You're Supposed To Be At Home

Airbus UK Broughton – 1

Colwyn Bay – 6

Preseason Friendly – 11^th August 2012

So my amazing week of sport finished with a preseason friendly against Airbus UK.

After taking in the Olympic Park on Wednesday and Eton Dorney on Thursday, the Saturday saw me head down the coast from Colwyn Bay to the small village of Broughton to see Colwyn Bay’s last away pre-season friendly.

Airbus UK have become a stable side in the Welsh Premier League, after winning the Cymru Alliance in 2004, and have had a pretty good preseason including a victory over new Conference North boys – Chester FC.

Luke Denson had a cracking game for the visitors.

I left for Airbus in a car pool (yes! Odd for me!) quite late on, and arrived at the ground about a quarter of an hour before kickoff. Nevertheless, in that time I took in the ground (a small ground located on the edge of Airbus UK’s Broughton factory, hence the name), bought a burger and a badge from the club shop. It is – to coin a phrase associated with us Welsh – tidy. The pitch was immaculate and the game kicked off.

Colwyn Bay started brightly against a tricky team, and took the lead after 10 minutes when Rob Hopley linked up well with Luke Denson down the left wing, and a ball across the box eventually found its way to Paul Ennis who rifled into the top corner. Hopley – who was dangerous all day – nearly doubled Bay’s advantage when he – linking up well with Holdsgrove – fired in a shot that hit the crossbar with the keeper well beaten.

Airbus never really threatened, and really had an extra man on the pitch with the referee seemingly give the home side a lot more of the 50/50 decisions. One such incident was after Paul Ennis pulled up off the ball with a twisted knee, the game was allowed to continue by the referee. It was a friendly game for goodness sake!

Ennis eventually, after lengthy treatment, continued for a bit, and set up Colwyn Bay’s second from a left sided corner, that Hopley allegedly headed in, though it looked more like an own goal from my vantage point. That was the last action from Paul Ennis, who was substituted on the stroke of half time, with the score 2-0 to the visitors.

Colwyn Bay created chance after chance after chance.

The half time raffle followed, with a fantastic gesture from the Wingmakers – all proceeds going to Danny Meadowcroft’s charity. Our captain Danny Meadowcroft’s daughter suffers from Short Bowel Syndrome and is running the Great North Run for “Short Bowel Survivors and Friends” and “Ronald McDonald House Charities”. You can donate if you want here.

The second half began and the game was effectively over ten minutes later when Kevin Holdsgrove scored a 6 minute hat trick, all three from fast break, and all three with confident finishing. Holdsgrove linked up well, and was immediately taken off following his hat-trick, to be replaced by Allan Collins. Collins got the sixth after beating the keeper to the ball on 65 minutes. Michael Thomas then got the ball in the net but it was ruled offside, Hopley hit the bar again, and Airbus UK got a late consolation, a penalty, to make sure that Colwyn Bay’s run of not keeping a clean sheet extends for one more game.

Nevertheless, it was a great day in the office for Colwyn Bay. After a wobble after the Rhyl game that lasted until the Caersws game, we’ve picked it up again. Holdsgrove and Hopley seem to be full of goals for this season. I’m excited for the season, bring on the Blue Square North!

The Olympic Games, Canoe Sprint Finals – 9^th August 2012

So my Olympic adventure came to an end at a place where Britain had so much success – Eton Dorney. Although the rowing was almost a distant memory, the action continued on the purpose built lake for the Olympics – Eton Dorney was the venue for Canoe Sprint finals, and the first time I will see a medal ceremony at the games.

The event was a little different, and stupidly I was a little late in arising as I was confident that the venue wouldn’t be as busy as the day before. I was wrong, as not only did I have to get to Slough, I also had to walk about a mile or so from the car park to the venue. This – coupled with my delay in stopping by the water stand (I was thirsty, it was blisteringly hot!) – meant I missed the first race – the Men’s Canoe Double 1000m, which was won by Germany’s Peter Kretschmer and Kurt Kuschela. I did catch the second race – the Men’s Kayak Four 1000m, which produce a rarity at this games – an Olympic Gold for Australia. I nearly died of shock! The next race was probably the one that many people surrounding me were most interested in – the Women’s Kayak Single 500m. It was the first race that I actually saw a Brit compete in – Rachael Cawthorn. Sadly, it wasn’t to be as she came six, with the Hungarian Danuta Kozak winning the race, sending the Hungarian contingent around me into disarray. I’ve since decided I am very good luck for Hungarians, and should be adopted as a national hero for them. The final race – a Women’s Kayak Double 500m – was won by Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze.

