Joint 3rd all-time goalscorers for the Effra Academicals!
I was down in London last week, and met up with Stuart [he of recent majestic 40th], Luke, Jonathan/'Osc' and Macca for an impressive curry somewhere near London Bridge station.
We all used to play 5-a-side and 11-a-side together for a team we named Effra Academicals, which began 10 or so years ago at Crystal Palace Sports Centre and, frankly, was as much fun as it's possible to have. Plenty of legendary moments, loads of cameraderie, and on occasion our womenfolk shivering but vocal on the touchlines. Plus, beer at the end of it - pretty much an ideal set-up (apart from the regular trouncings, but even they were, er, character-building or something). The Accies are still going strong...
Anyone who has seen me play football, or had to play alongside me, will know I only think about scoring goals. When my team is suffering a backs-to-the-wall defensive siege, I tend to see this as a chance of a counter-attack, rather than reflecting that getting back to help out might be a more immediately productive use of my presence on the pitch.
Consequently, Osc and I were the Accies' main strikers, and its various offshoots, for a good few years. When Valeria and I left London for Rotterdam in 2002, I retired as the club's leading goalscorer, on 74, and Osc overtook my tally a few years later. Both of us retired from the club a long time ago, but as this entry on the club's blog explains, we have both ourselves now been taken over. Almost ten years later for my record...!
At the curry house, Stuart presented Osc and I with commemorative club shirts in recognition of our past efforts - and, boy, were we chuffed with them.
So too was Liam when I got home, though mainly - all right, solely - from seeing his surname on a real football shirt! (As I've lamented previously, he remains completely indifferent to the actual sport itself...)
Still, should the miracle occur, he's clearly got the moves for Messiah-complex goal celebrations...
We all used to play 5-a-side and 11-a-side together for a team we named Effra Academicals, which began 10 or so years ago at Crystal Palace Sports Centre and, frankly, was as much fun as it's possible to have. Plenty of legendary moments, loads of cameraderie, and on occasion our womenfolk shivering but vocal on the touchlines. Plus, beer at the end of it - pretty much an ideal set-up (apart from the regular trouncings, but even they were, er, character-building or something). The Accies are still going strong...
Anyone who has seen me play football, or had to play alongside me, will know I only think about scoring goals. When my team is suffering a backs-to-the-wall defensive siege, I tend to see this as a chance of a counter-attack, rather than reflecting that getting back to help out might be a more immediately productive use of my presence on the pitch.
Consequently, Osc and I were the Accies' main strikers, and its various offshoots, for a good few years. When Valeria and I left London for Rotterdam in 2002, I retired as the club's leading goalscorer, on 74, and Osc overtook my tally a few years later. Both of us retired from the club a long time ago, but as this entry on the club's blog explains, we have both ourselves now been taken over. Almost ten years later for my record...!
At the curry house, Stuart presented Osc and I with commemorative club shirts in recognition of our past efforts - and, boy, were we chuffed with them.
So too was Liam when I got home, though mainly - all right, solely - from seeing his surname on a real football shirt! (As I've lamented previously, he remains completely indifferent to the actual sport itself...)
Still, should the miracle occur, he's clearly got the moves for Messiah-complex goal celebrations...
posted by Graham at 5:45 AM
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