Eye Witness*

5 days ago

5 min read

Shockwaves have rocked the normally tranquil world of Walking Football when it emerged over the weekend that oil money has threatened the delicate balance of our beloved sport Investigative Journalist Lunchtime O’Booze broke the news in his weekly column in Sunday’s Star The sovereign fund of wealthy Isle of Man Mega Holdings and its local business guru/spokesperson Derek Deggs Taylor has launched a hostile takeover for SHWFC Their plans to import players with scant regard for their cost, age and suitability was immediately rejected by the Club’s Executive

Treasurer Les Meldrew Brack was reported to have been tempted but naturally wanted to see the colour of their money Social Secretary Martin Cockney Rebel opined - Do we really need this on our manor?

The story will of course run and run Sly Sports News have plans to devote three weeks breaking news with their full roster of former players and rent a gobs all suddenly experts on Walking Football and finance

Watch this space

Wednesday 31st September

White 3

Andy, Doug, Dean 2(1p), Phil, John H, John, Graham 1

Orange 5

Les, Geoff, Lee G 1, Chris, Tom 1, Lee 3, Joe

Running Offenders

White Graham 1. Orange Lee G 2, Joe 2

Orange deserved the win as their passing & movement was better than their opponents White were their own worst enemy with stray passes going to or intercepted by Orange giving away 2 (possibly 3) goals. Orange had 4 running fouls to present White with a penalty. The game was played in good spirits without any issues. White keeper John Hayes had another excellent game keeping the score down. The new rule with 3 runs now equalling a Blue card worked well (with 1 player already on 2 runs not chasing a through ball realising “I'm not taking any chance”

Lee Willo and Lee Girvo’ combined superbly for Orange. Les Meldew continued his rich vein of form. Deano worked his socks off.

Martin was excellent with his refereeing, he saw everything but applied great common sense to ensure the spirits remained buoyant

There was no arguing, game played in a brilliant atmosphere.

The only talking point was White's re-taken penalty. Deano scored, then had to retake the penalty as nobody seemed to know how many steps he could take. As it happened, he comfortably scored the retake

In other action Yellow faced Lilac in a tight game played with plenty of goalmouth action at both ends Yellow showed great organisation in defence Yellow were awarded a penalty honestly owned up by Lilac for area incursion Eamon fired a decent shot but the ball struck Little John’s trailing arm

The opening goal was scored by Subbuteo Dave after 20 minutes, his first and second touches were shocking but he made no mistake with his shot 1-0 Yellow ahead The Lilac equaliser was claimed by Darron after a sweeping move

Lilac took the lead when Jason poked home unmarked at the back post 2-1 Lilac in front A shocking goalkeeping error brought a leveller from Gaz with 5 minutes on the clock 2-2 Time elapsed after a very good contest

Monday 5/10

Monday 5/10 Ruskin

Pitch A Game 1

Red 0 v 0 Purple

Great game but neither team could score due to some wasteful off-target shooting from Red and some great goal keeping from Phil and Tom keeping Purple out

Game 2

Red 3 v 3 Black

Jill (pen)Tom (1) Mike (1) Red

Steve (1) Lee (2) Black

Another very close game with both teams playing some excellent football and showing great prowess in front off goal for Red to put three past John in goal was no mean feat and Lee and Steve took their chances well for Black

Black played Green in a feisty encounter on the far pitch a sprinkling of autumnal fallen leaves littered the touch line but didn’t deter a very even Walking Football game Phil Moss and Girvo fired Black in front before Green rallied in great style A brace by Roy plus a solo effort by McSpeed turned the score around Green taking the honours 3-2

Green hosted Purple in their next game McSpeed on hand to put Green in front Purple hit back to seal a deserved victory as Green visibly tired Haggis with two excellent goals and Dave Roberts were the scorers as Purple won 3-1

Wednesday 7th October

The teams for the re-start of the Indoor games on Wednesday were;

Orange: Les, Andy, GRAV, Dave & JC

White: Les H, Phil, Mike, Joe & Tracy

The game was fast, not due to running but the surface and the general environment. It can take a bit of getting used to indoors.

Although it was a fast moving game the passing & movement at times was sublime with both teams sharing the play evenly.

2 penalties were awarded 1 to each team for penalty area infractions both resulted in goals 1 for JC (Orange) and 1 for Mike (White)

White were overall winners by 5 goals to 2

White scorers Les H 2, Phil 1, Mike 1 penalty & Joe 1

Orange John Carroll scoring both

Tracy had an excellent spell In goal diving to save a shot on the very solid floor

Meanwhile outdoors there were some tricky adjustments required to accommodate the uneven numbers Members are reminded that if they decide not to turn up, having already indicated they were intending to play, their selfish (in)action does impact the enjoyment of everyone else

Eventually a game of 9 v 8 took place with little room for anyone involved The normal practice of switching a player for the second half to even things up was banjaxed by Herr Jeff Betty electing to even numbers by playing as a keeper for Lilac

Teams were;

Pink - PJ, Doug, Jason, Tom Stretch, Ste Carine, Nigel, Chris 4G, Ian Hilton & Simon

Lilac - Lee Willo, Eamon, Paul W, Benno, Mike Thomo, Deano, Haggis & Little John

The numerical imbalance was very evident from the start Lilac under pressure Pink took the lead when a Tom Stretch shot from distance was turned in by Ian Hilton 1-0 Ste Carine punished a poor Lilac clearance to make it 2-0 after barely 8 minutes Lee Williams pulled a goal back for 2-1 but this merely roused the Pink as Jason finished for 3-1 Carine took further advantage to make it 4-1 Pink able to exploit the overlap with their extra player Tom Stretch disguised his shot to finish at the near corner 5-1

After half time with Jeff Betty now an honorary Lilac, the opening exchanges were pretty even Chris 4G finished a fine move unmarked at the back post 6-1 Lilac were at least now making chances but failed to take advantage Tom Stetch claimed another for 7-1 El Presidente took action in an effort to prevent a landslide win, switching Dougie and Benno

Pink played a high number of first time passes to open up Lilac, then were victims of a rare Lilac first time sequence when Lee Williams made it 7-2 Carine grabbed his hat trick for 8-2 Another wasteful Lilac clearance was punished by Ian Hilton 9-2 Pink hit double figures when Chris 4G finished unmarked from wide left 10-2

Haggis hit a superb consolation for 10-3 Drizzle freshened up the last couple of minutes Paul Winstanley was on hand to make 10-4

A tough night for Lilac, but who played right on to the end Handshakes all round

One outdoor match with too many players, too little space but 14 goals!