TT No.45: Mike Latham - Wednesday 5 September 2007: Westmorland League Division Two.  Shap 2-2 Kirkoswald.                 Attendance: 40 (h/c); Admission: no charge; No programme; FGIF Match Rating: 4* 

                                                                                                                                                                                              

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Imagine this happening in a Premiership game.  As the teams come out for the start of the game, the referee wanders up to the home manager and says: “We’re a bit late starting and I’ve had a word with the away manager and said we’ll play 40 minutes each way.  Is that OK with you?”   The manager nods his approval and the game gets underway.

Well, it happened at Shap as the designated 6-15 pm kick-off became 6-22 despite both teams warming up on the pitch when I arrived with the local church bells chiming at the top of the hour.  On a glorious sunny evening the light held well and another ten minutes could easily have been squeezed out.  But, no matter, no-one seemed to mind. 

But how do you record goal-times in your records? With all the goals coming in the second half in this one do you start the second half at 40 or 45 or do you denote 40 minutes each-way in your records?  And should a seasoned traveller count 80 minutes as constituting a full match?  Points to ponder while nursing a post-match pint in one the country’s (and I mean country not county) finest pubs, the GBG-listed Greyhound Hotel, just a few hundred yards Kendal side down the A6.  The food here is outstanding, the six real ales always on top form and there is accommodation, too, for those pondering a walk around the magical setting of nearby Haweswater. 

Shap is technically a market town, granted a charter in the 17th century, though little bigger than a village, its one main street along the A6 bordered by largely grey stone houses.  Local quarries, a sausage factory and agriculture provide the main employment but though the West Coast Main Line thunders by there is no railway station.  Just down the road a former prisoner-of-war camp has been made into a very decent place to stay, the Shap Wells Hotel being an ideal base if you can’t get a room at the Greyhound. 

But with the sun shining brightly the locals were out in force in Shap Memorial Park, opened in 1951 and a tremendous local amenity that also  provides tennis courts, a cricket ground, an immaculate bowling green and, shiver, shiver, an open air swimming pool. Located ten miles south of Penrith and fifteen miles north of Kendal just two miles from J39 from the M6 motorway it can be devilishly inhospitable in the depths of winter.  Shap summit, actually located close to the motorway is just over 1,000 feet and I well remember following a snow-plough one bitterly cold January night a few years ago going home after an evening game at Gretna.  I got home at 4am, six hours after the game finished when expected home by midnight.

Shap FC are located here and their football pitch has all the trappings of a proper football ground with a small cover on the halfway line, painted in the club colours of black and white and sporting the legend ‘SHAP AFC’.  The pitch is well-grassed but very hard, especially in the goalmouths, but provides a decent surface for a competitive game. 

Kirkoswald, or ‘KO’ as everyone seems to call them, are, a local informed me, renowned for starting the season well but then fading.  Shap have won the Westmorland League seven times, the last in 1964-65 season but after winning the third division title last season are once again moving in an upwards direction. 

Shap reserves had won 8-0 the previous evening but a first half with plenty of perspiration and no little skill finished goal-less.  After a quick turnaround KO took the lead when a speculative free-kick from the left wing eluded everyone in a crowded penalty area and crept into the net.  In no time at all the visitors added another and looked in control. 

But Shap pulled an opportunist goal back and were then awarded a penalty.  Their best player, referred to as Youri, however blotted his copybook by having his spot-kick brilliantly saved by the KO ‘keeper.  Shap then had a sure-fire penalty appeal turned down despite a clear trip in the area before grabbing a deserved share of the spoils when their substitute rifled home a low shot into the bottom corner. 

The game was controlled expertly, his missed penalty award apart, by a gentleman of mature years who refereed with quiet authority and kept his card in his pocket.  Substitutes from each of the sides patrolled the lines.  The more I see of this arrangement the more convinced I am that it is the way forward instead of having so-called proper flag wavers.  There appears to be far less controversy this way and far less confrontation with players accepting decisions readily. 

No admission, no programme, no raffle.  In other words, the usual Westmorland League arrangement.  What a pity- if only the clubs realised the benefit of issuing the word would get around and they would have many a traveller coming from far and wide to witness a competitive league in a beautiful part of the country.  Maybe there will be an organised hop one day- may be I should organise one. With so many wonderful locations and pubs close-by there would surely be no shortage of takers, especially if we could guarantee a balmy late summer’s evening such as this. 

contributed on 06/09/07