I posted a picture of my Rochdale End of Season Awards ticket on Twitter earlier today for no reason at all and I got some interesting replies that got me thinking about the whole thing.
Our End of Season Awards "do" is after our final home game of the season against Peterborough, probably the same night as many others are. Tickets are £10 and that includes a hot buffet. At Huddersfield it's £50 and at Southampton it's £150 a ticket, despite them both being in the same league as Rochdale.
The doors open at 7pm, so it's always a rush (well it is for me!) to get home, tart myself up and get there in time. We'll arrive at the Ratcliffe Arms, a pub / function room attached to the club with our £10 tickets in hand, the players will most likely already be there, sauntering down after the game in their tracksuits and all huddled together in a corner.
We'll all walk in and try not to make it look like we're staring too much at the players, most the lads still wearing their Rochdale shirts and the few female fans dressed up to the nines hoping for a smile off their favourite player, hair extensions, fake tan and nails all on show. Everyone will loiter for a while, wondering who will make the first move towards the players, trying to think up a witty phrase to strike up a conversation.
Once we're all in, the awards will kick off, but it won't be a famous figure handing them out, throwing out witty jokes here and there, it'll be someone from the Supporters Trust, rather awkwardly speaking to a group of eager faces looking back at them. They'll hand out the awards and with each one we'll applaud and sing our hearts out, the players will go red faced as they try to get through the crowd of people trying to shake their hands before posing for a quick photograph and then it'll all be over.
Most fans will bring their shirts with them if they're not already wearing them, hoping to get every player to sign it, before adding it to the pile of signed shirts in their wardrobes. That'll be the ice breaker, approaching a player to sign your shirt, feeling just a little bit nervous until the rest of the players ask if you want them to sign it too, and one making sure everyone places their signature for you. Last season everyone was given a print out of the team too which we also got signed.
Photos will also be taken, like these below from other years, players will be willing to have as many as you like taken with them without hesitation and will even take them for you. The girls will flirt a little bit, eying up their favourite player for a conversation and a photograph, and the lads will openly admit how much they admire them.
As you can see, we'll have a hot buffet...it's first on the list so clearly is what the Supporters Trust thought we'd like to hear about first...it'll probably be a homemade meat and potato pie with red cabbage and gravy...quite apt really since our pies are so well known. It'll come out in a big silver tray and like true northerners we'll be waiting for the call before all rushing to form an orderly queue with our paper plates and plastic forks at hand. There may even be mushy pies if we're lucky and seconds are a real possibility.
And once all the formalities are over with we'll start the drinking. The lads will be on the lager, the girls on the alcopops or wine...we'll start to get a bit merry, start singing and the players will join in. Some will have too much to drink, others will be sensible, but they'll eventually merge into our group. The DJ will put on a song that we all have fond memories of and we'll hit the dance floor, fans and players together, celebrating everything that Rochdale AFC stands for.
Once it's over we'll all probably head into town...Rochdale that is...possibly management and players included...we'll carry on drinking and celebrating there before heading home full of beer and getting a kebab on the way home, slumping into our beds and spending the Sunday nursing a hangover but remembering the memories, the funny moments and flicking through some rather odd pictures on our cameras.
We'll remember those memories for as long as we live, we'll remember posing for pictures, we'll remember the conversation, we'll remember singing our hearts out.
Ticket £10, new hair extensions £40, taxi £10...spending the night celebrating with fans and players...PRICELESS!
I think I know which League One awards night I'd rather go to! And as usual, I can't wait for this season's celebrations!
No comments:
Post a Comment