Light Goes Out on Todai Old Boys

Game 16, March 29

YC&AC Over 35s 5 v University of Tokyo Old Boys 0

This one was relatively straightforward for a change. The aptly named Old Boys of the University of Tokyo (Todai) were organised and had plenty of skill—the 59-year-old No. 13 being one of the best players on the park—but they couldn’t match us for strength or aggression.

Or fitness. Or cruelty. Four of our five goals came in the final quarter when Todai legs were visibly tiring and when yours truly was on the sidelines taking pictures. I won’t make that mistake next season! A golden slipper can be won or lost in such games, as a jet-lagged Marcos Pereira, also watching from the bench in this period, must surely have feared.

In this most one-sided of games our star turns were:

1) Hamed Emami. Quick, skillful, hard and with bags of desire, Hamed is a very welcome recent addition to our squad. He’d be a shoo-in for man of the match here were it not for a certain other individual, who we shall come to in a second. Hamed’s deflected long range effort at the Paul Blamire Shed End brought him a well deserved goal.

2) Peter Yang. Peter has been a vital cog in the Silver Machine this season and it was great to see him get his name on the score sheet here. Peter sidefooted in from a couple of yards out after the ball was played across the face of goal with just a few minutes to go. He was rightly chuffed.

3) Buddy Ferrie. Buddy was making little noises at the start of the season about possibly hanging up his boots, or at least resting them for a while. It’s as well for us he didn’t. One of our best performers this season, Buddy’s aggression, bravery and uncanny heading ability have yielded us loads of goals. The Godfather got three for himself here, two with his head, to register his first hat trick for the Club. Excellent work.

Can anyone remember anything else worth mentioning about this game? If so, please leave a comment. In the meantime (!), here’s a few pictures.

Anders Sjostedt brings it under.

Kevin Carden pings one through.

Gordon Deas leaves their No. 69 for dead.

Thorstein Strand launches one over the top for Harty Heesen.

Rather than risk the first-time volley over the shoulder as I would have done, firing the ball low to the keeper’s right, Harty patiently waited for the ball to drop and bounce and then attempted to lob the man. Ooph! Just over!

Buddy Ferrie nods in his second of the game. Nod.

Buddy wheels away in delight after heading home his third.

By Alex Hendy

Squad: Most of the usual

Goals: Buddy Ferrie (3), Hamed Emami, Peter Yang

Man of the match: Buddy Ferrie

Referees: Good

Cards: None

Attendance: The Deas, the Burton-Towells, the Hammers… More. Many thanks to all. It does make a difference. It really does.

End-of-Season Player Awards

We interrupt these match reports to bring you news of the player-of-the-year awards.

Announced at the End of Season Party for all winter sports, held on April 5 in the main bar and very well attended by the Over 35s, the winners of our three pennants and free down-in-one pints were:

MVP: Gordon Deas
The player voted “most valuable” by his peers was Gordon Deas. Gordon’s had a terrific first season for the Silver Machine. Hard in the tackle, accurate in the pass, he’s been our Patrick Vieira in the heart of the midfield.

MIP: Stephane Laura Martin
The player voted “most improved” by his peers was Stephane Laura Martin. Big Stephane has got noticeably stronger as the season has progressed. His man-of-the-match performance in the Scholars Cup last month may just have swung the vote his way.

Top Goalscorer: Marcos Pereira
The “Top Goalscorer” award went to Marcos Pereira, who has nine (minus one for GM) goals for the season to date—not bad for a left winger. The captains in their wisdom deemed it unlikely that Marcos would be caught in the race for the Golden Slipper with just two (?) games left to play this season.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Hand of Buddha Denies the Fives

Game 15, March 22

YC&AC Over 35s 2 v Seizan Kickers 2

In terms of man-for-man ability, this was a game the Over 35s should have won handsomely, but which ended controversially in a draw after the opposition’s best player clearly controlled the ball with his hand before sliding in a late equalizer.

Shame, because like their namesake Paul, Seizan had otherwise made a good impression.

The Cardplayers, by Paul Cézanne (1892)

A genuinely friendly and non-confrontational bunch, the Kickers even brought us a pennant. (I wonder now if the Seizan of their name isn’t the Seizan of Jodo Shu Buddhism. [Justin?])

YC&AC’s goals came from me, a left-footed putt across the keeper that broke ten times before dribbling into the bottom right hand corner following battling work from Mika Niemi on the edge of the box, and from Tom Chambers, who crashed the ball home through a crowd of legs following a corner.

Not too much else to say about this one really. How about a quote, and a not inappropriate one in the circumstances, from another famous Frenchman (sort of), Albert Camus? For those who don’t already know, Camus was a decent goalkeeper in his day, having played in goal for Racing Universitaire Algerios (RUA) before a nasty dose of TB ended his career prematurely.

“After many years during which I saw many things, what I know most surely about morality and the duty of man I owe to sport and learned it in the RUA.”

