'AVE IT!
Reports
Manchester Pride Games 2006
The weekend began with three of Leftfooters' sexiest men, Richy, new boy Richard B and myself (Antonio B Hard) engaged in much blissful chat all the way up on the train from Euston to Piccadilly. It was so entertaining that we didn't even get to open our newspapers, quite a contrast with the journey home, when we were too knackered to say a word! On our table was a Chelsea fan guy who was bemused at our topics of conversation (well my conversation) and wished us luck for the tournament when he got off at Stoke.
Our accommodation in Manchester was a blissful £15 per night hostel, with a room with 8 beds (4 bunks). I, of course, was top, the others mainly bottom.
Our team was made up of just four players (for this 5 a side tournament) - the three aforementioned, and then Thierry who would be coming late at night (as usual), and we were seeking to gain a player from another team. Most of the other teams weren't able to lend us any players, but the organiser of the Stonewall group Trevor volunteered himself to play with us, though we managed to tempt two-timer Vince (of both Stonewall and Leftfooters) to come to our rescue and help us out with numbers, so thanks to Stonewall for lending him to us. We were, of course, aware, that we would be playing the whole tournament with no subs, but as our Leftfooters athletic prowess andtraining are so developed, this would of course be no problem!
The tournament was divided into two groups, and we were to play Yorkshire, Titans, Leicester, a Stonewall team and a Manchester team. We relished the anticipation of this challenge, and created a target for ourselves which was to score a goal during the day!
The matches would each last ten minutes, and began with Yorkshire. We held them to 0-0 until the last minute of the game, when they jammily scored two goals.
For the following matches, we had a brilliant tactical switch-round, with Antonio B Hard moving into the defensive (yes, defensive!) sweeper role, Richard just in front of him, and Vince and Richy in midfield / up front. Thierry was, as ever, consistently amazing as keeper.
Our next two matches (Manchester and Stonewall) ended 0-0, with some utterly brilliant defensive work being achieved, can't remember by whom, and with Richy shocking himself by having two shots at the Stonewall goal. Antonio B Hard sustained a horrific arm injury against Manchester, but determined to continue playing valiantly until the end of the day, when it was treated by the Red Cross, and then x-rayed in Lewisham on Monday; the medics all thought it was broken, but the x-ray said otherwise, thank goodness.
Then came a severe challenge in the form of Titans. What can one say? Titans exposed the odd Leftfooters weakness and scored twice. Correction, they scored once, after Antonio B Hard had scored a spectacularly beautiful own goal, to ensure that our objective of scoring during the day would be met. What's more, it was in the form of a beautifully athletic volley which wrong-footed Thierry in a most majestic fashion.
Finally, Leftfooters played against Leicester, gaining a fabulous 0-0 draw. It was a great game and made us all very proud. One noticeable event in the game was when Steve Niblett was running at our goal, being harassed by Richy who had thought he was charging and nudging poor Steve; Richy apologised to Steve after the match, only for Steve to say he hadn't even noticed! Oh well.
Overall, Leftfooters fought heroically all day; Vince and Richy made some great opportunities up front, and Richard had a fine debut and fantastically kept players away from our goalmouth. Thierry's goalkeeping was a wonder to behold, admired by all.
Mysteriously, though, Leftfooters were bottom of our league, with 3 points from 3 exciting 0-0 draws. Stonewall (with 4 points) were also eliminated from the knock-out round.
So with Leftfooters knocked out, and Dublin knocked out we decided to have a friendly. Mark from Dublin and another Stonewall player played on our side, and the boys in green on the other. During play the boys in green scored what was probably the best goal of the tournament. We kept playing until Dublin were told that they were in fact through to the quarter-finals and play promptly ceased.
The tournament was won by the other Stonewall team who scored a great goal past the other Manchester team. But very excitingly, in the awards ceremony, Leftfooters won the Fair Play Trophy (now to be admired in the Black Cap), with a gorgeous Fair Play Winner's Medal for each of us ( and a few spares for our non-existent substitutes).
Richy was a little embarrassed at winning our Fair Play medals, though he became gradually prouder as the weekend went on; the rest of us, however, were proud and exuberant as soon as the announcement was made. This award also made it clear why, after the group stage, the organisers had asked Richy if Leftfooters were staying to watch the final!
The following day, Richy and Anthony made it south of Manchester to Sale Water Park for kayaking and the rowing regatta. Being injured, Anthony sat and had lunch. Richy went kayacking and had to wear a wet suit with an enormous hole in it caused by a shark attack.
After the Kayacking was the famous Bell End Regatta, with numerous groups who had taken part in other Pride Games events racing in boatsin teams of ten. We had initially bought our own boat, confident we could fill it with other footie players. In the end Dublin spent the Sunday asleep or in the pub, with only Daneil from Stonewall joining Richy in a boat with mainly northern tennis people. Another Stonewall player called Ibrahim was supposed to be in the boat but ended up being nabbed by another boat. Needless to say Richy won a fantastic silver medal in rowing, showing his strength, resilience and athleticism once again, and adding to his earlier medals of the weekend (Fair Play and Participant's). At one point, back in the hostel, Richy thought he had lost the medals; I (Antonio B Hard) thought they had probably been stolen, being so valuable an' all.
Being so sporty, I'm aware that I've so far concentrated on the sport. However, there were evenings in Manchester, which were mainly spent on Canal street with some gorgeous other football teams. We had a lovely time especially with boys from Titans, Leicester, Dublin and Stonewall, but actually, all the teams were very friendly. Exhausted after the trials of daytime sport, we spent most of Saturday and Sunday night sitting on sofas in various bars. Richy and Thierry, on the Saturday night, spent six hours sitting on a sofa in the Hollywood bar listening to musical cabaret, and they didn't get up once!
On behalf of everyone, I'd like to thank Richy for his brilliant organisation of the weekend. Richy had the remarkable good sense to read the details of the tournament on the Pride Games website, only to find himself rung up by all the other managers who had no idea what was going on!
All in all, this tournament was a majorly fantastic event. Although Leftfooters were diminished in number, we were a real force in quality. Many many thanks go to the organisers for a great tournament, and to those who ran the watersports session! Next year is going to be massive in Manchester, when many international teams are already scheduled to be there, in part attracted as much by the watersports as by the footie and other sports. It must be one of the best events in the entire calendar; let's see ten Leftfooters teams there next year!
Kisses to you all.
Antonio B Hard (with additional contributions added in by Richy) xx