Falcons
Update
OH F Up
Season 2007 -
2008
The story of life in and around
Falcons are a veterans (over 35)/vintage (over 50) side mainly
playing friendly matches on a Saturday throughout the hockey season.
Any similarity to real life found within the stories that
follow is purely coincidental.
Saturday 22nd September: Olton
& West Warwick at home.
My
first complete summer of retirement has come to an end. The cessation of
fulltime employment has had two consequences:
1.
Ability to take frequent holidays away from
2.
Proving it hard to find time to write match reports.
Since
last holding a hockey stick in April fitness has been maintained (??!!) by a
combination of playing and watching cricket at CCC (Cumnor Cricket Club) and
weekly training at the B & RA (Bear & Ragged Staff) augmented by
sessions elsewhere. Hobos cricket on a Thursday evening has provided me with the
opportunity to practice my “Russian Roullette” style of bowling off my long run
– at most 6 paces. Why Russian Roullette? ‘Cos I have no idea what is going to
happen to the ball. Luckily a number of batsmen are either bamboozled by the
pace or get fed up waiting for the ball to arrive and, consequently, get
themselves out by playing too early or all around it. I am a great believer in
line and length. Back in the CCC clubhouse we have enjoyed an array of West
Berks brews throughout the summer (Mr Chubbs at 3.7 on the Richter scale, Good
Ole Boy at 4 and Full Circle at 4.5) whilst IPA has been the mainstay in the B
&RA.
Before
moving on to “cover” Falcons hockey I must mention the enduring picture
witnessed care of TV on Friday: Tims final singles match at
So,
season 2007/2008 is under way. One game played versus Chippenham last week
providing a 6 – 1 win by a non representative Falcons side heavily augmented by
Fledglings whilst I was sunning myself on the Gulf Of Aquaba with the rest of
my family doing our best to get our monies worth on an all inclusive week at
the Hilton Nuweiba. We got value for money! This week we have Olton and
Ricardo
Clarkie Humph
JPAR Billers
WillB
DixC Huggie Smartie Crampers
with
The Baron and Rogues guesting for Olton and HughBie and The Pope blowing.
Goals
from Smartie and (was it?) Crampers went, miraculously unanswered so it was
back to NOSC via Cutteslowe changing rooms for the famed Killer Chilli.
One
more “friendly” before we re-enter league action.
Saturday 29th
September – Amersham at home.
One
of the best “happenings” of the summer has been my sons “coming of age”. No,
not his twenty first, that was some time ago, it is his conversion from lager
to proper beer – real ale! He has now discovered that real ale has character
and. Like his father, enjoys discovering that character. Indeed we had a
memorable May afternoon at TWH Beer Festival (The White Hart, Fyfield) where we
went through the card together. I think this immediately followed my birthday
morning cricket match at Cumnor thus completing a splendid day. Following a
visit to TWH this last Thursday I am happy to report that they continue to
offer a good choice of real ales despite majoring themselves on the food front
these days. Whilst their food is not cheap the quality and service is
excellent. On Thursday we were faced with a choice of four bitters: good old
dependable Hook Norton, Barnstormer and two others whose name escapes me. Thus
worth a visit for the beer alone!
We
made a quick stop off at the B&RA on the way home and bought our tickets
for Fridays meat draw which proved a good decision as the first two out of the
hat came our way. IPA continues to be my pint of choice at the B&RA and we
gave it a good run for its money on Friday, albeit we are required to depart before
Saturday these days! For those who like to plan ahead it is worth making a note
of Monday 29th October. This will be Pumpkin Night at the B&RA
at which time, as well as a pumpkin competition, there will be the charity
raffle, charity auction and the election of the Mayor Of Cumnor, Keeper Of The
Village Pond. Always an excellent, fluid evening that raises hundreds of pounds
for charity. Note the date and come and join us this year.
Careful
planning had been required this week as I had a few ancient shrubs in the
garden that needed removing. I knew that a pick axe would be required to remove
the roots but did not want to risk back damage close to hockey on a Saturday. Thus
one got removed on Tuesday but the other one proved more stubborn and, at end
of attempt on Wednesday I was left with a stubborn set of roots. I had to call
a halt as lunch at the Black Horse with the Hawks Ancients beckoned. A fresh
attempt on Thursday eventually did the trick which called for Thursday nights
celebration. Friday morning, after a pleasant walk with the dog, I was able to
dig over the ground working in some manure in readiness for a fallow winter and
replanting in the spring. Earned good brownie points from the
Eleven
Falcons plus two umpires gathered once again at St Edwards for an 11:30 start
Saturday. Amersham had only nine so The Baron repeated his opposition role of
the previous week and we played ten a side. We lined up, eventually, after much
tactical line up discussion:
Ricardo
Crampers Humph
JPAR Clarkie
WillB
DixC Smartie
PixC Rogues
With
Hughbie and The Pope blowing.
