When I first wandered into the silly little game that is grassroots football, it would be fair to say that never did I believe it would be possible to make a difference to so many peoples lives. Nor did I think I would make so many friends along the way.
After forming my club Manchester Lions JSC in 2015 we immediately set out on an untrodden path, we wanted to make somehow even the slightest of changes which could, in turn, alter the archaic way grassroots clubs had been run for as long as I can remember. We wanted to promote the development of the person first and foremost and the footballer secondly, aiming to offer more than all those around us and passing creative control across to those who matter the most, the children involved.
Initially, I had one group of parents and the daunting task of selling a trip to Barcelona before we even had an established team. To those people, I would like to say thank you as without your backing we wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are today. Anyway to the point, three years later and Barcelona 2018 was set to be our third trip to play in a tournament on European soil.
From the first minute as the players began to fly out, which unfortunately had to be done over a number of different days due to work commitments, it was evident that this year wasn’t going to be unhindered. One family spent the night on the floor of Paris CDG airport after the French airstrike caused them to miss their connecting flight to Barcelona. Another drove to Luton to sit on the aircraft for three hours before being told the flight was now cancelled, thanks again to French Air traffic control! Luckily the rest of the group fly out unhindered, but very tentatively as we feared the worst.
The weekend of the 26th/27th of May arrived, and the two Manchester Lions teams went into the weekend roaring with pride, following the anniversary of the Manchester Arena bombing the year previous and with the Bee emblazoned on our sleeves, we knew quite honestly that something was in the water.The way the age grouping works in Europe was indeed against us, and it showed massively as our older team, some of which were giving as much as 14 months to their opposition struggled to get going and lost all 4 of their initial group games. While the 07 team playing comfortably in their respective group knocked all those in front of them for six, scoring emphatically and conceding only once from the penalty spot before the knockout rounds.
Initially you hear the words Brazil and you think, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Pele, Socrates, so as you can imagine the daunting thought of defeat flooded across our teams and the parents whose fingernails were now non-existent. We were lifted to find the team had been beaten in the group stages by the French side we disposed of 5-1 in the quarters and spirits began to rise once more.In all fairness the final itself was anti-climatic, and a description of all that happened really isn’t needed. The opposition set up deep in their own half with a defensive player who moved across the floor more like Usain Bolt than a footballer and a striker who was tall, broad and powerful. Yes, you got it...We played the only Brazilian team in history to park the bus and hit the target man and then Jan Koller himself would hold up anything and everything simply to eat into the clock. Once again you guessed it, the game finished 0-0.
English team on Penalties, need I say any more? We hit the post. They scored all 5, and the dream was over. BUT that depends entirely on what dream you set out to achieve.
Don’t get me wrong every child loves to play, and of course, they love to win! But as we sat around the pool that evening, I watched 18, ten and eleven-year-old boys laugh and joke with each other as if no defeat had ever occurred two hours previous.
Somewhere along the line, especially in the UK, we seem to have forgotten what this whole thing is about. Football is a game that I love, more than most I would believe. It's the universal language across the world, we could turn up on an island where no-one speaks a single word of English, place two t-shirts on the floor and two more opposite and drop a plastic bottle and everyone would know the script. This is an opportunity in every single way, just to live and learn the basics of the game, the friends we make and the personal development of relationships, that is what we are here for, and hopefully, who knows next year we might take more than two teams on our trip!
To say I am immensely proud of the boys would be an understatement the 2007 team scored 32 goals conceded 2, had the top goalscorer overall with 12 and two other players in the top 5. The 2006 team put on a show in the last two games scoring 13 and conceding 0!
I would personally like to thank all the parents and players who made an effort this year, in all our fundraising work and indeed in some cases giving up your family holidays.
Secondly, I would like to thank SPORF for the kit sponsorship. Nick and Steve helped the boys massively and kitted us out in undeniably the best looking kit this summer…Nigeria included!
To the Nags Head Pub, the greatest pub in Manchester for funding our 06 teams tracksuits. And Its-a-baby for doing likewise for the 07 tracksuits. They will be worn on into this season and therefore will still get plenty of use and advertisement!
To IMUA for sponsoring the travel t-shirt, we greatly appreciate it, and the grassroots community bonus all which helps numerous causes each and every month in our wonderfully impoverished area, for sponsoring our travel bags.
Finally a massive thank you to Wayne Richardson, who gave up his time to run some sessions for our boys to improve their speed, fitness, conditioning and much more. Wayne currently works with numerous Premier League footballers including Englands own Jesse Lingard. Thanks again, my friend...The best speed coach in the game!
Sorry for the length of this post I understand its more novella than a blog, but I promise I cut LOTS of wonderful things out so thank you for reading.
D
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