
Our third gig in three nights was From The Jam at Manchester Ritz. It was supposed to be Bruce Foxton’s final appearance before a health-driven retirement but unfortunately he wasn’t well enough to attend. That meant that there wasn’t actually anyone on stage that was ‘From The Jam’, but it wasn’t a big deal. Hastings is pretty good as a tribute act and has played with all three past members of The Jam at different times. It was a beery singalong with a crowd of predominantly sixty-odd year old blokes wearing Fred Perry polos.

Next morning Jen and I headed out into the Manchester suburbs to Whalley Range’s ground in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. It was hosting the final of the JA Kennedy Cup, a competition for teams in the Manchester Amateur Sunday League. It’s a league that claims to be the oldest Sunday League in the world.
It was three quid admission, which surprised me, as it’s rare that Sunday League footballers play in front of a paying audience. There weren’t any stands, but there were a few picnic tables with benches. We found a padded bench at a table in front of the bar.

The finalists were De La Salle Devils and North Manchester Kaizers. There was an online programme available via one of those QR codes that gave some of the history of the teams. All I can remember is that the Kaizers were formed quite recently. Both sides had support there, mainly family by the look of it. I’d been expecting there to be parties of lads on a Bank Holiday weekend sesh, but it was all fairly subdued.

Most of the action was in the first-half. Devils went a goal up early on, only for Kaizers to equalise twenty-five minutes in. It was a short-lived parity as within two minutes Devils were back in front. They held the advantage until shortly before the break when Kaizers levelled again.
The winning goal came a few minutes into the second half. It looked offside to me, with a Kaizers player tapping in an effort that would have gone in anyway. The Devil’s protests went unanswered and it was enough to clinch the cup.

We hung around for the presentations which went on longer than they do at a World Cup. I suspect the subsequent celebrations will gave gone on well into the afternoon.

















































