Lights, Camera, Action*
- St Helens Walking Football
- Aug 1
- 6 min read
This week’s Blog has been started with an air of disbelief and acute excitement still evident in the world of all things SHWFC Ruskin Sports Village hosted the usual Monday morning session with a sprinkling of Wednesday regulars augmenting the regular Monday crew The session was a prelude to the planned schedule but importantly it ensured those who need their Walking Football fix could play as the appetiser before the afternoon’s main course
The teams kitted out in their splendid new Turks Head kits were;
Blue - Jenko, Steve Jones, Midweek Michelle, Citeh Geoff, Joe the Ghost, Mike and Les Meldrew
Green - Phil the Power, Steve Honeyman, Deggs, Chris 10P (Smoke Bomba #1), Geoff Prout, Grav and Kirsty
Black - Chris 4G, Steve Smith, Chopper, Barry Wizz, Anita, Les H and Cockney Rebel (walking down the wing)
Red - Sheila, Brian, Subbuteo Dave, McSpeed, Wickie and Big Tony
Old Gold - Mike Tomo, Monday Michelle, Lord Rainford, Benno, Tom Stretch and Haggis
Purple - Peter T (PJ), Jill Tomo,Julie, Robin, Andy Man and Enoch
Whilst Friends and Families assembled in the Wicket play got underway with Head Judge Ref Jeff Betty took centre stage with Red playing Purple As a contest the game was a little uneven with Red proving too strong for their Purple opponents Goals by Subbuteo’s finest (pushing for a place in the later entertainment?) and McSpeed each with two, was enough to keep Purple out of the reach Jill Tomo claimed the Purple consolation 4-1 the final verdict
Meanwhile Blue and Old Gold was a much tighter match Blue endebted to Steve Jones and Joe the Ghost but Old Gold matching them with Peter PJ and M’Lord Rainford replying with the Old Gold goals Entertaining fare served for Charlie to run an eye over 2-2 the final score
Black proved much too strong for Old Gold Steve Smith claimed four with Barry wizzing another and Les Hewitt tarnishing the Old Gold rearguard with another goal Mike Tomo and Monday Michelle claimed consolations as Black eased off
In the other games Black shared the spoils with Green A four goal thriller with honours eventually even Les Hewitt and Steve Smith with goals for Black whilst Green hit back with a brace by Smoke Bomba #1 Chris Prout
The second game was equally tight with Steve Jones firing the only goal of the game in Blue’s match up with Green
The post match Slipper Salon interlude was scrapped for the day with Friends, Families and those not involved in the filming suitably fed and watered in the Wicket instead There was a an adequate sufficiency of Danish pastries and sandwiches to feed the small army assembled The real purpose of this was to sway those involved to form a frenzied crowd, capable of singing, chanting and carrying pyrotechnics and banners of their favourite players including Martin Briggs Walking down the Wing
Meanwhile the players, team managers and officials ate with the location catering provided No cake on site but some excellent food nevertheless Players disappeared to the dressing rooms to get kitted out for their 15 minutes of fame (that would last at least three hours)
One of the unspoken things that happen on a filming session is that there’s as much time spent waiting around as there is in action The arrival of ex-Liverpool and England legend David James and current LFC and Lioness Gemma Bonner plus the noisiest crowd ever seen at Ruskin meant that the great reveal was complete The day was given over to Carlsberg and creating a great atmosphere to propel SHWFC onto the world stage
Some players coped with fame amazingly well Deggs now sporting sunglasses and gold dressing gown shared centre stage with Cockney Rebel being interviewed with David James
Tom Stretch Parr produced a cameo goal celebration that brought the crowd to their feet Most players were interviewed during this prolonged pre-game period Referee O’Hooligan eventually got play underway, without reference to his watch There were numerous interruptions to re-play key match moments With 20 minutes left in the allotted hour O’Hooligan finally blew for half time
Did he mention he’d previously refereed rugby union games?
