YOU have to laugh at the professional game don't you? Referees not fit enough to do the job, beach balls on the pitch, foreign owners all the rage, invisible chairman, warm beer, plastic cups, WAGS, prawn sandwiches, who needs it?More like Disney Land, than Premier League.

Mike Bacon

YOU have to laugh at the professional game don't you? Referees not fit enough to do the job, beach balls on the pitch, foreign owners all the rage, invisible chairman, warm beer, plastic cups, WAGS, prawn sandwiches, who needs it?

More like Disney Land, than Premier League.

Thank God for Wayne Rooney I say. He's the only player remotely in touch with the fans.

Still, for us lovers of the non-league game, we know our place in the sporting arena. Of course there are a few club officials and players who think they are bigger than the game.

There are a few tatty grounds and a few poor catering facilities, but overall it's a happy family and while tensions run high at times, most of us want the same things from our game - non-league to continue to move onwards and upwards - as the professional game continues to move away from the local communities and the people they represent.

The beach ball on the pitch at Sunderland on Saturday which resulted in Darren Bent (Benty to us non-league boys and girls), netting the winning goal against Liverpool, made me think of funny things I have seen and heard of in non-league.

I remember a friend of mine watching a game at Ely City, where a player had to be carried off on a stretcher.

Unfortunately it was one of those M.A.S.H.-type first-aid stretchers, looked a bit rickety and the guys carrying the player off looked very uncomfortable squelching through the mud.

Then the obvious happened, SNAP!

The stretcher went, so did the player, into the mud, followed by two of the stretcher bearers. The player wasn't badly hurt fortunately, although someone in the crowd pulled a stomach muscle in the resulting laughter.

I remember watching three blokes in a lower-division Suffolk and Ipswich League game get on each other's shoulders to get the match ball down out of a tree and I was at Clacton one night when the opposition started with 12 players (not for long I might add).

It's what non-league is all about, a bit of fun.

At least we laugh at ourselves and enjoy our game. No wonder more people are turning away from the pro game and getting on board the non-league bandwagon.

What do you think? Mike.bacon@archant.co.uk