Newtown 2 Bangor City 1
Welsh Premier League
I had to be outside Farrar Road at 9:30 in order to get the minibus. I found the usual suspects waiting. Robert the Kitman was also there with enormous bags. I had been hoping all week that the rain would stop and it had. I had been looking forward to this and from what I heard on the internet it promised to be a memorable outing.
Whilst we were waiting another minibus arrived and it was driven by Ish. It's a lot cheaper if one of the supporters drives it themselves so that's what we decided to do. After the minibus stopped Captain Bangor got out to try and hawk his wares; blue and white santa hats. They seemed to be all the rage on that bus, I promised to get one later.
10 minutes later our bus arrived and after picking up a couple more people we were off to Newtown. The pre-match chatter centred upon our new manager and some of the players rumoured to be going. I'd heard at the supporter's meeting on Thursday that someone was going to Rhyl and Dewi thought that this was Robbo. It's a thought to chill the blood. The rain started to fall as if the Gods were underlining the impact of that bombshell, anyone but Rhyl Robbo please. The converstaion ebbed and flowed as we progressed to Mid Wales which helped the journey amble by. As we got to Mid Wales fields on both sides of the road were flooded, was this an ominous sign?
We reached Newtown after about 2 and a half hours which is not bad. We also had enough time to watch the Manchester derby for those with a vested interest. As we all made our way through Newtown I noticed an interesting shop. It was called Cook Shop! I wondered what's so special about this shop that they needed an exclamation mark. Had there been a medieval law prohibiting the sale of cookware within the town walls. Maybe the exclamation point is more than just punctuation, it's statement of rebellion.
We all arrived at the pub to find that food had ben provided for us. The other minibus' passangers were already here. This was a really nice surprise as sometimes you don't even get a "hello" never mind sausages and chips. Unfortunately there was no Sky so we had to watch the swimming on Grandstand.
30 minutes later and we were off to Latham Park. It was lucky that our group of Santas knew the way, it's not the easiest to find. Why do all grounds in Mid Wales seem to be situated at the end of a cul-de-sac? In the ground we were the only ones there, where was everybody else? The social club as you may have guessed. As we were standing around all the players came from around the corner and we got our first close-up view of Bleo, he does look formidable. The clubhouse was welcoming but Kick Off was due so we left for the goal.
After displaying the flag behind their goal I waited with anticipation for our first goal but it didn't come, there were merely a few goal mouth chances. Some of the Bangor fans were chided by the referee for their lack of manners. Mystic Dick struck again as he said that Bangor wouldn't score today and he turned out to be correct again. We were in fine voice though. Unfortunately about halfway through the half a local appeared and he took exception to our singing. Some banter was exchanged and he came back with the line "Would you like to sit on my knife?" As none of us took him up on this invitation he went off to wherever his audience was situated. As the first half was drawing to a close a chap from Sky Sports asked if we would sing a few songs for them on camera. A challenge that we duly accepted, yet more publicity for the Jet Set. I'd decided to sport a different hat from the others, a striped number and it may have been the wearing of this that convinced them, I did it with such elan. 
As we were waiting for our 2 and a half minutes of fame one of the more funny incidents that I've witnessed watching football occurred. Captain Bangor tried to retrieve a ball that had been kicked out of play. He tried to reach the ball using his head and all was fine. As he came into contact with the ball he over-balanced and before you knew what was happening there was a red blur and he'd somersaulted over the fence. Even the Linesman and players thought it was amusing. I'm not usually one to laugh at You've Been Framed-esque pratfalling but it was amusing. Then the rain came but it failed to dampen our spiritsAt half time we were reacquanted with our would be knife-wielding maniac but he was strangely quiet in close proximity to us. With no banter forthcoming and our thirsts quenched we were off behind the goal. As the half started the majority of the Santas remained in the warmth of the clubhouse. As the ultras came out in dribs and drabs Bangor continued to play underneath their potential as Newtown attacked.
In the clubhouse a subdued group of Bangor fans were taunted, (with the knife comedian as the at the heart). This was answered with more singing from us and in general there was a happy feel to outr singing, it was only briefly interuptted by recrimnation about Bangor being shit. Our combination of singing and santa hats had produced warm feelings in the Newtown public as Captain Bangor received a special "Fan of the Match" award. As we were leaving some fans wished us all Happy Christmas and this made me happy despite the result. It's this kind of welcome that is the attraction of this level.On the way home we had a sing-song and discussion. We all agreed that we're really good fans. With free food, a warm welcome and a good sing-song it certainly had been an enjoyable day. This day summed up the idea that there is more to supporting a football than watching 11 men trying to put the ball in theri goal and prevent it entering our goal. For me watching football is more than the sum of it's parts. You can just visit grounds and watch the action but on that bus it seemed a lot more than that, it's memories and also hard to explain.
