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Saturday 17th
May 2008 in Emden, Germany
Top L-R Andrea(Emden), Ian Baird(Lpool),
Simon Jones(London), William Terry(Forth), Derek Mcauley (Forth),Stefan Looij
(Lpool), Wayne Roberts (Bristol), Andy Bissaker(Lpool), Tony Crew(Manchester)
Bottom L-R Simon Wood (Lpool), Kenneth
Macinnes(Forth), David Roberts (Lpool), Alan Salisbury(Lpool), Kevin
Walsh(Everton), Peter Flanagan(London), Martin Greenslade(Bristol)
A gaggle of pilots from all over
the United kingdom head to Emden to compete in the EMPA pilots 44th
Annual Football
tournament having only met for the first time on the
Friday.
We all credited ourselves very well
and did not lose a match, but better than that we made great friends
amongst
our European colleagues. Below are some memories from the day.
This is the first time the UK has
been represented since the 1980's but after such a great time we know we
will be back.
Click on any photo to
enlarge
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Team Captain Kev Walsh on his first Stawberry Daiquiri of the day |
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Opening success with a 2-0 win over Vlissingen pilots |
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Willy takes some orange after a 1-1 draw against Amsterdam |
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Martin's penalty against Weser-Ems give us a 1-0 lead against Weser Ems |
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Despite sterling work by Fabien Barthez lookalike Alan Weser Ems levelled the match 1-1. |
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We were ably assisted (and distracted) by our lovely local assistants (Andrea and friend) |
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Now all we had to do to get into the next round was beat Brunsbuttel Pilots who had not won a match for years apparently |
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Our offside trap was solid though 90 degrees out! |
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Referee...................................
(We had no Russian Linesmen!)
Stefan takes an enforced break |
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We finished with a 1-1 draw to a very happy Brunsbuttel.
David found that the acceptance speech on his hand had run. |
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We end up finishing in 6th place- we take solice in the fact that we drew with tournament winners Weiser Ems. |
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The evening was as fluid as our football. Bob presented lifelong UK pilots fan Andrea with our team pennant |
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Incidently Bob Swift retired at Midnight during the dance.
Bob though not playing had been charged with keeping the other teams up till late the night before the tournament. Cheers Bob! |
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The night drew to a close |
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But Tony kept going till dawn. Thank you Emden - see you in Oostend next year |
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