Having
got last weeks scorers wrong in erroneously crediting Crampers with a goal that
I was immediately informed was actually scored by Huggie I will try to do
better this time. Ricardo kept a clean sheet, DixC and Smartie scored from open
play and Rogues from a flick. Close run thing on save of the match: it could
have been Ricardos save from their flick low to his right but honours got to
JPARs save from a goal bound shot from ????. JPAR successfully deflected it
onto their keepers pads and thence wide. He promptly congratulated their keeper
on a fine save! Nice one Paddy. A quick couple in the clubhouse to wash down
the KC then out to watch the mens “1s” overcome Oxford Uni. In their first
league match of this season in South Prem.
WE
have Poly to look forward to in our first league match next Saturday, home high
noon. Need toi keep up the training.
Saturday 6th
October: Polytechnic at home.
The portents were good, we could have a cast of
thousands there on Saturday. Whilst his son may have retired, the Henn
certainly has not. Blommers was, apparently, going to be let out by
News from the previous weekend was that Henley, our
bogey side who we always seem to play late afternoon/early evening in the dark,
have dropped out of our league. The general feeling is that they will not be
greatly missed owing not just to their “lighting”(!!) but also to their not
infrequent featuring of one or more “ringers”. Trouble is at least one of their
number has expressed an interest in returning to Hawks to play for the Falocns,
and he is a left winger. Ooooh, errr, sorry we have a full squad! (N.B. He is somewhat younger than our
incumbent!).
It was a quiet week of tidying up in the garden in
preparation for planting spring bulbs. Nice leasurely walks with Jim by the
river where, on one particular morning, we saw four kingfishers. River very
much back to normal levels and, in the sunshine on a fresh morning, there is
nowhere better. With a need to feature at The Queens College Friday morning the
opportunity to train Thursday evening was passed up. With students back at
college the shift went reasonably quickly despite the postal strike denying us
our big event of the morning. Thus a timely 21:00 entry to the B&RA was
made to meet the Hobos captain and to buy tickets in the meat draw.
Consequently a joint of beef was won for the second week running meaning
brownie points at home. Celebrated suitably with a fair quantity of IPA.
The high noon start gave time for dog walking and
breakfast before departing for NOSC. Many familiar faces in the Poly squad but
not so many faces as feared in the Falcons Squad. Yes, Henn was here early to
ensure a place, Blommers had been allowed out but Humph was reported injured
and, potentially, not appearing. Gropes was also conspicuous by his absence and
Huggie was uncertain over his fitness. Billers was trying to reserve his
efforts for the Senators later on. Thus we lined up:
Ricardo
Blommers The
Baron
Crampers
Clarkie WillB
Henn
Smartie Huggie DixC
Rogues
with PixC on the bench, Billers behind the bench and
The Pope blowing.
Poly had “that man” in their forwards. The one who
scored nine in one game versus Amersham and is always fast and trouble.
Blommers: he’s yours! Poly had the better of the early exchanges but we scored
against the run of play, Huggie putting away a diagonal/cross from the right
despite roving Rogues doing his best to confuse everyone. In due course Rogues
retired to the bench making way for PixC to join DixC down the left. Then
Huggie made the mistake of moving to a pass which proved too much for his knee.
PixC moved to CF with Rogues resuming at LW.
We survived to half time oranges and the customary
offer of various dangerous spirits from our oppo. We discussed and decided
that, with effort and application, we could survive and win. We conceded almost
immediately a scrappy affair ending with an astute lift over a committed
Ricardo. With a quarter remaining DixC retired to the bench allowing Billers to
come on at CH, Clarkie moving to RH and Crampers moving up to right inner. They
had the clearer opportunities but we held on.
After the long treck to Cutteslowe for changing the
Killer Chilli and Ruddles was well received as was
Saturday 13th
October – Eastcote away.
Sunday saw Adastral Training take place at The Fishes,
However, as more and more of this training squad gave
up playing training became a monthly occasion involving partners and a meal. Over
the ten plus years that this format has been followed the “squad” has continued
to evolve losing Bear and Katie, AMH and Isla, Dave and Dee but gaining John
and Anna Gent and Jone Ayres to join originals Rogan and Pat, Reg and Trina
Brown, Steve and Helen Christie and Colin Shields. Thus eight of us assembled
at The Fishes to be met with the serious (nearly fateful) news that there was
no beer!!! Well, no ale actually, Guinness and lager had survived the technical
catastrophe in the cellar. So Guinness it was! The food was not cheap and not
outstanding, just OK in my view. But it is the company that matters, thus it was
a good evening.
Having been nearly completely crippled by new trainers
that, because of the peculiar shape of my left foot and the nature of their
construction, ripped the top off my left foot toes last week Monday saw me off
into town to negotiate with Elmer Cotton and see if something in size 13 and
more fitting could be obtained. Success in the form of a running shoe. Thus,
For
Tuesday and Wednesdays saw me majoring in evening
television whilst ensuring the security of The Queens College. My attention was
diverted from the silver screen on Wednesday night by the OU Ladies Netball
squad who were “warming up” in Queens bar prior to an assignation with the OU
Hockey and Rugby League squads at the Old Fire Station. I poured them out of
our front door circa 22:15 in various states of fancy/undress! Thursday I
resisted the temptation of the Oxford Beer Festival to ensure that I was OK for
the early shift at
With a 13:00 meet there was time for breakfast, dog
walking and lunch before setting off. Even better, with a 20:00 rugby start
there is time to play, warm down and get well settled for the big match. All
made it safely to Eastcote:
Ricardo
Blommers The
Baron
Clarkie
Billers WillB
Henn
Smartie Huggie Crampers
PixC
with Rogues, PixC, Huggie and Henn exchanging every quarter: the Mark 1 Infradraw
procedure.