And that was it, in an hour, my Olympics was over.

Hindsight being a wonderful thing, I kinda wish I went to the free Open Swimming event in Hyde Park, where we had a decent chance of a medal, and I had a decent chance of a lie in (it was a late one the night before), but nevertheless, the memories would stay with me forever.

The best thing about Day 13 of the Olympic Games for me came a bit later at 10pm. Whilst I’ve been watching a fair bit of the events, very little I have cancelled or changed plans to watch.

Until Jade Jones came onto the scene.

Jade is pretty much the only athlete in Team GB from North Wales – and is from Bodelwyddan. I caught her semi-final in the mid afternoon, which saw her beat one of the best in the world to reach the final of her class in Taekwondo. After meeting up with a few friends in the evening, I told them that – if nothing else – I’m watching the Taekwondo final, the first chance of Britain to get a Gold in that event, as well as the first North Walian gold medallist that I can remember.

After commandeering one TV in the second bar I went in (the first didn’t allow them to change channels – boo!), I sat and watched the entire of the final, feeling every punch and kick. And lo-and-behold – she did it! Jade Jones, Olympic Champion, from North Wales.

After getting bought a beer by a South African Gamesmaker, who wanted to record my story, as well as a Mexican journalist, I left the bar, headed back to the hotel in a drunken haze, after listening to Catatonia’s “I Am The Mob” about half a dozen times (often singing the line “When duty calls, gonna bust some balls” at the top of my voice on the tube). In a weird way, despite seeing the greatest football team of my generation live, the day spent in the Olympic Park, seeing the venue with a lot of British success and all sorts of smiley faces, I think Jade Jones’ gold medal will be my legacy from the games.

And yes, as I sit and write this, I like to think I am at least a little bit inspired. I’ve taken a look at the schedule for the next sporting event in the UK – the Commonwealth Games in 2014 in Glasgow, and already made a conscientious decision to go. I am inspired; now to find a sport I can take up and get good in two years so I enter not as a blogger, but as a competitor.

Now… where can I take up Lawn Bowls?

Iceland – 33

Hungary – 34

The Olympic Games, Handball Quarter-Finals – 8^th August 2012

From the day that the Olympic Games was announced to be held in London, I knew I was going. Come hell or high water, I was going. Admittedly, I had visions of watching the Athletics, seeing Justin Gatlin defend his 100 meters title. Alas, I wasn’t the only one with this dream, and I didn’t get tickets. For a long time I thought I’d have to make do with my trip to Old Trafford, as that was the only ticket I got. However, luck would have it on the third round of announcements of tickets – I had a strategy, and I had a friend to go with, and I had the time and the money. After a quick search, I landed tickets to the handball quarter-finals.

In all honesty, at the start of the Olympics, I had no idea of the rules or anything else to do with handball. Sure, I swotted up on the Wikipedia article, but in the end it seemed a little dry. However, thanks to the obscene level of BBC Coverage of the Olympics, I managed to watch a few games before going. I was treated to a fast paced, enjoyable team sport. Sure there were a few nuances I hadn’t picked up before the match on Wednesday, but I’m sure I could still enjoy it.

Her off the telly!

We woke exceedingly early for a day slap bang in the middle of the holiday as we were told to arrive 2 hours before our event. We caught a train to Stratford, and entered the Olympic Park. Security was tight, but it was extremely quick getting people into the park – there were airport style bag scanners that weren’t present at the football at Old Trafford, and this made security rather quick.

Also it should be noted that the helpers were incredibly jovial, many of them occupying tennis-umpire-style chairs, geeing up the crowd over the megaphones. After a short wait, we were in the Olympic park, and was greeted by the large Olympic Stadium and the Orbit – a red structure that was a focal point of these games. After taking in a few photos, we headed to the TV gantries, where we saw our first celebrity of the day: Bill Turnbull. Bill bloody Turnbull! The early morning breakfast legend! We also saw two time Olympic gold medal winner Laura Trott being interviewed as well.

