| At risk of alienating some of the younger - and older - members of our Kick N Mix family, I'm enjoying something of a 1990s revival at the moment.
As my favourite bands and artists from back in the day embark on their 30-year anniversary tours here, there and everywhere it's been a thrilling blast from the past.
Me and a bunch of my forty-something mates even braved a mosh pit for the first time in decades at a nostalgic gig in Birmingham last week.
Fortunately, it was the folksy vibe of The Wonder Stuff rather than anything too hard and heavy, but it still represented a physical challenge for middle-aged men whose knees have seen better days!
Where am I going with all of this? Good question!
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Well, the 90s revival is not restricted to our musical tastes.
Later this month my boyhood junior football team are 'getting the band back together'.
I played for Netherton Colts for most of my youth and while the floppy fringe has long since been replaced by an all-encompassing bald patch, in my head and in my heart I am still the excitable teenager I was back then.
Thanks to my mate Ant, the organiser in chief, we're really going to town with it.
We've booked a local six-a-side venue (I know, I know, but we've not got enough for 11-a-side and a big pitch really would take its toll on our creaking joints and muscles) for the end of July.
We're having football shirts in the classic yellow and blue of Colts specially made to mark the occasion (a fair few of them in XXL, I should imagine).
And we're hiring a room next to the pitch - including a bar, of course - to reminisce and socialise over a few beers and some food late into the evening.
Ant's booked a big enough space for us to bring our families and friends so that our parents and our kids can meet, mingle and giggle at our attempts to relive our youth.
The company he works for, Midtherm Laser, in Dudley, are sponsoring the game and we'll also be doing a raffle and other fundraising activities, with proceeds going to Birmingham Children's Hospital. |
I bang on a lot about the community aspect of grassroots football and the chance to make lifelong allegiances - and this reunion is prime example of that.
Some of my former team-mates I have stayed very close to throughout the intervening years. Ant was in the mosh pit with me last week, Rakesh now manages my son's U15s Colts team and our ex-captain Mitch built my new patio a couple of summers ago.
Others I've occasionally bumped into in pubs or supermarkets over the past 30 years or heard briefly from on Facebook and a handful I've completely lost touch with.
I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about getting back on a football pitch with the lads on July 23, including some stalwarts who even pre-dated my arrival as a 12-year-old back in 1990.
The aging process might be tough on some of them who were lively balls of energy when we were kids, but as someone who has never relied too much on pace or tracking back, I don't think they'll notice much of a difference in me!. Okay, yeah, the beer-gut, fair enough!
Once I've recovered from the aches and pains I'll report back on how it all goes in a future edition of Kick N Mix.
Having a kickabout, a laugh and a catch-up all these years on is a tribute to the staying power and lasting friendships that are made in grassroots football.
A team-mate is not just for Christmas, it's for life! And I hope my son is staging similar get-togethers with his Netherton Colts pals in 30 years' time.
Now, where did I put that knee-support...
Mat |
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