- Print Topic - Archive

The ball went out of play hundreds of times in the game on Saturday. We had no ball boys and I reckon at least five minutes of play was lost retrieving the ball. It also made it easy for the Cambridge keeper to waste time as he had to go in person and retrieve the ball several times. We don't create many chances but if we are wiping minutes out of the playing time it doesn't help with the lack of goals! Can we have the ball boys back?

No, because whenever they are there, they don’t do their job!

Should get the gtfc junior players to do it.

Maybe the club should ask young fans to pay to do the job like being the mascot. ;)

Quoted from Grantley

No, because whenever they are there, they don’t do their job!

Exactly.

Quoted from Sigone

Should get the gtfc junior players to do it.

Sure this used to be the case at one time that youth players got the gig, but maybe they play on a Saturday as well ?

Used to be a schools thing when i was a lad, a different local school footy team would get the honour...and it felt like an honour...of being chosen to do it....kids would nearly scrap with each other to get the ball back then..not sit on their @rses ignoring the ball and looking at their instagram or snapchat messages as they seem to now.

The more unscrupulous/ professional managers seem to ensure the ball boys are well trained in the dark art of speedy ball return or oh dear my gout is playing up slow return technique, depending upon the score at any given time.

Surely the club are missing something here, why don't they contact schools in the area and ask whoever in charge if they have lads/lassies who would be interested to be ballboys/girls for a certain match. There must be children that would relish the chance at a league game who would like to attend but their parents can't afford to pay for a match ticket. I would have felt privileged to have been a ballboy for my town team when I was a lad.

I once saw a ball boy in the Harrington St Corner actually pick the ball up before it went out of play during a game in the late 70's, very funny poor lad, the ref just got him to put it back where he got it from and got on with the game.

Quoted from Grimal

Surely the club are missing something here, why don't they contact schools in the area and ask whoever in charge if they have lads/lassies who would be interested to be ballboys/girls for a certain match. There must be children that would relish the chance at a league game who would like to attend but their parents can't afford to pay for a match ticket. I would have felt privileged to have been a ballboy for my town team when I was a lad.

They had lads from the local junior leagues doing it for a few years but they never really seem to know what they are supposed to do

Quoted from Grimal

Surely the club are missing something here, why don't they contact schools in the area and ask whoever in charge if they have lads/lassies who would be interested to be ballboys/girls for a certain match. There must be children that would relish the chance at a league game who would like to attend but their parents can't afford to pay for a match ticket. I would have felt privileged to have been a ballboy for my town team when I was a lad.

Probably an excuse somewhere regards H&S , CRB checks , insurance liability if a ball hits one of them....etc etc

Quoted from HertsGTFC

I once saw a ball boy in the Harrington St Corner actually pick the ball up before it went out of play during a game in the late 70's, very funny poor lad, the ref just got him to put it back where he got it from and got on with the game.

What about the one who was sat on his stool.

One of their players had a shot it went wide right where the lad was sat,

He did not move he just headed it back .. ;D

Quoted from Cloudy

They had lads from the local junior leagues doing it for a few years but they never really seem to know what they are supposed to do

Yes, that has been the case for several years up until the end of last season.

Agree with others saying the ball boys didn't really get the ball when it went out anyway. I think the problem was the kids we had doing it were too young to do it. Great experience for young kids (apart from the winter months when they'd just freeze), but not great for keeping the game going.

Quoted from Tommy

Yes, that has been the case for several years up until the end of last season.

Agree with others saying the ball boys didn't really get the ball when it went out anyway. I think the problem was the kids we had doing it were too young to do it. Great experience for young kids (apart from the winter months when they'd just freeze), but not great for keeping the game going.

They probably wouldn't freeze if they did more than sit there lol. Maybe get up and go retrieve the ball that'd warm them up. The most movement I saw is in the last 5 minutes where somebody has them abandon their seats to go run around the pitch leaving nobody to quickly get balls when chasing a game.

Last few seasons the Ball Boys strategy has wound me up.....

They sit there with their mates and don't retrieve the ball quickly.

Come the 80th minute when we may be chasing the game they all disappear for health and safety reasons. :B

I would have thought we can't call them ball boys nowadays, it would have to be ball children... but maybe we can't call them children?.. so it would have to be ball people, ball individuals or ball retrieval experts?
Or maybe we can't tell them to go get the ball as that might infringe on their human rights.. we might have to ask then if they wouldn't mind fetching the ball .. as long as they've been on a manual handling course and have been trained to throw it correctly without getting repetitive strain injury.

Wimbledon call then BBGs

https://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/atoz/ball_boys_and_ball_girls.html

I thought the same on Saturday , Macca was runnin all over the place having to get the ball.
It even went next to a big gaggle of town stewards that must have thought they was too important to throw it back.
The way our ground is now with empty corners and most the time an empty away end I think it's necessary we have some balkbiys , make sure they're trained to know to take their time when we're winning and run like intercourse when we're losing or drawing.
I wonder if they still have those Enness track suits left over from the 80s. ?