We were given a masterclass by a professional outfit.
Ricardo played a blinder and kept the score (almost) respectable. Eastcote had
beaten Haslemere by double figures last week so our keeping it to five nill
meant they had to work harder for their win. Uninterrupted journey back, quick
fish and chips at home then down to the B&RA for “the match”. Unfortunately
no volunteer to rescue us from the clubhouse with its ever diminishing beer
price could be found so had to settle for a home fixture. What a win. Also
pleased to report a mens ones win. Week ended on a high!
Saturday 20th
October - Falcons at rest.
Last season
As you may have gathered, it was our turn this week
to host them. Thus we knew that we were unlikely to have a match on Saturday
unless Ricardo could turn something up at the last moment. Fact was we were
offered a game – against Eastcote Vets. They also had a blank league date
(possibly because
The week proved glorious from a weather perspective
and the walks by the river with the water reflecting the blue sky and the frost
causing the autumnal leaves to fall providing ideal conditions. An early
afternoon deckchair at the bottom of the garden with a good book and the view
to admire underlined the value of retirement. Once again it was the last
purchaser of a ticket who came out first in the B&RA meat draw and, after
suitable sampling of the IPA, I was forced to retire home empty handed. As for
the match, I will leave that to the 4ths to report rather more accurately than
my customary comments. However, the beer, the sandwiches and the sausages and
chips went down well at the pub. Miss the KC, though.
For all those who are also missing the Saturday
Killer Chilli, fear not. I am reliably informed that one of the major works in
the revamped club house is the installation of a KC dispensing system. This
works in the same principal as the efficient hot water boilers that you can
have fitted in your house. There will be a “tank” on KC. As a “helping” is
drawn off it is automatically heated and dispensed. More over the dispensers
will be as beer dispensers enabling one to pull through an appropriate amount.
Whilst this principal is “green” in respect of only heating that which is eaten
it will require periodic draining and cleaning of the “tank”. I understand that
this task is most likely to be undertaken by the Fledgelings who will be able
to send in one of their smaller representatives to work from the inside. However,
this is all in the future and the details are still to be finalized. But fear
not you fans of the KC!
Saturday 27th
October – Reading away.
The week commenced with a “surprise” golden wedding
party for a couple of Cumnors finest. Part of the surprise was the fact that it
wasn’t their Golden Wedding! That took place back in March but, for a number of
reasons, was not celebrated at the time. Thus circa 80 to 90 people were
invited in secret to the Village Hall for a celebration. At the time of issuing
the invites, some two months ago, it had not been realised that there could be
a clash with the rugby World Cup Final. However a TV in the back room overcame
this problem. The secret was maintained and the look on Sue and Derek/Triggers
faces was, for that alone, worth missing the final. A great evening with
excellent food, company and live music provided by a couple older than most/all
Falcons who got everyone up dancing to 60s and 70s music. Combination of
Shepheard Neams Spitfire and Deuchars IPA kept us suitably refreshed.
Sunday saw us walking Jim plus Sue and Triggs two
labs allowing them a peaceful and leisurely breakfast. After this we, in turn,
had a leisurely day before, on Monday, heading off to the country park at the
top of Stokenchurch Hill for a sunny, fresh walk with the views partly impaired
by distant mist, beautiful. One surprising thing was the lack of Red Kites
around. However this was rectified as soon as we drove away when six were seen
low over a field followed by others as we drove to John Lewis. Early Xmas
shopping duly executed.
The remainder of the week involved a bit of gardening
and a single day shift on Friday at The Queens College. Once again failed to
take home anything from the Friday meat draw, following a good go at the IPA.
Dog walking by the river Saturday morning before a late breakfast then off to
Cutteslowe for the meet. Somehow we managed to take twelve to
Ricardo
Humph The
Baron
Blommers
Billers WillB
DixC
Crampers Huggie PixC
Rogues
With still no sign of Smartie and no umpire, they
providing both.
Our fears were realised as they took control of the
game and went into a two goal lead within first ten minutes. Smartie arrived
and, whilst preparing to appear, Rogues deftly deflected a hard pass into the
circle into goal and departed in favour of Smartie.
Our defence worked manfully,
We came away chuckling, managed to find our way back
to their club and devoured their sandwiches, chips and excellent bitter before
heading home still smiling!
Saturday 3rd November – home
to Oxted
The week went from black to verse!
Barely time to get changed and down a gin
and tonic after I got home last Saturday before the assigned guests were
arriving for starters: our contribution to the village revolving supper. We
ensured everyone was suitably lubricated with Rose wine before sitting down to
a very tasty veggie bake something or other. A successful experiment by the
Continuing an all action weekend we took
lunch at The Watermans, Osney. V good it was too in a no frills way. Two mains
(traditional roast choice of beef, lamb, pork or chicken with plentiful veg and
gravy), two puds, (apple pie and treacle sponge, both with custard and ice
cream!) one G & T and one pint of Krony for £26.50! This seemed to provoke
an early evening snooze. And then it was Monday, Pumpkin Night at the B&RA.
