It’s great to see new people volunteering to help the Theesel Committee, this will raise funds for the club and provide a sure foundation for Arnie and his team.
Please take the applause and a HUGE thanks from me.

So, what should I talk about today? I wasn’t at the game at Talbot recently but heard that we had a goal disallowed in the 1st half for a contentious off-side. I was at a fitba Q & A the next day with the guys from @all3points3, tune in, it’s a very decent podcast.
Former FIFA Assistant Referee James Bee admitted that he’d lost track with new offside laws, also the new hand ball laws. The old offside law was simple but the new one just confuses people, as does hand ball. He’d like to see the old law re-instated and allow players and fans to easily understand it. Apparently a silky controlled header back to keeper intercepted by a player is ok but a skite aff yer heid isn’t controlled so the attacking player is offside. Very difficult and open to individual interpretation.
A similar thing happened at the Scottish Cup tie Linlithgow Rose v Raith Rovers on the same night as we played Talbot, goal given, goal debated with ref and lino, goal disallowed, goal
given, goal not given. Aaarrgh!!!

One of the other speakers at the Q & A, Stuart Lovell (Hibs, Livingston, 2 caps for Australia) was saddened and annoyed by players who dived whilst producing a piercing scream when they’d barely been touched, also by players who wielded ‘pretend’ cards to intimidate a referee into either giving a yellow or red card to an opponent. We’ve all seen this at Barrfields and at opponents grounds, I could name some individuals from other teams but I don’t have a good lawyer so will keep names to myself. Stuart occasionally commentates on Hibs TV and to be absolutely fair to him he was really critical of a Hibs player (now an ex-player…Hiya Watford) who ran about doing this in a lot of games.

A wee question now for Theesel supporters. Have you ever ventured over to the Vikingar / Swimming Pool end of the stadium? Have a look. There’s an old terrace, steps, opposition changing room/pavilion, toilets. There used to be a pay gate entry there as well. When I lived in Linlithgow one of their ex-players used to tell me about coming out the changing room into the infamous Largs winds. There also used to be a toilet on the far right side through a small timber gate into my Grans garden in Brisbane Street until she complained to the Council and it was blocked off! To be fair, I used to jump the fence into games for free as a wee yin from her garden.

I’m enjoying this already, wee memories coming back into my head. Hopefully I can jolt a few other
memories, get in touch if you want me to mention some of yours.