Today was the first day it has rained since I got here. It was Baltic by African standards and the locals were all freezing. When I say it was Baltic I mean that it was hovering around 18 degrees! The lads and ladies were going around the place with full length trench coats, gloves and hats! We were supposed to play a match as well and the lads weren’t too enthusiastic about the whole game thing. We made the decision to play eventually though after slagging them about being girls and headed over to the local pitch. Vervetedine were waiting for us at their spectacular stadium setting.
I’m only joking about that. It was the worst pitch I’ve ever seen, never mind attempted to play on. We removed more building blocks, wire, glass, broken bottles and other things that I wouldn’t mention on here off the pitch before the game. Oh and to top it off a big roll of barbed wire. We did have nets though! The pitch had massive craters in different places and God only knows how someone didn’t break a leg on it. It conjures images for some I’m sure of a field in Leitrim with a Pig’s bladder instead of a ball and big thick leather boots being worn by big thick Leitrim men!
We did pick up a few injuries between the lot of us but nothing too serious. The game actually turned out to be great craic. We beat them five nil which added to the general feeling of happiness. I wish I had brought a camera to give you an idea of the pitch. At one stage the local farmers Bullocks came hurtling across the pitch and we thought they were gonna take a few of us out. Big Long Horn cattle coming hurtling towards you with the bells around their necks ringing. Another African classic! The hilarious thing about it was that the ref didn’t even bother to stop the game for a few seconds while we chased off the offenders!
I’m glad to say we all survived that and we are all hoping to play a tournament in the College on Saturday. It was good preparation for the tournament anyway. We should do alright and we have the advantage of knowing the intricacies of our own pitch. There are a few holes in ours too! We are supposedly even getting a ball that actually has air in it. That was another comedy show in itself on Saturday. The lads having to constantly run off the pitch to pump air into the ball. This was without a valve I might add! I had to go to bed early after the game as my auld bones were aching. I’m not used to 90 minutes of running around the place after a half inflated ball.
I’m only joking about that. It was the worst pitch I’ve ever seen, never mind attempted to play on. We removed more building blocks, wire, glass, broken bottles and other things that I wouldn’t mention on here off the pitch before the game. Oh and to top it off a big roll of barbed wire. We did have nets though! The pitch had massive craters in different places and God only knows how someone didn’t break a leg on it. It conjures images for some I’m sure of a field in Leitrim with a Pig’s bladder instead of a ball and big thick leather boots being worn by big thick Leitrim men!
We did pick up a few injuries between the lot of us but nothing too serious. The game actually turned out to be great craic. We beat them five nil which added to the general feeling of happiness. I wish I had brought a camera to give you an idea of the pitch. At one stage the local farmers Bullocks came hurtling across the pitch and we thought they were gonna take a few of us out. Big Long Horn cattle coming hurtling towards you with the bells around their necks ringing. Another African classic! The hilarious thing about it was that the ref didn’t even bother to stop the game for a few seconds while we chased off the offenders!
I’m glad to say we all survived that and we are all hoping to play a tournament in the College on Saturday. It was good preparation for the tournament anyway. We should do alright and we have the advantage of knowing the intricacies of our own pitch. There are a few holes in ours too! We are supposedly even getting a ball that actually has air in it. That was another comedy show in itself on Saturday. The lads having to constantly run off the pitch to pump air into the ball. This was without a valve I might add! I had to go to bed early after the game as my auld bones were aching. I’m not used to 90 minutes of running around the place after a half inflated ball.
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