What can I say? No (whole, uncarved)
pumpkins for the competition at all this year, one marrow, but lots of children
for each of the three fancy dress age groups (up to 3, 4 – 7, eight and over)
all of whom were entertained by a magician/entertainer. Raffle tickets sold
well and there were literally dozens of prizes in addition to the dozen or so
items that were auctioned. All monies got to charity and during the evening a
cheque for £3,000 was presented to a representative of SSNAP, this being the
monies raised by the summer bike ride. The auction alone raised £2,115 pounds,
an amount that the owner of the B&RA promised to match at the start of the
evening! All the previous Mayors Of Cumnor went into conclave to agree whom was
to be Mayor for 2007/8, the person responsible for the ducks on the pond, That
person gets introduced to his or her charges by being dunked, there and then,
in the pond. The then being, by now, 22:00. And yes, it was me! And the pond
was black and the mud very, very deep. If yyou care to see the evidence go to
www.picasaweb.google.com/RoganMeadows
and view the abbreviated version: Mayor
Making folder.
After a necessary shower/sheep dip the
IPA tasted especially good but I was told by several people “You still
smell!”. And I did.
Wednesday lunchtime found me at The
George and Dragon, Sutton Courtney for the Hawks Ancients lunch taken with ten
more senior Hawks. Very good choice of food and some tasty beer.
Thursday and off to Banbury to see Ralph
McTell. Still got a good voice and twas an excellent concert in St Marys
church, complete with bar selling bottles of Hook Nortons finest. Only drawback
was the text I received from an unwell Head Porter requesting me to deputise
for him next day. So, an early start to Friday followed by the annual Cumnor
Crescendo - Ricardos Bonfire Party - the last one for the fifth year running!
Once again some excellent Hook Norton, food, bonfire company and
firerworks. Unfortunately it was an early exit to pop to the B&RA to see
how Sue Shields memorial gathering was going and to pick up my meat draw
winnings. There were no winnings. Hey ho, better have a few IPAs to drown my
disappointment.
This disappointment was compounded by the
knowledge that Oxted had cried off and we had no match on Saturday. Thus I was
destined to watch the Ladies "1s" and the mens "2s" prior
to a nap then the Hobos cricket dinner back at the B&RA. Ladies produced an
excellent win over
The Hobos dinner went very well. I
thought the B&RA food very good, and I was suitably abstemious in order to
ensure I could deliver the Mug Of The Season trophy to the winner in suitable
fashion - a poetic speech. So, from the pond to the poem:
from black to verse!
Saturday 10th
November – Wokingham away
With a 16:30 start to our match at
Wokingham we had a long week ahead. Sunday evening was spent in the pleasant
company of Uncle Eric and “Sunshine”, as Kay used to be known on the mixed
hockey trip to
A busy week of work for me: late shifts
Monday and Tuesday and an early shift Thursday. Usual mixture of short spurts
of action and tedium. At least, on a late one can watch television and get paid
for it. My best mate of some 30 years, Adrain, who also retired last year, has
now taken an appointment as lodge porter at Trinity College so we will be
comparing notes and lessons learned to improve our various lots. Small
gathering at the B&RA Friday and, once again, nothing to take home from the
meat draw.
The team for Wokingham was the same squad
that went to Reading a fortnight earlier, albeit the Mayor Of Cumnor was making
his debut. Once again we seemed to have more cars travelling than players but
at least, this time, all arrived before the match started. Thus we could choose
how we lined up and started with:
Ricardo
Humph
The Barron
Blommers
Billers WillB
PixC
Smartie DixC Crampers
MOC (Mayor Of Cumnor)
With HughB blowing and GMH (Goal Machine
Huggie) on the bench.
Wokingham had won three and drawn one up
to now and it wasn’t long before a misplaced midfield pass followed by a
defensive mix up gifted them a goal. However, we then took control with
excellent goals from Smartie and a cracker from WillB. GMH replaced MOC for
second quarter, with PixC and DixC resting in the third and fourth quarters respectively.
Wokingham pushed hard via strong running forwards but failed to convert their
opportunities. We, meantime, got a couple more from GMH before they got a
second. An injury to Crampers meant an unplanned return to the pitch for DixC
for the last ten minutes and we played out time. The lateness of the hour meant
that it was a swift tea at Wokingham and just a swift pint at Dobbins Chieveley
pub (excellent 3Bs) on the way home and a swift ride in the Popemobile as
Ricardo was, technically, due back at 19:00!!! He made it for 20:00…. another
miracle!
Next week we are at home to
Amersham, 10:30 start at
Saturday 17th
November – Amersham at home
Adastral training last Sunday. The
revamped Trout at Godstow was the chosen venue as one can now book tables there
which, if a place is busy and you are a large party, is essential. We thought
we would be ten but, with Joan succumbing to a cold, we were nine. Pleasant
atmosphere, pleasant service, pleasant food, good company, Adnams bitter.
