ABSTRACT
My matchday ritual starts with a drive from my Suffolk home, usually with three mates, down to the end of the M11 motorway. I then turn clockwise on to the North Circular Road until I turn off at the junction signposted ‘East Ham’. As I emerge from the roundabout under the fl yover and turn onto the Barking Road, I enter Newham, the London Borough that will be the venue for the 2012 Olympic Park. Almost immediately to my right is the Barking Road recreation ground. This always reminds me of my youth when, as a teenager in the 1960s, I played competitive football there.
