Club news
Roger Feltham thought he’d seen everything in his long time as groundsman at the Dripping Pan. But when he noticed rooks acting strangely, he didn’t know what to make of it.
The much-loved birds who live around the ground and from whom the club takes its nickname, the Rooks, had begun pecking the goalposts. “I’ve never seen anything like it before, so it got me thinking.” said Roger.
But as Roger watched the birds hammering on the posts, the explanation dawned on him…
“This pitch hasn’t seen much football in the last year. Unfortunately, it looks like this is a problem for our rooks. You see, usually, worms come to the surface in response to vibration, the pounding of the players’ studs on the pitch, and thereby become breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rooks. But the lack of football means a lack of worms. And they’re clever things those birds. They started tapping on the posts to make the ground vibrate just enough to trick the worms into thinking there’s a match on… and up they come. It’s dinner time for the rooks!”
So the rooks were happy, but Roger wasn’t.
The birds’ constant pecking was beginning to chip the paint off the posts and Roger didn’t know how to stop it. Until he had a brainwave as he looked at a Lyle & Scott perimeter board by the pitch… Jumpers For Goalposts.
So Roger came in this morning with a dozen jumpers, cut the sleeves off and tied them to the goalposts. And what a result! Now that their pecking no longer vibrates the worms to the surface, the rooks leave the posts alone and Roger is once more a happy man.
Roger 1, Rooks 0.