Another busy week, work wise, with late
shifts Tuesday and Wednesday and an early shift Friday. Apart from the usual
regular tasks of franking the post, giving and receiving of keys, answering the
phone and booking guest accommodation there were just the odd minor dramas to
contend with. I’ve locked myself out is the most common and, usually easily
overcome with the issue of a spare key. This was true of this week, nothing
more exciting to report from the late shift and, thus, a couple of evenings of
fairly intense telly watching. Did manage to avoid “I’m A Celebrity”!
Friday did bring drama. It was The
Provost (Head of Queens) 80th birthday and a weekend of celebrations
were planned with a concert, dinners and a chapel service. To mark the occasion
the college flag was raised eliciting the usual spate of calls from other
colleges “What’s that for?”. Usually it’s at half mast in which case the
enquiry is “Who’s died?”. The college Bursar was tasked with taking a
photograph of the flag flying in celebration. Trouble was there was no wind
and, thus, we had a flaccid flag. A flaccid flag was not deemed suitably
celebratory for The Provosts 80th. A member of the maintenance team
was despatched to the roof with a length of string which was attached to the
top corner of the flag. The individual then positioned themselves a suitable
distance away and pulled the string tight. We now had a semi flaccid flag.
Seems reasonable to me to, at eighty, not get the whole thing up but, for a
head Queen, this was deemed insufficient. Get some steps, put them on the roof,
stand at their top and pull the string.
Now, we porters were not standing out in
the quad or in The High admiring and cheering on these efforts as, when the
Bursar is in hands on control one keeps to ones role and position. However,
from the Lodge we could see the shadow of flag and pole very clearly across the
front quad. Whilst it was no longer flaccid and, indeed, well up it still
somehow looked unnatural: taut at the top, flabby at the bottom. So, whilst balancing
atop the steps on the roof the unfortunate maintenance person was ordered to
make it waive about by pulling the string around whilst the Bursar snapped
away. Eventually the task was deemed complete, string and steps removed and the
flag, once again, rendered flaccid.
Celebrated winning some sausages in the
meat draw with a fair quantity of IPA, followed by an early departure for the
match against Amersham at
Ricardo
Humph
The Baron
Blommers
Billers WillB
Henn
Smartie Gropes JPAR
DixC
with HughB umpiring and MOC on the bench.
Having MOC on the bench proved a ploy of
immense value as he was exchanging pleasantries with the oppo and generally
keeping them occupied and not hurrying onto the pitch. Consequently they had
only nine actually on the park when the whistle went. They pushed off with the
usual good manners by giving the oppo the ball and we charged downfield and
Gropes scored after 40 seconds. On balance Falcons had the better of the match
but ended up 3-2 down, MOC having scored a second, with only minutes remaining.
Right on time we won a short, the whistle went for time, we took the short, we
re-took the short and JPAR converted. We retired to The Woodstock Arms via
Cutteslowe changing rooms where a number of jugs of Abbott (5 on the richter
scale!) washed down the sausages, chips and sausage rolls. Good company as
always, Amersham.
The day was concluded with an excellent
get together of workmates from our CSC days at The Harcourt Arms, Stanton
Harcourt. Adnams and Brakspears on offer along with a good choice of excellent
food delivered with good, unobtrusive service. Three courses, coffee and all booze
for £30 per head is, I think, very good value. Good night, dreams of flaccid
flags!
Saturday 24th
November – Haslemere at home.
Missives from Haslemere warned us that they would not
be bringing umpire and might be short of players for our 11:30 match at St
Edwards. In Billers absence Ricardo was doing his best to get a suitably large
cast to ensure we could enhance Haslemere if necessary.
Meanwhile this week was “The Dogs Holiday” week.
Monday to Friday the
Early Tuesday morning and it was off to
Wednesday morning walk was around Portcothan beach
before lunching at St Mawgan. Excellent pub with some good (St Austell)
Tribune, or was it Tribute? Attempted return via Newquay and
Back in good time to unpack, settle in before meeting
the locals in the B&RA. Failed to win anything in the meat draw but drowned
my sorrows in the IPA.
Ricardo, meanwhile, had done well. We had twelve
players plus two umpires. We welcomed back Twizzle and Geof Paver (GP) for
their first appearances of the season and had The Pope constituting a near
record crowd. Haslemere had nine players. We lined up (I think):
Ricardo
Humph
Blommers
WillB GP
Smartie
JPAR GMH Twizzle PixC
with HG and HughB
blowing and two players loaned to Haslemere.
The confidence of loaning out two whilst only playing
with ten ourselves looked OK as Falcons proceeded to move the ball around well.
