Watford to Wembley - more than a journey on the Met Line!

Some of the houses around Amersham currently have Watford F.C. scarves hanging from their windows; all in readiness for the F.A. Cup final at Wembley next weekend.

Alongside Wycombe, Watford is really our nearest big town; one I feel a certain affinity to because I was born there!

My grandfather, who had a chance to play for them, turned them down because the money was better in the Fire Service; how things have changed!

I think it would be interesting thinking which positions the Apostles would play if they had ever been a football team.  Maybe Peter would have been the main striker, with James and John (the sons of thunders) in midfield with the rest of them (of whom we know very little) as defenders.  Perhaps Matthew (ex tax- collector so a very solid and reliable type) in goal.  Judas, as he looked after the money, could organise the player transfers and Paul, always a bit pedantic, might have made a good referee!

Actually an ‘apostles’ team’ might not be too far fetched because many famous clubs actually owe their origins to the days of church football teams, perhaps the most famous being Southampton, otherwise called ‘The Saints’, who grew out of St Mary’s Church.  Everton traces its origins back to a Methodist church team. 

Perhaps the closest Watford get to this tradition is that their ground is Vicarage Road!

Team sports create an enormous sense of local identity and I hope Watford have a good day at Wembley next week; I think my Grandfather will be cheering them on from a heavenly grandstand.

Working as team with a sense of purpose and a common aim isn’t a bad comparison with a church.  And just like any football club a church community has its strikers, midfield and defender players.  St Paul used the Olympic running track as a metaphor for the Christian race, perhaps today he’d also have a word or two to say about striving to score a goal in a Wembley Cup Final.