Reading while kicking it

We enter a new Month in this increasingly maturing blog that somehow manages to marry the past and the present into it and this shows as we've just had the FA Cup,  Europa and Championship League soccer matches which I enjoyed jumping up and down in my footie strip watching the tv.

Well back in my boyhood I was quite passionate about soccer, watching matches with my much missed nan on Sunday afternoon scoffing Cadbury's Fruit and Walnut chocolate bars while she'd bring me the Dandy and Sparky comics she kindly bought for me.
That Manchester United souvenir goes back to that era a gift from a schoolboy friend who saw the boyish side of me.

One thing I have been enjoying of late on CBBC is the soccer based drama Jamie Johnson which sprung up from Dan Freedman's stories of an Eleven year old boy with talent but feeling pushed out by bullies who don't want to face real competition.
The Tv series makes the team mixed but it does explore some powerful themes such as sexist behaviour, the power of social media, personal responsibility to yourself and team members, things that may be on young players minds such as parental splits, caring responsibilities,safeguarding, the corrosive effects of parents living their dreams through their children as shown so well with Dillion on yesterdays episode and bullying.

The books are ideal for boys packing in lots of detail in a easy to follow way as we follow the lives of Jamie and his team mates being in many way just the kind of book I'd love to had in upper juniors and lower seniors as a boy making their way match by match navigating drama.
It's hardly surprising I have the full set because it taps into my past feelings, the sense of still being that boy loving playing the game as one of the boys.