However there were warning signs as the oppo centre forward (CF) made an
incisive break that could easily have resulted in a goal against the run of
play had it not been for an alert Ricardo. JPAR slotted from a shortie and it
looked like it could be a comfortable win. However Haslemere were starting to
find their players and, from a good cross from The Baron on the right wing the
CF scored. Incisive moves down their right and left, and through the middle
were causing problems for Falcons as Humph found it difficult to keep track of
the lively CF. And it wasn’t long before that man got a second and could have
been on a jug had a short corner move not been disallowed for the ball not
leaving the circle. Falcons were struggling to hold the CF and re-arranged
their defence, pulling JPAR back to RH with Blommers going to RB. JPAR was
obviously not impressed with this and decided to pull something requiring him
to pull out. Falcons survived the remainder of the half bringing on HG at half
time with The Pope taking over umpiring duties.
Both sides continued to create chances in the second
half with Falcons squandering the better opportunities. Eventually PixC seized
on the ball down the left, came inside and survived several challenges before
cracking the back board. Two all, honours even, but another win squandered by
Falcons. The MOC is pleased to announce that, thanks to his two goals for
Haslemere, he is now joint leading scorer with GMH.
Once again the ordinary IPA was NA in the Woodstock
Arms, albeit extra cold IPA was on as was the Abott Ale. Bangers and chips
later and off to NOSC to see the second half of the Mens “1s” and the Senators
both of whom won well.
A good day! Sorry Falcons!
Saturday 1st December –
Quiet week. Attended The Queens College Carol Service
on Monday evening. Beautiful singing in a lovely setting. We rounded the
evening off with a delightful meal at TWH where I was faced with the difficult
choice between Old Hookey and Doom Bar. Their quality was excellent as usual
making it an excellent evening overall. I was working an evening shift Friday
which meant a non appearance at the B&RA and a pretty quiet evening
overall. Students were busy packing up and moving out for Christmas and the
college bar was closed.
This meant a completely clear head Saturday morning
for dog walking, brunch and a 13:00 meet for the trip to
Ricardo
Clarkie
Blommers The
Baron Humph
GP
Billers WillB
Henn
PixC DixC
with HughB whistling and MOC on the bench exchanging
with DixC, PixC and Henn in turn.
Now Woking PTY have won the league for the last three
seasons and were unbeaten prior to Saturday. We new, therefore, that it would
take something special if we were to get a point. We also new that, without
Crampers, Smartie, JPAR, Gropes and Twizzle we were lacking ball carrying in
midfield. Hence the cunningly contived line up.
Woking PTY played a pretty direct game with players
staying right up field. It was the eagerness of the umpires to get the game
underway that was our undoing! They scored twice early on in each half. Thus,
had we started ten minutes later………………..we might only have conceded the two
goals they scored later in the second half! WillB did have one shot rebound off
the post and PixC came close in the first half but we didn’t earn a shortie
until well into the second half. We were well beaten by a no nonsense,
(comparatively) young side. Say no more (if only we could have started ten
minutes later and, thus, avoided those first ten minutes in each half).
Saturday 8th
December – Eastcote away.
Should have been playing
After the early, direct journey home last Saturday I
was able to complete the warm down at the B&RA with my son, Ben. Batemans
on the pump which went down very smoothly. Sunday evening found us at The Black
Horse, Gozzards Ford for Adastral “training”. Once again Batemans featured and
a few were consumed along with some Greene King IPA by the assemblage. Good
food also enjoyed. Quick round up of the outstanding orders for the Mayors
Luncheon on Monday morning before a quick visit to the B&RA to give in the
numbers. Tuesday saw the first of the Xmas decorations make an appearance,
albeit actual switching on of the lights is not allowed yet, according to the
Quick visit to the B&RA Thursday lunchtime just
to ensure everything was OK for Friday. All under control. Walked the dog
Friday morning and then, at 13:30 made my way to the B&RA to commence
limbering up for lunch. Numbers gradually swelled, Mayors robes were donned and
at approximately 15:00 twenty eight of us sat down to lunch. The B&RA did
us very well on the food front from their Xmas party menu. Suitably sated we
made our way back to the bar, allowing the staff to prepare for their evening
diners. Conversations and the warm down continued with the numbers initially
being swelled by some who could not make the meal but wanted to join the warm
down. Numbers gradually evaporated but there were still three or four hardy
souls left when I decided it was time to head for home circa 22:00 ish ish
having failed, again, to win anything in the meat draw.
Was not feeling at my liveliest Saturday morning, not
helped by the appalling weather. Did I really want to get soaking wet and
stuffed by Eastcote? I wasn’t convinced. Still, it had to be done and I duly
joined the happy band at Cutteslowe for our 13:15 departure. Our line up this
week was:
Ricardo
Clarkie Blommers
The Baron Billers
WillB
Smartie Crampers
Henn
DixC MOC
We made the classic mistake: we scored first,
Crampers converting an excellent cross from The Baron rampaging down the wing.
In actual fact Eascote did not have as strong a side as last time we played
them and we were causing them considerable problems every time we put pressure
on their defence. They were getting ratty amongst themselves, but we were not
converting our chances. Inevitably their lively and skilful attack eventually
equalised and took the lead. We could have equalised in the second half but the
“goal” was disallowed to the puzzlement of a number, including their keeper.
And that was that. We tired, they scored and scored and scored and scored.
Whether it was the score or the gas that made their beer taste urgh! I am not
sure. Thus a mandatory stop at Lewknor was necessary to wash away the taste.
