Penguins stopped play
Eleven village cricketers take on the world
Harry Thompson
John Murray publications.
I know what it’s like to start your own sports team. My brothers did it in the 80s. While i was involved in putting on gigs of bands I wanted to see they were getting together to play football with friends they wanted to see. They enjoyed the game and all decided to play together. They did it themselves
This book reminds me of that endeavor. Even though it is about a different sport in a different country run by people from a completely different socio economic background. With Donnycarney united it was a huge effort to even train (for years the teams training took place at the side of the road where there was some decent light. It didn’t matter, they were all together. Captain Scots XI is similar. Ability wasn’t the focus, it mattered little once the games happened. Of course for all my interest in Donnycarney united cricket and those who play it is extremely low on my radar. As a kid I even listened to some games in the radio but that was at a time when Winter Olympics was a real highlight too.
As someone involved in a hurling team I could appreciate the passage in the book about cricket balls. Not a week goes by without us loosing a couple of Sliotars. Well in England at cricket matches there is the same problems. There’s 30.000 cricket games in England every weekend in summer with approx 40,000 cricket balls going missing, some weight there every week in the ether.
This book is a road trip, a tale of the journeys of a journeyman’s team. Sorry me interesting stories from their travels but I just couldn’t relate. Maybe it was the reference to university life, or the privileged background of the participants. It was tough to get through which it shouldn’t have been as it’s a very light read
niallhope
