West Ham United would like to wish all of our supporters a Merry Christmas, and to thank you for your support in 2006.
The following is a message from our Club Chaplain, Rev. Elwin Cockett...
Hammers Family Values
Boxing Day and New Year's Day games are special. At a time when
most sensible people are sleeping off the previous day's
celebrations, football fans everywhere are setting out to travel
hundreds of miles to watch their teams. All this happens on a day
when public transport is less-than-perfect and the weather can be
tricky, to say the least. No wonder such fixtures live long in the
memories of fans everywhere - even if the games and perhaps the
memories suffer from what we might call the excesses of the season.
West Ham United's fixtures against Blackburn Rovers in 1963,
are the stuff of legend, of course. We lost 8-2 at home on Boxing
Day, only to win 3-1 away two days later. Equally memorable for
those who were there was our first game in January 1983, which saw
17-year-old Tony Cottee score on his debut in a 3-0 victory over
Spurs. Last season, West Ham and Portsmouth shared the points on
Boxing Day, and both sides will be aspiring to improve on that
result.
A Family Club
We like to think that this is a 'family club', with members
all around the globe. For that family, the 12 months since that
game have seen some remarkable highs and lows, summed-up perhaps by
the FA Cup Final. To have got to Cardiff for the third year running
was a great achievement in itself, and to contribute to one of the
great cup finals of all time was very special. But to come so close
to winning the cup, only to have it snatched away by THAT goal, was
sheer agony. To qualify for Europe was the icing on the cake, but
the trip to Palermo is one that most of us will want to forget.
Absent Friends
Families are often at their best at times of sadness. Everyone at
this club was shocked by the untimely death in January of Ian
Jackson, head groundsman at the training facilities at Chadwell
Heath. Ian was one of the nicest people you could meet, and the
large congregation at his funeral included many current and former
players and staff, including John Lyall and Glenn Roeder. Little
did we know then that Ian's funeral would soon be followed by
those of Ron Greenwood and John Lyall.
Family Values
The passing of those two great managers from our past made many of
us stop and think about the values that they stood for, and for
which this club became known. Happily, those values have been
passed on, and continue to be passed on from generation to
generation by those who played under Ron Greenwood or John Lyall
including, of course, Alan Curbishley and Harry Redknapp, along
with our Academy Director, Tony Carr, and many others at this club
and elsewhere.
Apart from 'playing football the West Ham way', those
values include a generosity of spirit that is seen in the support
that many fans give to all sorts of organisations. Both the Richard
House Children's Hospice and the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer
Research have benefited greatly from the efforts of West Ham fans,
players and staff this year, and they're not alone.
Reflecting Together
None of us knows what 2007 will bring, of course. But as we enjoy
the Christmas festivities, we do well to reflect on the things that
really matter in life. As someone once said, "God gave us
people to love and things to use, but sometimes we end up loving
things and using people". All of us would do well to check,
from time to time, that we're getting the order right, and that
we're treasuring the people around us and not getting wrapped
up in our material possessions.
That applies to people of all faiths and none, of course. Whatever
your faith, and whatever the next year holds for us, I pray that
you will enjoy the peace that the angels told the shepherd about in
the Nativity story, the real, inner peace that enables ordinary
people to do heroic things.
God bless - now and in the year to come...