Then, for me, it was an early night!
F Up for 15th and 22nd December 2007.
Well, Saturday 15th came and went without an appearance from Chippenham.
Another week without a game. Training in the Bear on Friday was pretty
quiet as well. Despite the cold on Saturday I went along to take a look at The
Bulls (Oxford City Vets) who are top of their league. They contain many faces
familiar to us and they were playing Newbury. Given Newbury are bottom of the league
one could have expected a comfortable festive win followed by a few cheap beers
at Brookes then The Bulls "night out". However, as we know, things do
not always go to plan or to form. The Bulls had to come from behind twice
before finally managing a win. They claim Newbury were stronger than normal as
they were the only Newbury team playing. Bulls were not impressive on this
showing.
Very pleasant supper at ours Saturday night with Kay and "Uncle
Eric". This was designated, by the
The brash mode is simply an inflatable, illuminated eight foot high Father
Christmas. As with most of the illuminations he is on a timer that inflates and
illuminates mid morning and switches off early evening. Many walkers pause and
gaze at the erection in wonderment and go away smiling. We like smiling.
Monday saw the
Free food and wine at
So, now we head for Christmas, the annual Boxing Day matches and then the New
Year. I would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a jolly and
prosperous New Year. OH F Up (Oxford Hawks Falcons Update ) will probably
return next year if I manage to survive the festivities. Staying positive, I
look forward to sharing our enjoyment of Veterans hockey with yourselves as we
get under way in 2008.
Keep happy and healthy.
Rogan, alias The MOC (Mayor Of Cumnor).
2007/2008
Christmas & New Year Festivities
Things never go quite to plan, one way or another. Our
best laid plans for Christmas Eve went pear shaped at 17:35 that day. I
received a phone call telling me that the B & RA was closing that evening
at 20:00. Given that we had arranged to meet a number of friends there at
21:00 this represented a considerable
drama. Thankfully a combination of phone calls, text messages and door
knockings resulted in a re-arranged meet at The Vine, preceded by a heated call
of complaint to The Bear about their lack of thought and notice. Ah well, the
fifteen or so of us had a pleasant evening in The Vine. Having “the kids” with
us made it extra special this year.
A leisurely Christmas morning of stockings, dog
walking, breakfast and present opening was cut short at the present stage by
the imminence of opening time and the need to call at the cricket club then The
Bear for drinks. Despite the bad feeling resulting from the Xmas Eve debacle
there was an excellent gathering for pre lunch drinks and the place was
crowded. Home for 14:00 to cook lunch which was on the table just after 16:00.
Splendid! Plenty of gin, beer and wine meant that the day floated to a pleasant
conclusion.
Boxing Day morning saw a phenomenal gathering of
talent for Henns Fathers and Sons match – we think the 25th year he
has organized the event. A review of the ages of those partaking suggested an
on the pitch age span of 55 years: twelve being the youngest and 67 the oldest.
We won’t mention who was the oldest, but his famous son was featuring on the
opposite wing. Roches were also out in full; force as they were in the hastily
arranged friendly on Saturday (29th). The F & S match was
followed onto the pitch by the annual Hawks versus Old Dragons match but I had
to skidaddle home before it got underway as we had a date with vintage motor
cycles at The White Hart, Fyfield. Car park there was packed with bike of
various vintage, as were the riders. After an hour or so there it was back to
Cumnor and the cricket club where the annual Cumnor versus Wootton match had
ended and the warm down was under way. Then it was bubble and squeak time –
yummie.
Yes, we had a hastily arranged match on Saturday 29th
care of Humph making his bid for Falcons organizer. This followed a fairly
quiet Friday evening at the B&RA where final arrangements for NYE were
agreed. We had planned a “Hat Party” and were collecting £5 per head in order
to have some food available. Saturday, at short notice, we had an eight a side
match with no keepers which was most enjoyable. Once again The Plough at
Wolvercote was the chosen warm down venue.
NYE saw sixty or so of us gather at The Bear with some
wonderful headgear. It worked out well with the young ones annexing the far
room with the tellie and pool table whilst the oldies had the room at the other
end of the bar. Trigg had brought in his Bose music system and acted as DJ with
sixties, seventies and eighties music and a splendid evening was enjoyed by
all.
Happy New Year.
Saturday 5th January - !!!
I have seen the Ninth Wonder Of The World!
You will see what I mean shortly.
It was no great surprise to hear that Epsom only had five players ready and
able to travel to play us. Consequently the match was called off hopefully to
be re-arranged another day. Currently we lie 8th of fourteen teams remaining in
our league/alliance and we need to play these games and win them if we are to
make the top half. Our gloom was slightly lightened by the news that Amersham
were short for their home match. Amersham were hit by a flurry of Freelance
Falcons desperate for a game. Three of us were "lucky", Henn missed
out.
It was only after our offer of help was accepted did Amersham inform us that
they were playing Woking Pitts The Youngers - unbeaten for nearly three years!
So, after a quiet Friday in The Bear with Ricardo and only one other Huggie
PixC and I met at Cutteslowe and set off for Amersham. In the event there were
twelve of us to sort out versus thirteen PTYs. I was lucky and got the left
wing berth, PixC inside right and Huggy!!!!?????.......inside left!