The Basketball Arena

After taking a small walk around the park, we headed to the Park Live area, which was all the action on the big screen. The first race was a canoe sprint (an event I’d be seeing the next day), which wasn’t won by a Brit (shock horror). At about 10 o’clock, we headed to the basketball arena, where we got an idea on how big the game of handball is.

You see, today was quarter final days, and on paper – a game between favourites Iceland and strugglers Hungary – may not set the world alight. Some unlucky fans of some of the other quarter finals (including Sweden vs Denmark and Spain vs France) ended up with these tickets, and were already looking to exchange their tickets for replacements.

They shouldn’t have bothered, as they were in for a treat.

We entered the basketball arena surprisingly late at around 10:15, and took our seats. The arena is one of the temporary structures in the park, and it showed. It was nice enough, but it did seem like it could be dismantled fairly easily. Nevertheless, we were treated to a warmup, as well as an explanation of the rules, and who to look out for. With 10 minutes to go, a lot of people filed into the crowd, and there were a fair number of Icelandic fans, but they were dwarfed in number by the Hungarian fans. The atmosphere was incredible, as the game went to the start. We were surrounded by Iceland fans and curious observers, so we adopted Iceland as the team for this game.

Iceland with a rare attack

The game began, and Hungary took an early lead. With so many goals and moments occurring, it’s difficult to explain what happened in this fast pace game, but scores remain fairly constant – particularly against strong teams and particularly in the quarter finals. Therefore, it was surprising that Hungary took a 5-1 lead early in the contest. Much of the game was Hungary leading, with Iceland trying to claw back the lead, but in the first half, Hungary were either leading or drawing, usually leading.

The atmosphere was electric in the Basketball arena, with Hungarians being louder than the Icelandic fans, and come half time the game was tightly poised. However come the second half Hungary ran again and pulled out another five goal lead of 17-12, and Iceland spent most of the second half fighting back. However, Iceland came back, and lead 27-26 with 10 seconds to go.

And then the most incredible passage of play to occur.

Iceland had a penalty, if they score they’d be 28-26 up with 10 seconds to go. However, it was saved, and the pass was made to Mate Lakai to score with 2 seconds to go, taking the game into overtime.

DRAMA!

After the first overtime, the game was once again level, at 30-30, but Hungary scored a couple of goals in the early in the first half of second overtime, to take the game beyond Iceland, 34-33.

An amazing atmosphere, with an amazing game. I loved every minute, but the day was still young, so we checked out the rest of the Olympic Park.

My view for the afternoon. Much beer was had.

Overall, it was an incredible experience, a lot going on, with plenty of people around. Forget anything else, nothing was like my day in the Olympics. And it wasn’t quite over yet, with canoe sprint to go!

Egypt – 1

New Zealand – 1 &

Brazil – 3

Belarus – 1

The Olympic Games Football, Group C Matches – 29th July 2012

So after 7 years, the Olympic Games are finally here.

If you were to believe the press coverage leading up to the XXX Olympiad (I like calling it that), you’d know that there were a bunch of monumental screw-ups, and questions were being asked about the games. One of them were the ticketing – how many tickets would end up in the hands of fans, and how many would go to people genuinely interested in it?

The first round of tickets offered were offered via a ballot, and for a long time, the football tickets – by far the easiest tickets to get – were the only tickets I could get my hands on. I later manage to get Handball tickets (which follows in a couple of weeks on this blog), at the second round, first-come-first-serve of tickets being sold.

Anyway, first up was football, and – thankfully – no Team GB. Instead I get two nations with a remarkable football pedigree, and two other emerging nations in games. I left my house at the obscene time of 9:30am on a Sunday to head to Old Trafford for the first time. The home of Manchester United is the closest ground to my house, and yet, before today, I’ve never been. Been to the second closest football ground to my front door (Brantingham Road, the home of Maine Road, that ironically began as a Manchester City fan team), but not the first.

