Wake Up Everybody*

The progression of the FIFA World Moneyball Cup (now into the last 8 or 4 by the time you read this Blog) presented a tricky dilemma for our Members As England rolled into town to face Mexico at a scheduled 1am on Monday morning, members had to chose to stay awake and watch ‘live’ or retire for the night and catch up events later that morning In the end the whole show was put back until 2am due to localised thunderstorm conditions (global warming is of course fake news)

So those die-hard people that prevailed were rewarded with an amazing match And those plucky Engerlanders navigated everything thrown at them for a hard earned win and the chance to face Viking United Rowers in the Quarter Finals

Unsurprisingly some of our Monday crew looked decidedly fatigued when the Ruskin Sports Village Session started A very warm morning greeted 36 players, with temperatures rising as the session progressed Those few who tried to adopt a ‘need my sleep’ approach were only slightly sprightlier - the weather in St Helens turned balmy and breezy and levelled the entire affair Who had the appetite to play? Dear reader we may never know!

The assembled masses were seeded into the following groups;

Green - Les Meldrew, Mika, Citeh Geoff, Mark NR, Sheila & Girvo

Blue -Steve Jones, Rita, GRAV, John Hayes, Andy Man & El Presidente

Black - Barry Wizz, Robin, McSpeed, Lord Rainford, Mike Thomo & Trish

Red - Ricky, Mike Bates, John Hill, Kerry & Enoch

Purple- Phil the Power, Monday Michelle, Aldo, Ashy, Haggis and Little John

Old Gold - PaulF, Eamon, Jill Tomo, Lefty Bridge, Cockney Rebel and Cornelius

There was a late change to the Refereeing line up with Spanish resident Steve Clint Eastwood (El Gringo) taking up the whistling duties on Pitch 1 Regular Head Ref Jeff Betty looked after the Blue v Green encounter at the Far End as plucky Yicker troubadour Martin Chopper Williams reluctantly stepped into the spotlight on Pitch 2 If that didn’t wake us all up nothing would!

There was a high scoring game with Red put in the shadows by Black The power and goal threat of McSpeed and Mike Thomo proved too much for the Red faced (sun stroke victims) Four goals by McSpeed and a hat trick by strike partner Thomo steered Black to victory Red did score thanks to Mike Bates 2 and Kerry with two too (she was wearing shorts and not a little ballet number) Black 7 v Red 4 The real damage inflicted in the second half with dominant Black securing the win after being held 3-3 at half time

Blue were excellent value for their win over Green with crisper more accurate passing and a defensive display that nullified any Green ambitions Rita and El Presidente looked very assured with keeper John Hayes on top form too The midfield/attacking unit of Andy Man, GRAV and Steve Jones stretched Green out of shape at times with great links up and sublime passing Green’s attacking force was kept tightly under control, Sheila and Mark struggling to get any decent chances Girvo was unable to make much impact from midfield Citeh Geoff as the lone defender, left without support too often Mika & Meldrew struggled in the heat and were bi-passed by the accuracy of the Blue passing

Goals by Steve Jones 2 and GRAV for Blue with Mark grabbing a late consolation for Green

3-1 the final score

With Chopper focused on his task, it was left to Phil the Power to provide some insight into the Purple v Black

“We think it was 7 v 6 to Old Gold

5 -0 ahead at half time, I recall Jill getting a couple of goals including an absoloute worldie!

We made a player change at half time. Eamon swapped from Gold to Purple and probably  bagged 4 goals. PaulF swapped with him and got 2 goals”

Aldo continues - Eamon scoring for both sides, he’d swapped with Haggis half time...Ashy rolled back the years and fired Purple back into the game with a penalty. Old Gold were too strong however and were good value for their win”

The final word with Phil who summed it all up, Great game played very fairly and well Refereed by Chopper who obviously knows a thing or too about tackling!