There.

By Alex Hendy

Squad: Ed turned up a bit late, so we had just ten shortly before kick off. Many thanks to boy-about-Club Nick (surname?) for stepping up at the last moment and doing a grand job for us in goal.

Goals: Alex Hendy, Tom Chambers

Man of the match: I can’t find my notes. May get back to you.

Cards: None

Attendance: I don’t rightly recall

Fives Go Mad in Kobe

Interport, March 15, 2008

YC&AC Over 35s 2 v KRAC Over 35s 5

Your match reporter was awoken on the morning of Saturday, March 15 by the sound of cleaners banging and moaning in the hotel corridor. “Taihen,” groaned one with a pitiful little quaver in her voice. “Taihen!” whinnied another. YC&AC dartists in the rooms opposite had apparently shown once again that they know how to “bed and breakfast”!

[Note to non-dartists: "bed and breakfast" is the lingo for the miserably common score of 26, achieved by throwing up a 20, a 1 and a 5.]

Debit where it’s due though, the boys were out of bed before I was. I gathered my wits and shinpads, checked that the corridor was clear, and headed down to the KRAC ground where the shambolic opening to YC&AC’s attempt on the Interport was continuing apace.

Credit to the likes of Mikey Loch for gracing the hockey field after the distress and disorderliness of the previous evening’s arrows, but what was Mika Niemi doing there? Finland, hockey… I see the connection, but get yourself off the pitch, Mika. There’s an important game of football to be played this afternoon!

Petr Vyvial was there on the sidelines, quietly willing the hockeyists on, but he too would risk fatigue and injury before the day’s big match, in his case for the sake of a spot of badminton.

Kevin Carden. Check. Captain Sada Hosogai. Check. Patrick Newell, Buddy Ferrie, Yao Ofei Amoabeng. Check. Over 35s debutant Simon Litster. Check. Stuart Neie. Che… damn! Foot still broken…

And what the?! Here’s Gordon Deas wearing—look at the state of him—wearing his shorts outside his tracksuit bottoms. Rumours that had spread during the darts of the potentially hazardous qualities of the KRAC surface would seem to have given Gordon pause for thought. Whatever his excuse, Gordon’s “mad-tramp-who-lives-under-the-bridge” look wins for him a second consecutive “Costume of the Year” award. Check.

With Harty Heesen, Steve McKie and Tim Williams booked to play from the Seconds, we had a team. Any number of influential regulars had not made the trip, but this was still a side with enough about it to get a result. And we hadn’t traveled all that way for nothing.

All That Way for Nothing

With the Firsts and Seconds both having won (in great style), we knew the outcome of the whole Interport could well depend on the Silver Machine somehow grinding out a result (YC&AC being considered strong favourites for the rugby to follow). A win and the Interport was ours; a draw would be enough. We rolled up our sleeves….

And made a right pig’s ear of it.

Our attempts at an ultra-short-passing game failed miserably…

… though at times it was a joy to watch. (Beautiful little heel pass there from Mika to Petr.)

Attempts to go it alone proved equally futile.

Sloppy defending, poor marking, woefully loose passing in midfield [raises hand], injury early doors to Patrick Newell… You name it, we suffered it. And boy, were we punished. KRAC must have got away five shots in the opening three quarters and scored with each of them.

Most teams would struggle for any sort of urgency at 5-0 down going into the final quarter, but not YC&AC Over 35s. Boosted by the introduction of first-team regular Jo Takeda, we rallied, tearing at a tiring KRAC with wave upon wave of irresistible attacking football.

In this final triumphant period we scored twice, a tidy Petr Vyvial finish from a Hendy cutback and a deflected long-range shot from Jo bringing us to within three goals of parity. We might easily have had more. Yaw fired a couple narrowly wide. Their keeper (really good) pulled off one absolutely unbelievable save from Somebodyorother’s header. There were goalmouth scrambles…

But it wasn’t to be. Five goals in 20 minutes was too much to ask even for the Silver Machine. At the final whistle we trudged off rueing our uncustomary shoddiness early on, but pleased to have shown at least a little of our famed resilience in the final quarter.

In summary, this was a strange game. Not really football as the Silver Machine knows it. What went wrong? I don’t know. But if we played KRAC again tomorrow on the bobble patch at YC&AC, few would bet against us absolutely stuffing them.

Where’s Wally?

Finally, a big thanks on behalf of the entire Over 35s squad to Steve McKie, Tim Williams and Jo Takeda for lending us their weary legs and an extra touch of class.

Written by Alex Hendy

Photographs by Alister Millynn

Squad: Picture on the Squad page

Goals: Petr Vyvial, Jo Takeda

Man of the match: Tim Williams. Tenacious, tireless, terrific.

Referees: OK

Card Count: None

Attendance: Maybe 50 odd? Easily our biggest and most vocal of the season.