It can’t be but it is… It’s a full year since the suspension of the beautiful game; one full year (plus a few days) since the faithful were able to cheer on Steve Evans’ Gillingham side in person.
That came when The Gills made the long trip to the Stadium of Light to celebrate Mikael Mandron’s last gasp equaliser in stoppage time a seal a 2-2 draw!
Little did any of the fans who made the trip that Saturday afternoon (March 7th to be precise) know that the closest that they’d get to actually watching their heroes again would be on a computer screen rather than from their blue/white seats at Priestfield or the various coloured plastic seats up and down the country.
Players have come and gone – in Ryan Jackson and Olly Lee’s cases come back again – but none of Evans’ new players have experienced the true support and backing of a packed home base – support which makes Priestfield a place that many clubs actually don’t look forward to visiting. Backing these days on social media is one thing… a packed Rainham End really is something else!
And that is sad – not only for players who are becoming “favourites” despite not playing in front a crowd – like Kyle Dempsey and Vadaine Oliver to name but two – but it also begs to ask the question just what sort and size of crowd will be allowed and/or want to return to Priestfield when we get to that stage of the country’s recovery from the pandemic!
Lower down the pyramid in a way it’s been worse as SCEFL did allow fans in to start their season in September. In hindsight that now seems like a horrible carrot to dangle before almost desperate football loving people in need of their “fix” – fifty-six glorious days of being allowed to watch the beautiful game in the flesh win, lose or draw!
But even that solace came to an abrupt finish when the League was suspended at the end of October before it was announced that once more the season was being null and voided leaving clubs not now finishing two successive seasons as well as leaving their loyal supporters twiddling their thumbs through a long dark winter, at a level where ever single supporter could matter to the clubs very survival.
You cannot question the suspension when it came – some will say it wasn’t early enough – but one question that clubs are now facing again is certainly will the fans return?
And then of course there is the complete mess of what has happened in the National League… Started late under the what now appears to me to be a “misunderstanding” of receiving grants to play the whole season, only to be told at Christmas that “grant” is now spelt L-O-A-N – loans that must be repaid by clubs with no income.
It’s little wonder that Jim Parmenter has had the courage and the dedication and love of his club to ensure that there is a Dover Athletic Football Club that supporters can follow when “things return to normal”.
By effectively pulling Dover out of a League which at times looks and behaves like it is actually “Division Three” of the professional EFL rather than what it truly is – a division of a League outside the pro-game – Mr Parmenter has hopefully saved the club’s very existence.
Whichever way we look at supporting the clubs and the game that we all love, the authorities must (if they haven’t already) start asking the difficult questions about themselves and how their clubs can entice supporters back from their sofas and Saturday afternoons doing other things family related that they’ve now been doing – for a whole year in some places – and through turnstiles once again hopefully come August and possibly the start of a new season when all Leagues will be hoping beyond hope that it will be third time lucky when it comes to completing a full League campaign.
Football has been surrounded by a massive all-consuming bubble for many, many years now – probably indeed since the Premier League was instigated. Thing is that few have admitted that that bubble has also been leaking for some time and COVID-19 is the thing that has finally burst it.
In order for the game that we all love to survive, and a generation not be lost to the beautiful game forever, things must now change, from top to bottom however painful they may be for now, for the good of OUR game!
Picture supplied by Gillingham Football Club.