Article appears as printed in the match programme v Southport dated 17 August...
ONE TRADITION that still stands strong in the English game is that of the skipper - the team Captain who proudly leads his team out onto the turf each and every week.
It is a role that commands a big presence, and garners equal amounts of respect. Here at Aggborough, the duties of the armband fall to summer signing Keith Briggs who is taking his position very seriously indeed.
A skipper in both the Football League, with Stockport County, and in the non-league game with Steve Burr's Stalybridge Celtic, the 28 year-old is ready once more to step up to the plate as the team's figurehead for the new 2010/11 season.
Speaking to your match day programme ahead of this evening's home opener, Briggs stated he needed little thinking time when that call once again came from Burr earlier in the closed-season.
He explains: "I had no hesitations at all when the gaffer asked me - it is always a great feeling to be chosen as skipper at a club and to be the Captain here at Kidderminster is a big honour.
"I've been [Steve's] captain before and he knows what I bring to the table and I am very proud that he has asked me to carry that on again here.
"I've got a responsibility to help bring some of the young lads through and I take that very seriously.
"But, at the end of the day, it isn't down to individuals and you are a team. It is a silly phrase but you do need eleven Captains out there who are talking, shouting and giving instructions.
"The more leaders we have out there the better."
Hot on the heels of Saturday's game at York City, Harriers open up their Aggborough account for the new term by continuing something of a habit.
Last season's Blue Square North Champions Southport are the latest newly-promoted side to give us our initial test of the campaign, following the likes of Hayes & Yeading, St. Albans and Lewes who have all been the first to occupy the away changing room here at Aggborough since our return to non-league football.
Only Woking and Aldershot have bucked that trend, the latter going on to title glory. The point being, there's no doubt about the harshness of the challenge that awaits the men in red tonight. Briggs, however, is focused.
He continued: "It is very important to get a good start with your home games because that momentum can take you on throughout the season.
"We have got a very tough start with Southport coming here first up - they're a newly-promoted side and they will have a lot of confidence from winning so many games last year.
"They're big, strong and physical and it will be difficult, but I think we have got the ability and the characters in the changing room to beat any team.
"We have to show we can play and that we can deal with the other side of the game which is a bit of rough and tumble."
Tonight will be a first chance for the vast majority of home fans to see Burr's new charges in action.
Understandably, the home camp is eager to start off with a bang.
"At the end of the day the fans are paying money to come and watch us and the boys don't forget that," warns Briggs.
"We're looking to go out, put on a good show and try and win the game. Sometimes you have to win ugly, which we'll take, but we want to impress."
10 STUPID QUESTIONS FOR: KEITH BRIGGS
Now that's over with… Down to something slightly sillier!
1) Okay, Keith. First off, do you feel a bit sorry for Prince Charles?
Yeah, because he's got big ears - it's a shame for him but he hasn't been blessed with the smallest pair of ears at all.
2) Fair enough. You've sadly lost both your arms in an accident with a potato chipping machine. Do you learn to write with your foot or your mouth?
I would learn to write with my foot… Hopefully I'd be better with one of those than I am my mouth.
3) What's the most ill you've ever been?
I would probably say just a bit of flu.
4) Have you ever poured boiling water on to an ant?
No I have not! That's cruel, I'd never do that.
5) Do you think enough people are wearing hats these days?
People with bad haircuts should wear hats I think, and there are a few of those in our changing room!
6) As a skipper yourself, do you excel at skipping, or indeed using a skip?
I'm not too bad at skipping, I used to do it at school in the playground. And a skip? Yeah I can throw a few things in a skip - half of the team should be in one!
7) What's the oddest dream you've ever had?
Ummm…
[The oddest, and most printable.. - ED]
Oh right, yeah, okay. I have this reoccurring dream that I've parked my car up somewhere and I go to come back to it and it's been stolen or lost… either way I never know where it is.
8) Have you ever considered living on a barge?
No I have not considered that, no. If I had nowhere else to live, I'd live on a barge.
9) You pull the gaffer in the 'Secret Santa' come Christmas time. Whatcha' gonna buy him?
I'd buy him a wig. Because he's got no hair.
10) Who would be your fantasy uncle?
It'd have to be Eric Cantona, so I could ask him about football and what it was like to play for United. I'd love to have been in the same team as him.