Wednesday night’s Sutton SoccerDome session was played against a backdrop of yet more heat A humid sunny afternoon with temperatures in the high twenties, meant numbers peaked at 22 with our two senior Referees Herr Betty and El Presidente doing the heavy lifting from the vantage point of the touch lines Unusually we had an abundance of spectators along to witness the SHWFC Walking Football Fest

The teams selected were;

Black - Deggs, Phil the Power, Meldrew, Les H, Doug & Chris 10P

Orange - PJ, Eamon, Graeme, Joe the Ghost, Gaz & Cockney Rebel

Red - Neil Stretch, Andy Man, Lord Rainford, Little John & Jason

Yellow - Ian Hilton, Mike Thomo, Citeh Geoff, Jim Murphy & GRAV

Red met Yellow in the 5 a side contest, with El Presidente, the man with the whistle (doesn’t mean he used much) This was a first class contest, especially in the opening half with both sides employing a high press The resulting first half was predictably tight, despite some excellent passing and support, goals were hard to find The onlooking spectators included two generations of the Painter family, drawn to watch the Patriarch Citeh Geoff They weren’t disappointed, as usual he was impeccable Lord Rainford put in a mighty performance for Red and was unlucky not to add a goal to celebrate his birthday, firing just wide with an attempted Sussex Sweep Little John put in a good contribution following his weekend exploits with the NW ROI team in Limerick

All around the pitch players showed off their best endeavours The first half was predictably close as a result Yellow took the lead with Ian Hilton on target after some fine passing Little John applied the finish to a well constructed equaliser 1-1 A great passage of play followed before Mike Thomo fired Yellow ahead just before the half time interval

After half time Yellow adopted a more cautious approach, content to contain Red attacks with timely interventions and blocks On the break Yellow were much more direct and Jim Murphy picked off the best chance to propel Yellow 3-1 ahead, a deft touch to steer home with Red fully stretched The last goal of the night followed this pattern Jim pouncing on a half chance to take the match further away from Red 4-1 the final score Red created half chances but couldn’t produce the goals their performance deserved

Black v Orange on the adjacent pitch was another splendid game in the unrelenting heat Ref Jeff Betty enforced the hydration break format with military precision Both sides endured the conditions to produce another magnificent match

Black 5 v 3 Orange

Black - Deggs 2, Chris 10P, AN Other 2 (or possibly not)

Orange - Cockney Rebel, Gaz, Eamon

Orange started well taking a 1 nil lead but Black wrested back control and by half time were 4-1 up thinking the the game was over Black effectively stopped playing This let Orange back into the game pulling the score back to 4-3 Black kick-started a revival and Deggs secured the win with his second goal

A topsy - turvy game with both teams having good spells. A fair result in the end

We are delighted to spotlight 3 members making their first steps towards international glory, John Penders, Donal McCormack and Tony Whitehead were in the North West ROI squad that took part in a Tournament in Limerick last weekend The event featured teams from the Irish provinces (but not Ulster) plus teams of Irish qualified players here in England John was most impressed with the sharpness of players and the craic was mighty too El Presidente, who played for ROI Over 70s team in Dublin 4 years ago in games against England and Wales agreed the quality of players, touch & technical ability, at this level is amazing Our other International Jill Thomas was part of England Ladies team at World Nations event last October in Spain, made the same observation Our 3 touch format encourages a better first touch and improved technique We hope our members continue to seek recognition at the highest levels

There was success too for Kerry Ashcroft who was a tournament winner with her Northern Ladies on Saturday

Well done to Engerland, commiserations to the Viking United Rowers England now face the combined might of Argentina plus Infantino and his Shady Sleaze Machine in Wednesday’s semi final Arrangements to postpone our regular Sutton session for 24 hours are in hand

Finally we urge as many people as possible to attend our Annual General Meeting at Ruskin Monday from 12:30 Come along and get involved

Wake Up Everybody* - Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes (featuring the awesome voice of Teddy Pendergass)

https://youtu.be/axmBtBOlbVU?is=kXK4G5QSX9yeeR9_