For the record penalties by Monday Michelle and Cockney Rebel following dubious penalty awards were the only goals from the day’s big match Keepers Grav and Mika were particularly impressive An honourable draw to mark a great afternoon
A series of retakes of a Tom Stretch ‘goal’ were undertaken with Stunt Double El Presidente stepping between the sticks That sequence ended with an Assistant Director firing a shot from a yard off the line into the bulging net The end result will be skilfully edited of course but it was fascinating to witness the whole sequence filmed
Now on fire after a series of saves (getting in the way mostly) El Presidente and Lord Rainford moved to a secure part of the arena to make a short sequence with David James guiding Lord Rainford to fire his Sussex Sweep past the hapless Banana Republic international As simple as the concept was, it required possibly 10 retakes before the ball hit the net David James demonstrated he was a great sport despite being hit twice by our ennobled one Great fun and the ex-England keeper declaring he was looking forward to playing Walking Football for England Over 70s - just 15 years to wait for that
The fun continued with those still able to walk retiring to the Turks Head to film some Carlsberg being quaffed responsibly A series of toasts was filmed whilst Lord Rainford and El Presidente were filmed in a Man of The Match award sequence The pub was awash with players, spectators and media luvvies
“Busiest Monday tea-time session for some time” declared one regular bar fly “Great fun, declared another, now get out of my way I need a drink”
Here are some links to the first series of reveals - full campaign starts in August
After Monday’s maelstrom there was a danger that the Wednesday midweek mashup would be a little flat but not a bit of it Instead we had 34 players plus 2 Referees and assorted camp followers Two games and an avalanche of goals
The starting teams were;
Pink - Ian Smith, Colin, PJ, Gonzalo, Benny, Chris 4G, Phil the Power, Haggis and Ian H
Blue - Grav, Eamon, Gaz, Eileen, Brian,J, Lord Rainford, Citeh Geoff, Joe the Ghost and Smoke Bomba #1
Yellow - Steve Honeyman, Cockney Rebel, Benno, Midweek Michelle, Steve Carine, Little John and Lewis Honeyman
Black - Tom Stretch, Deggs, Andy Man, Les H, Mike Tomo, Heather and Steve Smith
El Presidente took charge of a high octane game with Pink and Blue producing an explosive match of great highs and some lows too
Pink roared into a quick lead with goals by Haggis, swooping on a keeper parry to side foot home Gonzalo produced a quick fire hat trick before El Presidente decided that 4-0 was the signal to make a first change The switch made zero difference and Pink advanced to half time with further goals by Ian’s Smith and Hilton, Gonzalo and Joe the Ghost
At half time and with the score 8-0 El Presidente made a further change for equilibrium with staggering affect Smoke Bomba #1 then Gaz hit long range goals to bring some respectabiliy to the score line 8-2 Ian Hilton subject of the half time reshuffle hit two more goals for 8-4 Smoke Bomba #1 now on fire grabbed two more as the Pink defence imploded 8-6
Gonzalo rallied his side with a stinging stream of advice enough to see out the remaining time 8-6 the final score It wasn’t for the purest perhaps but it was full throttle Walking Football with lots of admire
Fast pitch, providing plenty of end to end stuff, 14 goals, despite some excellent saves but perhaps not the greatest defensive exhibition
In sharp contrast the night’s other match between Black and Yellow offered just 8 goals There was a definite contender for goal of the week from Steve Carine for Yellow The fabulous Honeymen produced a goal each for Steve and son Lewis to boost Yellow But a hat trick for Mike Thomo and a brace from the Hutton hitman, one a penalty was enough to hand victory to Black 5-3 Ref Jeff described the game as tricky to keep up with the ball rarely still throughout the whole game
So a week like no other, pulsating thrilling and the filming was pretty good too
Lights, Camera, Action* - Kylie Minogue ( seriously?)