did a superb dive into the turf, rather like a swimmer off a diving board AND the referee gave him a free kick!! I rather think that this was Gazza’s view of the modern game and his opinion. Towards half time another player was subbed and he ‘stormed off the pitch, throwing his shirt into the ground’ – (all in fun I might add) another indictment of the modern game no doubt. Wonderful stuff indeed and the large crowd was highly entertained throughout.
I can recall former players, soldiers, sailors, airmen, celebrities, players of the past like Paul Walsh, Calzaghe, Mattheus, Fruend, Paul Jones, Dave Beasant, Andy Cole, Ian Dowie (had an excellent game), Poyet, Tugay (another excellent pair), Guy Whittingham ex Army and league player, Angus Deighton, Film producer Tony Hassan and his son, playing on opposite sides; Darren Gough, Mark Ramprakash, and many more.
Lothar mattheus opened the scoring for the RoW, with Ian Dowie adding a second and a third went in from Poyet, Guy whittingham pulled one back for the England team, all before half time. Following massive substitutions, the game began to settle into a kick about with some good touches and some calamities too! Another goal was added in the second half to take the final score 4-1 to the Rest of The World.
The Help for Heroes can be justifiably proud of the evenings proceedings and well done to everyone who took part and attended and thank you to ITV4 for showing the entire game (without adverts).
Alan Curbishley managed the England squad and Lawrie Sanchez the Rest of the World.