My wife and I have run Matamata Swifts AFC’s Mini-Kickers programme for a few years now.
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Well, well. It looks like the UK Pound is plummeting at just about the right time.
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I’m a junior football coach. Much like thousands of parents up and down the country.
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It’s been a while. A really, really long while.
I’ve been busy. You know, doing stuff. Like work. And trying to raise a family. Football. And stuff.
I’ve seen a lot of football since we last went for a ride. On telly. Live. As a fan. Working. As a (junior) coach.
But yeah, it’s been a while.
You reckon we can get this old thing moving again?
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As we burst head-long into another year it’s easy to forget it wasn’t so long ago we were taking part in the biggest sporting event on the planet – the World Cup final. As a lasting memory of that Monday morning (Sunday evening in Brazil) I couldn’t think of any movie better than this one. Put together by the German DW – Kick-off! team it covers this event off perfectly. See ya Brazil 2014. Roll on Russia...
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This was my first trip to Wembley so the game itself was less relevant than actually turning up and watching it.
The fact that San Marino were the visitors was far from a turn off as it meant this was the cheapest game of the Pilgrimage so far (30 quid for the two of us) and the place wasn’t overloaded. Only 55,000 people were there so it was relatively easy to get in and out.
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When the Europa League group stage draw was being made I was hoping for a home game on Thursday October 2 which, among other things, happens to be Jean’s birthday.
Thankfully the UEFA gods were kind, giving me the perfect birthday present, and completed my pilgrimage match itinerary with an early-October Tottenham Hotspur double-header.
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My holiday has kind of got in the way of keeping this blog completely up to date but, no matter, I can still remember enough from my second trip to Vicarage Road to scratch out a few words.
The ground is a 20 minute walk from where our hotel was and it took us through what appears, for London, a rather nice and safe area. I certainly didn’t get the impression anyone would be jumping out from behind a fence to mug us.
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The Valley seems much larger on the telly. I guess that’s the case with many of England, particularly London’s, city and suburban grounds. They pretty much sprang up in the middle of their neighbourhoods with houses packing in against all four corners. On the train out, a longer than expected 20 minute ride, we passed by the New Den, Millwall’s home, and that really did seem like a box.
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In a few hours I jump on a plane and head to the UK.
This trip is a World Cup-infused football pilgrimage, brought about by the fact I made a big mistake in not going to Brazil a few ago. A trip back to the motherland, particularly at this time of year, is always good as there’s a game on pretty much every night. And we’ll be doing a lot of that.
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