TERRAS TIMES The newsletter of the Weymouth FC Supporters Association
ISSUE 13 March 2019
From the Editors Chair As I finished the last newsletter editorial last summer, I wrote an apology over the intermittent nature of this newsletter based on a variety of life circumstances that were conspiring against me. A recent walk around the BLS pitch on a quiet week day morning with Pete Nash saw the subject of my low output raised and I promised to put things right for him. So here I am, still in the chair and still mad for Weymouth Football club despite having moved a county further north away from Dorset into Lincolnshire. As it happens the town I live in, Market Deeping, have a football club who play in claret and blue, but despite a couple of visits to the Hayden Whitham Stadium, I have found no reason to bond with them. Both matches I went to where against local rivals Holbeach United, managed by huge Terras fan Seb Hayes. Following Weymouth from a distance remains both interesting and a challenge. But nothing will distract my attention from this exciting run in. We have a great chance to achieve something very special for this football club, underpinned by the knowledge that if it doesn’t work out then we are financially secure enough that the clubs future wont be at stake. Not many clubs at ours or other similar levels have the potential, support and desire that Weymouth FC has. We should be rightly proud of where we have got ourselves back to
James Behind enemy lines… Peterborough vs Wycombe with an exTerra. Whilst I have no interest in Peterborough United, the way they interact with the local community in the 30 mile radius around the ground should be applauded. My daughters school was visited by the mascot recently and he left a bundle of free tickets which my youngest and I were happy to take up. The game we chose was Wycombe at the Abax stadium and it was only as we sat down to listen to the teams that we realised we’d a bit more interest in the match than we might have had. Sido Jombati will not be remembered for much in his Terras career, mainly based on the tough times we were going through. I am sure he heard the two people shouting “Come on you Terras” out of the family stand at him though!
AGM The Weymouth FC annual general meeting is being held at 7pm on Monday 25th March at the Bob Lucas Stadium. This represents a key opportunity to see how the club is doing and raise any questions you might have for the clubs appointed officers. Copies of the clubs accounts are available to collect from the office. The deadline for submitting formal questions for the evenings agenda has passed.
#TerrasGold 2009 March 2009 has a strange poignancy for Weymouth fans and is a time that will never be forgotten by those connected to the club. After numerous financial meltdowns and ownership drama after ownership drama, it looked like the final nail was about to be driven into the clubs coffin. CEO Gary Calder announced late on in a game week that the club was unable to insure its first team squad and the upcoming match with Rushden & Diamonds would be fulfilled by youth team players. There is no point in dwelling on how we got to that stage and what motivated the clubs actions, but the day itself remains a clear point in my memory. It was men against children at Weymouth that day with Diamonds (who ironically included ex-Terras from the boom days in their line up that day) hammering us 9-0. Those who were at the game said there was a bizarre almost surreal atmosphere at the end of the game where grown men were crying whilst applauding their hammered heroes off the park. It was a cruel and terrible culmination of some selfish and mislead ownership of the Terras. I thought long and hard about calling this column “Gold”, but for me it will only be forgotten when we get a truly golden memory to replace it. Then and only then can we look back on that day as the making of the club.
#Terrascomment - tell us your thoughts This months big topics... If you have a topic you would like to discuss, please either email us at the WFCSA address or tweet using #terrascomment. You may well be in the next newsletter. Weather is our first topic. The game against Wimborne recently was played in terrible conditions with strong winds causing both teams to struggle to keep the ball in the ground, let alone on the pitch. The Manager said that it was crucial there was a good supply of balls to replenish those on the pitch whilst helpers ran about collecting them in the streets outside the ground. A number of other sports have recently introduced an extreme weather protocol and it would be interesting to get some views on whether football fans see benefit in this? It could certainly add more to the game than the sin bins coming in below our step. So is it enough for the referee just to take the pitch condition and ability of people to get into the ground as reason to delay or postpone a match? Over to you. The second topic to throw out there this month regards the upcoming change of away kit for the Terras. The white kit with fans names on the front looks great and has seen some memorable results and performances, but its time to launch a new shirt. If you were Dave Tune, what colour or style of kit would you like to see away from the BLS next season? To get you started I reckon yellow… with royal blue shorts. A classic combo!