Getting To Know...Rachel Branson

Describe yourself in 5 words or less

 Optimistic pessimist or cynical idealist.

When did you first grace Blundell Park?

Many years ago, when I was too young to appreciate that promotion seasons don’t happen every year, or even every decade. By the time I learned the truth, it was already too late.

Some players have bizarre matchday rituals/superstitions. What are yours?

Given our current league position, the thousands of “supporters” who appeared at Wembley and Cardiff, only to disappear again soon after, would probably argue that the most bizarre thing I do on matchdays is turn up at Blundell Park.

What is the funniest thing you have seen/heard at a football match?

The funniest thing I heard recently at Blundell Park was nothing to do with the match but was instead a brilliant story about a man with a penchant for fur, who is far too young for senior moments, but who nevertheless tried to watch Match of the Day on his microwave.

Have you ever made a fool of yourself whilst supporting the Mariners?

I’ve always been one of those people who doesn’t shout too loudly during matches just in case what comes out is total cobblers.  This comes from realising that the more excited or wound up I get, the less likely I am to say anything remotely intelligent. As a result, I admire anyone who can watch football and be intentionally funny/clever at the same time.

Which one football match is the most memorable for you and why?

 I could go for the predictable ones, but as they mostly involved me being a bag of nerves before and during, I’m instead going to go for Cheltenham away on a Friday night in January 2005. Good game, good result, great company and a really chilled out drive home listening to music that was just made for the early hours of the morning.

In your opinion, how could the matchday experience be improved?

Yes, I know I’m just repeating what others have said before me, but the only sensible answer to that question at the moment is that we need to start winning.  My only other suggestion would be that the club employs an exorcist or witch doctor, as I am becoming convinced that someone has put a curse on Blundell Park.

What do you love most about being a Grimsby supporter?

Err...err...no seriously, supporting a club like Grimsby Town means that you really appreciate success when it comes along. It’s all too easy to become blasé and expect success when you’re a supporter of a Premier League team. Look at all those idiots from across the Humber who ring up Radio Hull on a regular basis, complaining about how terrible life is for them. Get real!

And conversely, what do you find most annoying about being a Grimsby supporter?

That the unmentionables from that tin shed up the M180 are currently two divisions above us.  If anything is a testament to how far we have fallen in recent years, it’s that.

If you didn’t support the Mariners, how would you spend your Saturday afternoons?

I couldn’t imagine watching any other team. Some people can enjoy football as a neutral, but not me. For better or worse, the only team I give a damn about is Grimsby, so if I wasn’t supporting them, whatever I was doing instead would be nothing to do with football.

What role do you think Supporters Trusts have in the modern game?

Depends on what state their club is in and how many members they have.  I would love GTST to have a membership that encompassed the majority rather than the minority of GTFC supporters it currently represents. Whilst we have a good relationship with the club and have helped out financially in a modest way, we won’t truly be taken seriously until our membership is in four figures rather than three.

How could GTST appeal more to the GTFC supporter base?

Ah, the magic question.  As someone who bought into the idea of the Trust very early on, it’s hard for me to understand why other people don’t, but I think my answer to the previous question covers this one too. We can offer all the discounts and freebies in the world, but I suspect we will only appeal to some people if we attain a position where we have some real clout.

The FA/FL seem to ‘champion’ one rule each season. If you were in charge, what rule would you champion and why?

I would like to see a ban on the notion that being competitive in sport is a bad thing. I think that kids should be taught from the off that it’s not the taking part that counts, but the winning. Why is it acceptable to put pressure on them from an early age to do well in the classroom and be at the top of their game in tests and exams, but wrong to encourage them to aspire to be the best in sports? By trying to create a level playing field where participation matters more than results, you just end up stifling real talent, fostering disillusionment and breeding young adults with either no ambition or worse still, delusions of grandeur because they’ve been led to believe they’re as good as the kids with real sporting ability. There’s nothing wrong with being competitive and wanting to be the best at what you do. Last time I looked, you don’t get far in any profession without that mentality.