And the Rory Delap Big Boomer Award Goes To.....

The news has broken that Rhys Sharpe is among the players who won't be turning out in Poppies Red next

season.  He was a lively if often frustrating player for us over the past 4-years.  His worst position of central midfield was where he wanted to play, whereas he often excelled at left back despite, seemingly, not wanting to play there.  We certainly won't miss his little flicks in the middle of the park which, at a conservative estimate, went to the opposition approximately 98% of the time.  With a 2% margin of error.

What we might well miss are his enormous throw-ins where, if attacked better could have been a formidable weapon. 

But, as Rhys and his sore shoulders disappear into the sunset, we can finally solve the riddle that has baffled the Poppies faithful for many years - 

Namely, who's throw-ins were the best?  Rhys's or Exodus's?

When Exodus was floating over his lengthy but looping throw-ins, every club was trying to unearth their own Rory Delap.  Someone worth his place in the team simply based on their ability to hurl a football into the 6-yard box.  Fortunately for Exodus, he was a good defender, because his throw-ins were as threatening as Lichtenstein.

So, we've crunched the numbers and feel we are in a position to finally settle this very Kettering Town kind of conundrum.

Number of  Long throws in a Poppies shirt

Rhys - 1923

Exodus - 412

Specifics of Throws

Rhys - maximum - 36.75 metres.  Average - 24.349 metres.  Average elevation - 36.259 degrees

Exodus - maximum - 34.267 metres.  Average - 22.317 metres.  Average elevation - 42.521 degrees

Number of time shirts have needed a second wash due to cleaning / drying the ball on them

Rhys - 739

Exodus - 188

Shoulder muscle injuries endured

Rhys - 108

Exodus - 39

Cans of Deep Heat deployed

Rhys - 28

Exodus - 11

Number of times the player has taken the throw in front of me and as they've braced themselves against the advertising hoarding I've encouraged them by saying, "Goo on!  Get it in there me ol' booty"

Rhys - 295

Exodus - 54

Number of throws to actually reach a Poppies players

Rhys - 7

Exodus - 2

Number of Goals resulting from throws

Rhys - 1

Exodus - 0

In conclusion - we have thrown an awful lot of footballs into the penalty area with little or no result other than keeping a number of sports physiotherapists in business.  Perhaps we'll look to vary our approach in the coming season?