Kicking Off: reader letters (late kick-offs, Michael Oliver emergency assistant referee, BBC Continental Cup snub, football soulmate search, Gillingham LFC/Ted Larkin)

The Kicking Off letters page, which the magazine notes arrived in actual envelopes. Neil and Grace Babbs of Enfield complain that until Arsenal against Notts County in July it had been over three years since they last saw a women’s match kick off on time, listing the delays at seventeen recent games and blaming late warm-ups and long huddles. Chris Weston of Walthamstow reports that when an assistant became indisposed at half time in a Continental Cup tie, the emergency assistant referee turned out to be the Premier League and FIFA official Michael Oliver, who was supporting his wife Lucy, the match referee; he also criticises the BBC Red Button for ignoring the competition. Two further letters seek a football companion and come from Gillingham life president Ted Larkin.