1st XI v Repton
On: Tuesday 8 November
Venue: Home
Result: Lost 3 - 6
There were probably more than a few observers of the scoreline of this game who probably thought there’d been a particularly tedious game of rugby taking place on Big Ground. But losing 3 - 6 in a rugby match suggests that both sides had an effective defence. And that charge certainly could not be laid at the door of a Charterhouse side, who are currently shipping goals as if they were the port of Rotterdam. This was a strange game in which parity ensued for 75 minutes, but which saw a staggering 5 - 6 minutes of utter madcap scheming, eccentric posturing and a sort of mass laying down of arms, during which time Repton scored four goals, hit the bar and struck the post. In truth it could have been much worse. But then, the game settled back into a good contest again and it was like nothing had ever happened. It was like watching (or reading if you’re the clever sort) the Man in the High Castle, with the Nazis and Japanese running the United States and thinking this is odd, before realising that they must somehow have won the war but no-one bothered to say anything.
If only there had been some sort of warning that Charterhouse were defensively frail from crosses, corners, set pieces and general play. I suppose there’s that oft-quoted historiographical question about history repeating itself and historians take great pleasure tying themselves in knots about the whole thing. But if any of them had come to watch the Charterhouse 1st XI over the last three games they’d be declaring the debate over and heading off for some snuff and a good chat about the optimum length for a beard, all the while debating in the style of MRG, whether it is ever acceptable to wear a cardigan over a cardigan. Then there’s that whole debate about learning from history, lest we repeat the mistakes of our forebears etc. etc. Yes. Yes. That seems like a good question to ponder. I wish I could grow a beard.
Thus ends a three game streak since half term, in which Charterhouse have scored 6 goals and conceded 10, losing two and securing one draw. We’re like Keegan’s entertainers. But without the entertainment. And what we wouldn’t give for a Philippe Albert or Darren Peacock. Or Brian Kilcline! Hampton are next before the ISFA Cup looms. George Santayana famously wrote that ‘those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’. Sounds about right.