then i was warned it was very popular here in grabouw. that scared me a little, as i never took the sport seriously whether its playing or watching. but do have one memory of correcting a deaf semi pro footballer (and most loylal friend) George Stockton Pronunciation of the sport- fooFFall! -remember that georgie boy!
since arriving, i have turned from being the fool on the pitch to a reasonably good player- "good player" status, this was achived by scoring a hat trick home goal when playing in iraq last week!!!
as part of the sports outreach program we play soccer with the kids, a different squatter camp each after each day of the week. no wonder why i have "improve" dramatically. during these sessions we do a warm up, team building game, match with a twist and close with prayer/lifestyle skills.
occasionally like today we take the kids out to other venues to take part in matches/tournaments against other guys, these are great days out as we get to spend time with the kids, meet other people and enjoy free food!
during todays tournament i was summered forcably to ref some of the matches (another skill im improving in). it was all going very well until a little fight broke out due to a bad tackle or somewhat, i blew the wistle to stop the fight- nothing. stepped in between the guys and pushed them apart- nothing. by now more and more guys got involved, then one of the players had projuced a evil looking flick knife and started waving it around with stabbing motion at his oppenin.g player
rather than just staring in disbelive, the kid recived a kick on the back sending him to the floor where he droped the knife, i then gave him a red card and sent him of, (to the disbelive of his coach!- who oboviously thought it was a bad call) and informed the chap running the tournment who was then outraged at the ridicous coach. you may find it shocking that someone produces a knife during a soccer match, you certainly woudn't find Ronney stabbing Bob on the football feild. south africa does have one of the highest crime rates in the world- so i guess its a bit acceptable.
however, the grabouw team included a A and B team (due to so many players) our B team came first and the A team second- a proud achivement giving nearly all team players were playing in bare feet and lycra style shorts- fualts of the coachs appartly.
this photo was actually taken at the beggining- kidding ourselves that we won!
simon x
No comments:
Post a Comment