This appeared outside my home recently.....

As I headed to the Metrolink stop (which I board every day to go to work), I got greeted by one of the many volunteers helping at the games. I kind of imagine that they have to undergo a Clockwork Orange esque scene of being forced to watch puppies, kittens and rainbows, they are so incredibly cheerful! I got helpfully pointed towards Old Trafford, and – after a rather efficient bag search – I was in the ground.

They say arrive two hours before the games, the entire process meant I was in the ground an hour and 45 before kick off, but absolutely no complaints about the seats! Third row, and just about under the covers. It resulted in a time-killing phone call to the parents to describe where I was, and to look out for me. Nothing like crippling the mother and father’s day by forcing them to watch football, is it?

Egypt probably not taking the warmup as seriously as they should

After being entertained by DJ Spoony, who was providing warm up (which lead to a few moments of resounding boos, most notably when he asked if there were any Manchester United fans in attendance), I headed off for a sausage roll. I kind of wish I didn’t as it was the single most revolting thing I’ve ever eaten. Rubbery and borderline sickly, I expected better from the 19 time Premier League Champions. The game began to fill up, though oddly for the first game there were empty seats next to me. Those that were there (which was announced as a shade over 50,000) were mainly Egyptian fans, and come midday, the match kicked off.

Empty seats. Brazillian, not corporates, incidentally.

Egypt straight away seemed like the much stronger side, and seemed a lot more value than their previous game (a 3-0 defeat to Brazil), so it was surprising when the All Whites took the lead, a corner taken by Michael McGlinchey was flicked on by Tommy Smith, which lead to Chris Wood of West Brom’s fame to bundle into the net. In literally the first attack for New Zealand, they were 1-0 up.

The lead didn’t last for too long, however, as Mohamed Salah equalised just on the half hour mark burying a cross beneath the New Zealand keeper, who played well, and did get his hand to the ball. Come half time, the score was 1-1.

Egypt look good for the win but struggled the second half.

The second half was a lively affair, with Egypt having most of the ball, but New Zealand defending resolutely. Very few clear cut chances were present until injury time, which had the most remarkable passage of play I’ve seen at a football match.

Emad Moteb raced onto a ball in the box, and dodging and weaving between players, he had the goal at his mercy. Instead of putting the game beyond doubt, he blasted it over. Egypt, thinking that was it, fell asleep only for New Zealand to counter attack. A chance went straight at the keeper, who launched a final counter attack. Although it lead to a decent chance, it was easily save. Mark Clattenburg brought the game to an end with the honours even, with the crowd nicely warmed up for the real stars – Brazil.

The next World Cup Winners (and West Ham's James Tomkins)?

An hour break was between the games, but nevertheless much of that hour was spent watching the fascinating Brazil training sesson. As somebody who has taken photos at football matches you can kind of predict where the ball will go. Not with Brazil, some of the tricks and their ball control was superb. The atmosphere picked up as well, as the sea of red that was a mixture of Egypt fans and empty seats changed to a sea of yellow for Brazil.

As the teams were announced, the first cock-up of the day occurred. One of Brazil’s substitutes was announced as the rather unBrazilian James Tomkins. James Tomkins is one of Team GB’s footballers, so yes, massive screw up.

Neymar

Belarus though had much cause to celebrate. Qualification for the first time in an Olympic games, this team – if a little older – could become a challenger to the European elite. You could see it on the emotion of the players playing before kick off, which happened soon after 3.

Brazil seemed content to pass the ball in front of Belarus, who went through the first three minutes without touching the ball once. It was a surprise of Eric The Eel proportions when Renan Bardini Bressan (a favourite on Football Manager) scored from Belarus’ first attack to put the Eastern Europeans 1-0 up after 7 minutes. The lead lasted until the quarter of the hour mark, when the latest Brazilian hero Neymar sent a glorious cross to the far post for Pato to head in. No more goals occurred in the first half, despite much Brazilian pressure, and the game was 1-1 at half time.

Oscar had a very strong second half.

The second half kicked off, and Neymar began to run the show. After a couple of mazy dribbles past a few Belerussian players, he was fortunate to get a free kick 35 yards out when it appeared he (accidentally) kicked one of the Eastern European centre backs in the back of the head. There was no mistake with the free kick, leaving the keeper well beaten with the finish, in what was the goal of the game.

