NEWS Shopper's Charlton reporter LIAM HAPPE took to the Sparrows Lane pitch this week in a bid to put the club's media team in their place, something he failed to do as he explains here.
CHARLTON Live, Charlton Athletic’s independent radio show, capped a successful comeback season by taking on the club's media staff on Monday.
After a lengthy run on local station Millenium came to an end, the show, which is hosted by the Addicks’ matchday announcer Dave Lockwood, returned at the start of last season thanks to CAFC Player on the official club website.
The interactive subscription service allowed Lockwood, Peter Finch and Terry Smith to take Charlton Live to new frontiers such as matchday video commentary for home games and a Saturday morning show in addition to their regular Sunday 7pm to 9pm slot.
In recent months however, the Sunday team, along with their latest recruit, yours truly, have been goading the club’s employed press team to take them on in a Soccer AM-style crossbar challenge.
The offer was eventually accepted and the stakes were raised with the addition of a five-a-side match, although unfortunately for us lads at Charlton Live, both challenges ended in bitter defeat.
Each side selected their five main members to shoot at a full-size crossbar at Charlton’s Sparrows Lane training ground from the halfway line, and after three failed rounds of attempts, and moving the ball forward several yards, the woodwork was finally rattled.
The honours went to Charlton matchday reporter Gary Haines, giving the staffers first blood.
And they weren't done yet, despite Team Live drafting in several of their younger and allegedly fitter Saturday show counterparts for the five-a-side clash.
Despite the actual scoreline being about as fiercely debated as most primary school playground matches, the press boys appeared to add a 7-4 victory to their crossbar success.
Communications manager Matt Wright shocked the training ground with his skilful performance, giving his troops a 1-0 lead at half-time before adding to his tally after the break.
A second half cameo from CAFC Player commentator and ex-player Smith provided a brace for the underdogs, which helped spark the game into more of a competitive contest.
And I did my bit to prevent the press boys, who had clearly been using their work hours to practice together, from running away with it late on after taking the gloves for the latter stages and pulling off a string of fine saves (lazy sod – sports ed).
The same could not be said of website manager Tom Harvey, who proceeded to give a defeated Charlton Live team the last laugh by completely fluffing a routine catch from Smith’s cross and dropping it into his own goal.
While my broadcast colleague wanted to claim a hat-trick, there’s no way the rest of us on either team were going to let Harvey get away with that one.
Result aside, it was a rewarding afternoon of bonding for two groups who have spent the last 12 months going the extra mile to provide more access to the fans during what has been a season to forget for the Reds.
I cannot help but suspect, however, that Mr Finch will not hear the end of his choice of outfit for the crossbar challenge for quite some time.
Charlton Live can be found on CAFC Player, Charlton Athletic’s official subscription service.
The show will be back in July at its regular time slot on Sundays between 7pm and 9pm, as well as on Saturday mornings between 10am and noon.
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