I arrived at the stadium
Fans waiting for us
Some of my teammates stopped and signed autographs for them
Some were held to take a picture with them
While others
Myself included
Walked straight to the dressing room
Smiling to the fans along the way
I'm not our star player
I'm 'just another player'
In the dressing room
I took off my team suit
And changed to the tracksuit
A coach comes in
And told me that I am on the bench
As well as 6 others who share the same fate with me
A fate I expected
The manager comes in
He talks about the opponent
He talks about his tactics
He emphasizes on the 11 players he selected
Who to guard who
Who to create chances for who
I listened
While tying my shoestring
My teammate next to me
Who is in the starting 11
Whispered to my ear
Saying that he doesn't like an opponent player
Who kicked him the last time our teams played against each other
I laughed and told him
"Break a leg then!"
Pre-match warm up
In my tracksuits and sweater
It's winter
But the atmosphere in the stadium is steaming
Back to the dressing room
The key players sit around the manager
Who in turn seems to draw lines after lines on a white board
The coach attends to the others
He motivates and motivates and motivates
The 22 men lined up in the tunnel
I walk through the center of the two lines
Wishing luck to my teammates
And give a pat on the back to an opponent
Who used to be my teammate
When we were in our former club
In my sweater
I walk out of the tunnel
Towards the bench
It is where I will be for majority of the match
Then the manager walks out
Signing a few autographs for some lucky fans who got front row tickets
Then the 22 men and 3 referees emerge from the tunnel
To a roaring crowd in the packed stadium
Match started
I was giggling with a fellow sub
Joking about a girl he met in the club last night
The manager
A while he was seen talking to his assistant
A while he was seen shouting and pointing fingers to our playing teammates
Perhaps he doesn't know that it is impossible to hear him from the middle of the field?
Half-time arrives
Still goaless
The manager throws the towel at our strikers
And altered the tactics for the second half
It worked
Less then 10 minutes from the restart
We are in the lead
The 11 celebrated
I'm happy for them
The manager throws his fist into the air
But I couldn't see his expression from the bench
All I could see is his back
And the patches of snow on his shoulder
Yes
We subs see the back of our manager
More often then the face of our manager during a match
A sliding tackle from an opponent
And a teammate playing in my position goes down
He is hurting
And the referee signaled for our match physio
The manager turned to the bench
And pointed me to warm up
The injured teammate limps to a side of the field to continue his treatment
While play resumes with only 10 men for our side
I jogged and I stretched
Only to see my teammate make his way onto the field again
He is okay and able to continue
He is our key player
The manager is relieved
While I have mixed feelings
Ain't professionals should put team above self?
But I just can't help it
After several more minutes of warming up
I make my way back to our bench
Knowing that I was not needed
It's where I stay until the final whistle
Our team won
I finally stepped onto the field
Congratulating our heroes
Clapping to some fans to thank their support
Before making my way back to the dressing room
It's just another day as a benchwarmer
*This is just a fictional story imagined from a sub's perspective.
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