Casuals forever!

Wednesday night saw the inaugural session of the Chiswick Casuals Cinema Club, aka some of the Saturday 5-a-side boys going to see films that our wives won't want to see with us (no, not that type of film - we saw The Damned United).

I haven't written very much about Chiswick Casuals on this blog, but playing 5-a-side in Chiswick every Saturday is a huge part of my life, and I think it's the same for most of us. The Casuals started over 25 years ago, and a surprising number of the original members are still playing - I played my first game in 1982 or 1983.

It started off as a chance for a game of footie each weekend, and reached a new level when we went to Boulogne for our first tour in 1999, which set the benchmark for all future trips. Anyway, the millenium tour* was the first of many; the Casuals have since graced Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Tavistock, Ibiza (twice), Cornwall and Limerick (twice) with our presence.

Then there's Abergavenny; home of the biggest mouth in Wales outside of Charlotte Church. The almost annual trip down to the town of 'Mountains, Markets and More' (I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at that pitch) is something that we all look forward to and always enjoy thanks to the wonderful hospitality of Pete and his friends - well most of them anyway. I do remember receiving a particularly warm welcome (ie a good kicking) from Sean in our first game there.

Anyway, the point is that the Casuals is now much more than a weekly game of footie. It's now a group of close friends that are able to rely on football to keep us together. But as we get older, the injuries happen more often, and take longer to get over when they do. As I write this I'm sitting with ice packs on my thigh and calf from yesterday's game. And although it's difficult to contemplate, there will be a day - many years from now - when we might not play.

So the non-football activities are becoming more important.

There are annual awards dinners of course. There have been a few games of golf. We've managed a couple of ski trips. And we do just meet socially from time to time. But I think the cinema club is the way to go - on Wednesday we talked about other things we could do including wine tasting and walking - I'm sure someone mentioned flower arranging but maybe I misheard. Why not a political society? I'm sure most of us would rally around a 'Parker for Parliament' campaign. Or a zonal marking masterclass hosted by Barry Stanton.

The point is - like traditional media, advertising and the music industries - The Casuals have to evolve to survive. I'm more confident of our survival than theirs, but that's another story.

*PS: They say what happens on tour stays on tour, and of course it should, but the words 'Soapy' and 'Judas' will forever be interchangeable...