POET CHRIS TOWERS WATCHED MARINE PLAY BRADFORD PARK AVENUE IN THE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE IN FEBRUARY. HE WRITES OF A CLUB CLOSE TO ITS COMMUNITY

THERE he was, taking a swig from a beer bottle, camped out in the back garden watching his team Marine play Bradford Park Avenue the other side of the garden fence.

No, he was not watching it on television or on the internet, but by the potted plants rather than on a sofa. I watched him as I sat high in the stand at the end of the goal at the home of Marine FC. This ground is not far from the river Mersey, in Crosby, a few miles north of Liverp...