The Championship
Friday 26 August 2022
SUFC 2022/23 Game #9
Here's something you might not want to hear. If you demonise a place, you demonise a people. Are you sure Luton is a shithole? Or is it just that the sort of people who live there are shithole dwellers in your eyes. Challenge yourself. Can you really be sure it's the place? Or is it the white British dispossessed, the minority ethnic groups or the elderly conservative who live there or anywhere else? Is that why you think it's a shithole? Because of the people? You wouldn't want to demonise a population group, would you?
The latest figures suggest that more than half of the people who live in Luton are not White British. I'll just leave that out there. For any potential demonisers.
Because. Luton is not a shithole. Luton is a modern British city full of people trying to get by. As I walked back to the station, after that mesmerising battling draw, I (stereotypes coming) saw three groups of people having a good time. Football fans after Friday Night Lights. Muslims out on the streets, and in the sweet shops and cafés, after Friday prayers & celebrations. And, on Moor Street/Crawley Rd, more-or-less cheek-by-jowl with the Bury Park Mosque, a Motorcycle Club Chapter House with bikers spilling out onto the street.
Good on the fucking lot of yer.
Don't demonise people.
Shitholes do not have excellently run pubs like;
Bricklayers Arms
16-18 High Town Rd, Luton LU2 0DD
(Although they let my argument down by the unnecessary Home Fans Only impromptu sign. We're fucking ignoring that…)
The beer I ordered "went off" as the second pint was being poured. I chose a replacement. And then, a voice my side of the bar said;
"Change the first one for the Gentleman as well, and then could you please go to the cellar and put the new cask on"
I presume that's the Landlady, sat at the bar with a mug of coffee, politely directing operations. Superb. Five on Cask.
Oakham Ales, Endless Summer, Session Ale on Cask at 3.4%
Hops Hallelujah of Cascade, Willamette, Chinook and Pacific Jade. Served, as you'd expect in a gaff like this, in perfect condition. Floral, but very gentle bitterness from the get go. A little ginger in the finish.
This will surely be a theme I return to often this season. Play the pundit if you wish. Do the analysis. Stare at the stats. Proclaim it a technically poor game. Rewind the Refereeing, relentlessly. But, in real time, in the unreserved seats - none of that is available. Even if it was, don't matter, what a game.
I thought Luton were superb. Relentless. Pressing. Physically difficult to deal with. Looking to get forward at every opportunity. And, it wasn't easy, can't say we matched them all the time. But, we came out the other side as equals. The Championship, man. What a league.
I'll take the reffing in the Champo all day long in comparison to the PL. Every fucking minute, summat happens, the refs going…
"What the fuck has happened there? My Lino's said nowt. Stop fucking screaming at me. Er. Er. Er. Play On, Play On."
(giggling) some real howlers out there tonight mind, but we go again.
We're anoraks, nerds, Real Ale tickers, teamsheet collectors, chroniclers, counters, Carrier Baggers, Luton Lovers. Don't demonise us - or anyone else.
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