United are away to Newport tomorrow which reminds me of Arthur. He was in goal for United when united drew at Newport in 1951, in the FA cup and beat them in a replay, Uniteds first dip into real football.

I used to play football on Parkers Piece with a gang of lads from Petersfield every Saturday morning, in the sixties. Saturday mornings was when Arthur erected hockey nets for a number of clubs. We would use the nets as a goal, and he would chase us off, we would be lucky if we got ten minutes. Arthur was the head groundsman. The joy of kicking a football into a net was something only lads will understand.

The state of the grass on Parkers Piece now is a disgrace, Arthur kept the whole park as if it were a bowling green. I remember Saturday football there, as well as four cricket matches on four different pitches in summer. He had his work cut out.

There is still a cricket match on a sunday, I don't know how long that will continue. On sundays in the sixties there was a lot of games of football, and we would usually mesh into a big one, with about fif**** a side. Happy times. Young lads don't play football anymore, or cricket, or hockey.

They are too busy staring into a computer screen. Nothing stays the same. Except Newport v United. Even that will disappear one day.

As for the lads I knocked about with, there was a good representation of psychopathy, alcoholism and personality disorders in later years So sad. Mind you the bad un was evident from the start. He would take his ball home if he didn't get his way. No, he really did. I suppose theres something dodgy in everyone.

Snoopy.