This week I have decided to try and help out the guys running the 12th man scheme. I feel as an individual I have a lot to offer, and my introduction there can be read at http://the12thmanlcfc.blogspot.com/2011/01/gary-hutchinson-joins-12th-man.html
I must confess it is extremely touching to be mentioned by name when joining up for something! I have been involved in fans groups before, but only ever with either financial support or taking Poacher along to fund raising events.
My first taste of this really came at the end of the 2001/0 season. I think we all know what situation we were in, and as Poacher I was asked to attend quite a few different events. I recall Shane Clarke and James Brown putting a lot of effort into saving the club, and the three of us (plus another face or two) were often found outside Supermarkets in Lincoln raising money. In fact I was asked to leave the ASDA store towards the end of the day after accepting a £10 donation in exchange for a chance to ‘push the teddy around the shop’. I was the teddy and we didn’t get very far around the shop before two security guards took up their option of removing me from the store in exchange for not kicking my head in. Good deal.
The big money raising march through the city was a real highlight that season as well. It was prior to the home game against Rochdale on the last Saturday of the season. In truth the fans felt that this could actually be the last time we watched the Imps play. 500 fans and MP Gillian Merron marched through the town with Poacher leading the charge. It was a massively emotional day for every fan, and one which will forever live in my memory.
About halfway round we came up Newland and chucked a right towards Varsity. There were people everywhere and I could see very little. Someone handed me a bucket full of change and I grabbed it and danced off towards Varsity, intending to get some much needed cash for The Imps. You could almost say I was running in the street on a Saturday afternoon holding a bucket full of money, effectively blindfolded. What could go wrong?
Theft?
Getting Lost?
Being Assaulted?
None of the above. What went wrong was that I ran straight into a bench at knee height, full speed. I pivoted over the top and cracked my face on the arm the other side, and around £26 in coppers littered the streets of Lincoln. As the money fell you could sense smack heads ears pricking up everywhere within a mile radius. I sprawled out in absolutely agony with deep gashes to either shin. Not nice.
However like anything a mascot does, people thought it was for comic effect and they hauled me to my feet to walk the remaining mile back to the ground. I could feel blood running into my socks and winced every time I put my foot down on the ground. The walk back to the bank took ages and when I got back I couldn’t wait to get undressed and nurse my wounds: no such luck. I was hauled out onto the pitch for a victory lap. Don’t get me wrong the money we raised was excellent, but it’s hard to feel like a winner when you are paddling in your own blood. When I finally got undressed I could almost wring my sock out.
Raising money is one of the key jobs as a mascot, inevitably every event you do is focused on raising cash. Nobody has a mascot event without attaching a charity to it. One of my favourites to support is the yearly push by Bradford City to help the Burns Unit there. This is a charity that is obviously close to the hearts of Bantams fans, but also one City fans will support after the tragic events of May 1985.
A few years ago they sold ‘Walking in a ginger wonderland’ T shirts which I found quite amusing. I am going to do a blog on my friendship with The City Gent at some point in the future so for now I shall leave that there.
However the fundraising doesn’t always go well. The Mascot Grand National at Huntingdon is meant to be an affair that raises money for good causes and everyone has a laugh. Well the 2010 race turned into much more than that.
For best part of a decade and a half Huntingdon have staged the Mascot Grand National. Other courses have attempted and failed to emulate the media success of their event. In the early years the Sun newspaper were there, page three’s finest were there and Poacher the Imp was there. The event went from strength to strength.
However things started to go a little sour. An extra from Coronation Street managed to get himself in the Oldham Athletic suit and start winning every year. Suddenly winning was the focus and some mascots started turning up in running shoes and very flimsy costumes.
Genuine mascots such as me and Captain Blade from Sheff Utd weren’t so keen on this, and a 2005 spat saw the two (Chaddy and Bladie) come to blows at the end of the race. Integrity intact ‘Bladey’ as he is known retained his mascot status. The Corry extra resigned and Oldham appointed a much more suitable man to be Chaddy. In fact the new Chaddy fully embraced the world of mascotting and slotted in like a 6ft centre half into our defence.
However The Sun continued their involvement, entering athletes in fancy dress masks and running shoes. Mascots started turning up from Sunday league sides such as ‘Finedon Volta’, running in no more than a tracksuit and balaclava.
The racecourse seemed to actively encourage these ringers, and actively discourage good honest mascots. Indeed last year Captain Blade was given two minders to keep him in check, and for Bladey this was the final straw.
Many mascots have different reasons for boycotting the race. Bladey is a long standing mascot who has the respect of his mascotting colleagues such as Roary The Tiger from Hull, and our own mascot of 13 years Poacher The Imp. However as well as support for Bladey there is also the fear that football mascots might have been exploited just one too many times.
Back in the day, around the turn of the Millennium football mascots were everywhere. I appeared in the early Huntingdon Grand Nationals, appeared on Ant and Dec, filmed an advert for AXA insurance at Wembley and generally got everywhere I could. Mascots were treated as figures of fun, afforded a free reign to exhibit their unique brand of entertainment. However clouds started forming in 2005.
Rockingham racecourse put on an event in 2004 where each mascot got 50 free tickets to go along and watch a day’s NASCAR racing if they ran a race themselves. They did (I finished 3rd by the way Imps fan, in front of 32,000 people). However in 2005 the ticket allocation was cut to just mascot plus 1. The bubble had burst.
With the exception of the odd event mascots have mostly been treated as a free bit of entertainment ever since. Huntingdon are the worst offenders routinely cutting down on changing space and refreshments whilst all the time trying to squeeze as much fun out of mascots as possible.
Indeed two years ago Poacher and Mrs Poacher raised a massive amount of money for their chosen charity and were named ‘Best Fundraisers’. Was this publicised? No. Instead the publicity went to the mascot of that famous football club Saffron Walden FC from Saffron Walden. With a mascot called ‘Wacky Macky’ bear, because he is a Macken. From Sunderland. 237 miles away.
Now neither myself nor Mrs P wanted any publicity, that didn’t motivate our desire to help out. However with us being nudged to one side in favour of some fly by night fitness instructor wanting to get his face in the Sun really galled us.
Of course the winner from 2004 Graham the Gorilla wasn’t from anywhere near as far away as 237 miles. No he represented another football giant, Finedon Volta FC. You all know Finedon Volta, they’re from Finedon in Northants and play in the local Northants League. I wonder why they have a mascot? I’m sure it wouldn’t be to enter a national race as a ringer and win money in a betting sting. I’m 100% sure of that. Similarly I’m 100% sure Moses Swaibu grasps the concept of a self service counter, or Andy Gray has studied the Suffragette movement in immense detail.
The thing is all of this is to be expected, but a venue should move to stop behaviour like this. Mascots such as Captain Blade, City Gent and others dedicate their time (for free) to supporting charities, entertaining fans and supporting their side. Events such as the Mascot Grand National should be a chance to come together and do what they do best on a national stage. However it appears that Huntingdon Racecourse doesn’t accept this, and were more than happy to have 92 football mascots boycott this year’s event.
In the end I noticed Barnet and Norwich had representatives there though…. and shockingly for the first time since our Corry Extra or football mascot won? Done? We have been.
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