| |
|
|
| |
35 players and 45 parents and coaches from the Abbotsford Soccer Club
have just returned from a 10 day trip to England to play and to attend
professional games.
Tour Report
March 11th
 The
group had to leave Abbotsford by the light of the moon at 3.30 am to
catch a bus to Seattle where they caught the United Airlines flight to
London via Chicago. After a short layover in London on the morning of
the 12th , the players flew up to Manchester where they were met by
Barry Crocker who had flown in two days earlier to ensure all final
preparations were complete. The group bused to Blackpool and got into
the two hotels. Abbotsford players have been travelling to England for
13 years now, but this trip was unique as, for the first time a girl’s
team went.
March 13th
The teams trained on a local field in the morning and had the chance to
explore Blackpool in the afternoon. The local soccer stores were
overwhelmed with the influx of young Canadian players!
March 14th
 This
was the day when most of the group , particularly the players were to
see their first ever European professional game. Burnley , currently a
challenger for a Premier spot in the English Championship League were
playing Nottingham Forest. Burnley turned out to be great hosts . They
published a story about the trip and had a photograph of the girl’s team
in their programme. Prior to match they took the whole group into the
stadium and showed them how a pro team prepared on match day. Burnley
really put on a show for the group winning in spectacular fashion by
5-0. One little insight into the game in Europe was demonstrated when
the group had to be reseated. The group was given seats in the Home team
area and then turned up in red tracksuits which happened to be Notts
Forest colours !! That is not allowed!
March 15th
Another game, and this time a premiership clash. The group was part of a
44000 plus crowd at Villa Park to see Tottenham Hotspurs hand Aston
Villa a 2-1 defeat.
March 16th
The teams were now about to start playing. In the morning we travelled
to Preston where we enjoyed a tour of Deepdale Stadium. After a picnic
lunch outside the Stadium in glorious sunshine the teams travelled
across town to the BAC ground where the boys played BAC and the girls
played Pentworthan girls. There was an understandable nervousness
amongst the players but both teams put on great performanc es
with 4-1 and 4-0 wins.
March 17th
This was the day off and a day for shopping. However before they all
disappeared there was a special surprise. Colin managed to contact Craig
Brown, the most successful Scottish National Team manager ever. Craig
graciously agreed to drive over to Blackpool and have a chat with the
kids. They set him up with several questions and Craig gave both kids
and parents an insight into managing at the international level of
soccer.
March 18th
The games today were at Chorley Town under floodlights , Opposition for
the boys was Astley and for the girls Euxton Girls Club. For the second
time the boys went down a goal almost immediately but fought back to win
4-1 The girls had another tremendous game and won their second game by
4-0. After the game the teams enjoyed a great dinner at the Chorley
clubhouse.
March 19th
A couple of years ago a men’s team from Market Drayton came across from
England and played the Mariners PDL team. The youth teams had been
invited to go to Market Drayton to play, and so we made the journey from
Blackpool to near Birmingham for those games. Once again the Abbotsford
teams proved too strong for the opposition and ran away with lopsided
scores.
March 20th
A trip to the Theatre of Dreams was the order of the day. Before the Old
Trafford trip there was a visit to the Trafford Centre, which is one of
the biggest shopping centres in Europe. Here last minute shopping was
completed.
Having visited the Old Trafford museum the group was entertained to a
fascinating trip around the historical stadium, completed by a walk down
the Old Trafford tunnel accompanied by appropriate cheers from the crowd
(canned of course)
March 21st
There were two morning games against Cadley J.F.C. , which both teams
won convincingly. There was then a trip to Blackburn to see the
Premiership fixture against West Ham. This game ended in a 1-1 tie. The
group then returned to Blackpool for a final dinner before packing for
the journey home
All in all this was a very successful trip. The results were excellent 8
wins and no losses. All the opposition were rated youth clubs. The girls
in particular showed that the girl’s game over there remains a couple of
levels below us. The boys played against teams who were feeders to
professional clubs. We believe that over the years we have proved that
our kids at this age are at least as good as our European counterparts.
However the development of the players changes drastically over the next
few years and the gap is vast in later years. We must maintain the
progress in development of our kids if we as individuals, clubs or
country are to be successful in this game.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
