EVEN on bumpy, muddy pitches in east London coronavirus is threatening to wreck the title dreams of carpenters, plumbers and taxi drivers.
After elite football throughout Britain was decimated by Covid-19, SunSport rocked up at the iconic council-run playing fields yesterday to get its Saturday fix.
Top of the bill in the Essex Veterans Football League (Fourth Division) was Spa Park Athletic’s clash with KORONA Redbridge.
Yep… you couldn’t make it up.
But, just like Liverpool at the Premier League’s summit, the builders, office workers and locksmiths of Spa now fear the pandemic will stop them being crowned champions.
The five divisions of the Hackney and Leyton Sunday League have been already been scrapped.
And boss John Conway Sr, whose Spa Park side are also in the League Cup final, told SunSport: “Hopefully the season won’t end early. We don’t want that to happen.
“We’ve worked hard to get in this position. We’ll play our home games. It’s not crowded here.
“Our opposition have to meet us in the final games at their grounds. Let’s get the games out of the way. We dealt with Korona here — and it won’t be coming back!”
At 2pm yesterday a hardy group of footballers disregarded any corona-virus worries.
There was plenty of handshaking, backslapping and crunching tackles. And cigarettes at half-time.
On one of 59 pitches where Ian Wright and David Beckham once played, this was football at its rawest. Where fitness is king in the land of the over-35s.
At one stage — and I’m not joking — there was one man and his dog (plus a young lad in an Aston Villa top) watching.
Those of a sensitive nature would have been offended. X-rated language is compulsory at this level.
One bit of advice offered was: “Stop eating all that f*****g pie and mash on a Friday night.”
Against a side made up of Polish players, this was a highly competitive match. One which was controlled well by referee Kevin Everett, the spitting image of ex-Italian whistler Pierluigi Collina.
Spa took charge thanks to midfielders Tony Field and Justin Zacharia.
But it came at a cost with sub Nicky Maynard jarring his right knee late on and having to be carried off by his team-mates.
Spa, who beat Korona 10-2 in the cup, scored midway through the first half when the excellent Zacharia took advantage of a Korona defensive mistake. Field, a clear man-of-the-match, scored his first penalty shortly before half-time.
Encouragement shouts of “do a Dudek” to the Polish keeper did not exactly work.
Sub Matthew Ball scored the easiest of tap-ins while Daniel Wright, once of QPR before a back injury curtailed his career, also added his name to the scoresheet.
And office worker Field rounded off the rout with a second successful spot-kick on 67 minutes.
Wright, an ex-pro turned scaffolder, is not afraid to stick up for himself, and squared up to the much-taller Adam Waclawczyk when it almost turned ugly.
Boss Conway was warned by the ref for encroaching on the pitch during the brief scuffle.
He later joked: “Jose Mourinho models himself on me. But I’m more like Klopp on the touchline. You have to give it sometimes.”
It should have been six late on but a Field header crashed against the crossbar and the follow-up from postman Ayron Hutchins was cleared off the line.
Next weekend it is Fulbrook Royals for table-toppers Spa but you have to wonder if the pandemic will eventually cull all football this season.
Korona boss Joe Jasica said: “The better team won. We have a few injuries. Our midfield wasn’t up to it.
“The ref was a bit biased and gave every 50-50 to them. Every time we were fouled, he didn’t give it.”
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