Cod Almighty | Diary

His arm was around me

17 November 2017

West Yorkshire Diary writes: Imprinting is a natural biological phenomenon that occurs in newly-born birds that start walking as soon as they hatch. They form a bond with the first moving object they see, which is why you've probably heard stories of chicks adopting cats or even people as their mothers because their urge to form a behavioural bond is so strong.

It wasn't my dad but my grandad who started taking me to Blundell Park as a child. And just as my enthusiasm and passion for football began to accelerate, his started to wane. I don't know why. Once I'd reached my teens, we never went to matches together again, but thanks to countless Tuesday night reserve games in the early 90s when I'd freeze my little hands off as he shared his fruit gums, that bond was formed.

Nothing can undo that. Not a bad performance; not a bad season; not even the day my grandad passed away. It's there for the rest of my life, and it's something I cherish.

And that’s why Richard Hubbert’s words in yesterday’s diary about his grandad, Arthur Dawson, wouldn't fail to move anyone who's loved and lost a grandparent. Grimsby Town is a bloodline and the thing that keeps my grandad, and my grandparents, close to my heart. Grimsby Town, for all its shambolic performances on and off the field, brings me comfort – and then joy, if I'm lucky.

My grandad passed away on the morning of an away game I'd already bought train tickets for. I wasn't going to go, but my parents insisted that I did. "It's what he would've wanted," they said. Reluctantly, I agreed to go – and I've never regretted it, even though we lost 6-0 at Oldham. I don't remember it for the calamitous first half showing in which we conceded five goals and had a man sent off, but for the fact I was doing something my grandad was doing in his heyday, decades before I was born. I was carrying on the tradition, and that brought me a strange sense of comfort. His arm was around me that day.

If you're at Blundell Park tomorrow, take a moment to look around you. Take a moment to appreciate who's by your side and think about why you're there. You're not there to see the Mariners win – that's just a bonus. You're there because you have an unbreakable bond.

We all share that bond with Arthur. Half time at tomorrow's home match against Carlisle is as good a time as any to celebrate it. Give him the round of applause that 88 years of unwavering support deserves, from one Mariner to another. His support lives on through not just his family but the wider Grimsby Town family, and that's a pretty marvellous thing.

UTM!