PICK THAT ONE OUT!!!

Although it didn’t kill the game off, it was still all Brazilian pressure, and the game was finally over when Neymar took the ball past two players, backheeled it to Chelsea new boy Oscar, who rifled the ball into the back of the net. Final score, Brazil 3, a spirited Belerus 1.

I left the games beaming from ear to ear. Sod the ticket fiasco, sponsorship and G4S. Today was watching the greatest sport on Earth played at the greatest event on Earth, with possibly one of the greatest teams on Earth. Nothing can put me off, not least the three empty seats beside me.

Yes, those empty seats? Well it may have played into my hands. After checking the London 2012 website, tickets for a Thursday early morning session of Canoe Sprint have come available. It’ll be an early morning trek to Buckinghamshire, but for a once in a lifetime experience, it’ll be worth it.

A once in a lifetime experience, which I’m experiencing three times in two weeks now.

Runcorn Linnets – 1

Colwyn Bay FC – 0

Preseason Friendly – 24^th July 2012

To coin a phrase from a certain Jamaican Alcoholic Beverage – the M56 on the 24^th August was “total gridlock”.

Something happened. I’m not sure what happened, many people weren’t sure, but all was known that although the majority of the players for Colwyn Bay had arrived in Runcorn, the majority of the Runcorn players, the ref, the linesman and the Colwyn Bay kit were still stuck somewhere along the North Wales Coast along with a fair few fans. Kick off was due to be at 7:30pm. It was 7:22am at the time of writing.

I’ve been part of cancelled games before, the Woodley Sports vs Chester game was cancelled due to floodlight failure, and it actually turned out to be the best thing that happened – we spent the night in the clubhouse, and the replay was such a dull insipid affair that it’s one of the few games I have written about but yet to put live on this blog, due to me spending second half in said clubhouse.

Matty Berkeley, one of the new faces on show for Colwyn Bay.

This time however, there is no friends to spend time with, and also no clubhouse with which to enjoy drinks. In truth, I was bored, and done something that I have never done before when writing this blog – started writing a blog post before the game began.

7:30pm came and went. Kick off was rescheduled to 8:00pm. Still no kit. Still no beer. Still bored.

However, floodgates opened 5 minutes later when the kit and a few friendly faces arrived. We still had one calamity which could materialise – with the game kicking off at the latest at 8pm, we still had no recognised keeper.

Eventually a compromised was reached – we borrowed Runcorn’s reserve keeper, to give him a full game. Apparently it wasn’t the first time this happened – the game he played against Clitheroe the week before he played a blinder.

Along with old faces, such as Rob Hopley, who is part of the furniture at the Bernabay.

Not you could tell come kick off. After one minute, the Runcorn Linnets left winger crossed to the near post, that was flicked on and scored with a diving header by Paul Bowes.

The Runcorn team was full of Evostik Colwyn Bay ex-players, in particular Billy Webb (who played under current Chester gaffer Neil Young), and Lewis Callaghan, who had two successful spells at the club.

In truth the keeper had a bit of a shakey start, and really couldn’t do anything about the goal, but soon Colwyn Bay came back into it, with Paul Ennis and Danny Lloyd looking dangerous down the wings, Rob Hopley hit the bar, and Matty Berkeley coming close a couple of times, but the keeper wasn’t too threatened, and it was 1-0 at half time.

Colwyn Bay had chances, but nothing too clear-cut.

Unfortunately, that is where we’ll have to leave this post, as in my infinite wisdom I booked a cheaper earlier fare back from Runcorn East train station, rather than a more expensive later fare. I’d hope to see the first half and much of the second, instead I got the grand total of 35 minutes. Some trialists play longer than that! Furthermore, I really didn’t fancy being on Runcorn East train station late into the night, it’s such a terrifying place.

Anyway, from what I heard the second half wasn’t much better. Lee Davey was ejected from the field of play for a bad tackle, and Runcorn missed a penalty in the dying seconds to put the game beyond doubt. Not the best game, but my excuses were already lined up.

Blame the M56.