Donkey for the season

Saturday I had been selected for the 3rds, as the team I normally run wasn't playing, owing to a cancellation because of half-term from our opposition.  A home match at a nice time which I was looking forward to.  Afterwards I would have a short break before umpiring the Men's Development (Badgers) side, mostly U14s.  Crispin rang me up to say a couple of his lads had had to drop out and could my youngest Nick join as a substitute.  Nick was very happy about this, his first ever such match, although getting ready took slightly longer and I was a tad late for the 3rds.  When I arrived the 3rds were in fact playing, and I looked at my watch in surprise and thought they must have started a fraction early.  Then there was a strong whistle and all the players started shaking hands.  My hand went to my head: I'd turned up for the end of the match.  I apologised profusely.  Thomas said that in response to me mail "see you at 3pm", he had twice sent me an email saying "no, 1.30", but I think he could have sent me twenty emails and it wouldn't have made any difference - I had 3pm fixed in my head.  Fortunately they had 12 players, so it wasn't a disaster.  I joined them down at the club for a drink, and mentioned that I had been voted Donkey the previous week.  Ben promptly said that this made me 'Donkey for the season'.  Harsh but fair.

A little later I umpired the Badgers, a really good match which were losing 0-1 until John got a bash on his lip half way through the second half and had to go to hospital for a few stiches.  I came on as a substitute and someone else took over as umpire, and the final score was 1-5.  I did score our goal, but I'm not sure my overall contribution was that positive!  However, fab to play with Nick on the same team.

Yesterday Nick played again in an U12 vs U14, to replace another cancelled match, again because of half-term.  A really good match, where the U12 played terrifically well to limit the U14 to just a 3-0 win.  We will have some very good Hockey players in these groups.  Overall, a good weekend, but I am clearly going to have to work harder to avoid being Donkey in future.