It’s football time already. The season used to start at the beginning of September, until the FA cup final finished off the season on the first Saturday in May. But now the football season is expanding so much that the end of one season will merge with the beginning of the following season to squeeze out the time inbetween and provide continuous football throughout the year.

In the days when football kept to its seasonal boundaries, it was possible for players to play at the highest at cricket and football. Arthur Milton, the Gloucestershire and England cricketer who played football for Arsenal, called into the George in St Briavels for a quick drink and incidentally to promote his benefit before a Sunday afternoon county match at Lydney, in the days when Gloucestershire allowed county cricket matches on this side of the River Severn. With increasingly extended football league seasons, the days of the professional sportsperson at the elite standard in both of these sports are no more.

At a much more modest level, I played cricket in the summer and in the rest of the year rugby on Saturday and football on Sunday. I kept goal for St Briavels in the short lived Wye Valley Sunday league, and played rugby for Bream, playing also against Bream at cricket and football.

There was a flourishing Sunday morning football league in London, so I could play for my college rugby team on Saturday and keep goal on Sunday morning for my team ‘Soho’ on Hampstead Heath or Hackney Marshes. I developed a practical theory for a goalkeeper’s approach to facing a penalty. It’s gladiator time. Moment of truth. Don’t move too soon. The kicker may try to distract you, stopping in the run up, introducing a hop or a change of direction in the run up. There may be an intense look at a particular part of the kicker’s target. Do not be distracted. Watch the kicker all the time. Stay balanced, don’t dive too soon. Practise taking penalty kicks in training to find out the kicker’s perspective. In my time as a goalie penalties were relatively rare, but with penalty shoot-outs now a big part of the game, you should be prepared.