The Ninth Wonder Of The World!
There were some very confused looks on both Amersham and PTY faces when we
turned up with Amersham getting confused as to whom they were playing and PTY
just confused. We did not let the cause down. However I dont think Huggie got
within sniffing distance of the oppo circle and PixC and I only infrequently.
Amersham goalie was playing a blinder having leaked an early one and PTY were
profligate. At half time and well into the second half I would not of entrusted
a jug inthe hands of their forwards as they would probably have poured the beer
all over the table. There were some finely judged "leaves" by our
keeper that come off the post and, with twenty minutes to go it was still one
nil. However our tiring legs, not helped by our CH leaving the field after 20
minutes, and their finding the range at a succession of shorties led to
them scoring a few more. And that was that.
The RogNav lost satellite communication on leaving their ground resulting
in a circular journey to their club that gave us a second look at the
pitch. We made it whilst they were still getting to grips with a lack of bitter
and pouring the first round of Guinness. It was not Amershams usual standard of
fare but the trip was generally reckoned to be worth the effort, especially by
Amersham!
Incidentally PTY are off to join the bottom regions of the Mercian Masters next
year so that is one more withdrawal from our alliance. At this rate there will
be no need to draw a line through the middle: just play everyone
twice.
Saturday 12th
January – Havant away.
A sedentary, indeed somnolent week commenced with a
solitary shift of work at The Queens on Sunday, late shift. Thankfully there
was plenty of FA Cup football on the tellie to fill in the dead bits between
returning students picking up their keys. The college is a very quiet place on
nights such as these with no kitchen staff providing dinner for students or
Fellows and, consequently, no Fellows to be found in their common rooms. With
nothing happening at all for the last two hours (22:30 to 00:30) one has to
resist strongly the urge to lock up and go home. With an official finish time
of 00:30 one has to fight off this urge and, inevitably, someone will appear at
around midnight expecting to be able to access their pigeon hole to collect
their post.
Dog walking in mixed weather meant a variety of routes
taken during the rest of the week with a quick trip out on Wednesday to present
the Yellow Hat Tribe lady with some photographs to aid her commission of a
painting to adorn our kitchen. It is hoped that the photos will re-kinder her
enthusiasm for the project which has probably passed its anniversary.
A decent gathering for training Friday evening at the
B&RA with choice wavering between the Greene King IPA and the Batemans.
Saturday morning saw a trip to Tesco at Abingdon on the menu. Following all the
rain of the previous day we were pleased to find the place still well above
water and busy. Thankfully this was not a shopping trip. It was our meeting
point for the trip to Havant for our welcome Falcons match. For once we managed
to get an average of three to a car and made good time to Havants pitch.
One of the most welcome sights for we Falcons was the
return of The Mighty Sobes, Ian Sobey, after far too long away from us. We
lined up:
Ricardo
GP The Barron
Blommers
Billers TMS
DixC
Smartie Huggie Gropes
PixC
With HughB blowing and MOC on the bench for first 17
minutes, then to replace PixC who then replaced DixC who then replaced Huggie.
Trust you are following this! Well, that was the plan.
For the first ten minutes we struggled despite both
Gropes and Smartie having considerable room in midfield. However a lovely
flowing move was rounded off by DixC with a goal. Further goals followed from
Huggie, Smartie, Sobes and MOC. In between Blommers decided to take a rest and
sent on Huggie to replace him at right half. Around the same time PixC pulled
something and left the field. Confusion reigned, we lost the initiative and,
despite the return of Blommers and the resultant move of Huggie back to CF we
conceded. No clean sheet for Ricardo after all. Towards the end we were all pleased
to witness TMS setting off on one of his mazey runs, leaving several defenders
floundering as he made his way into the circle. His effort was thwarted by a
fine save from their keeper. However, he’s back for which we are all delighted.
Some excellent beer in their clubhouse washed down the
pasta before we departed to rendezvous at
Another away trip next week to Polytechnic. We plan to
head back from that to “sample” the new clubhouse. We then have a home match on
26th versus Eastcote at 13:30.
Saturday 19th January 2008 -
Polytechnic away.
The week started with a leisurely late shift on Sunday at The Lodge. Time to
read the papers and watch some television. Then, on Tuesday, I was invited out
to tea at 16:00 by Martin Hunter. Unfortunately our plan was disrupted wheen we
discovered that The Vine was not open at 16:00 so we went to The B&RA
instead. Pleasant tea but, with The Bear closing at 18:00, home in good time
for supper.
The remainder of the week passed almost unnoticed culminating in a training
session in The Vine Friday evening owing to the continued closure of The Bear.
Good Adnams in The Vine. Arriving early for our 12:30 meet at The Club I was
met by the sound of fire alarms emanating from thenewly opened clubhouse.
No-one knew the code required to shut them up and a number of people were making
frantic calls on their mobiles. The good side was there was no fire. It
appeared that the alarms had been triggered by steam from the showers!
All six of us met at the club for our trip up the M40/M4 to Polytechnics
ground just beyond Heathrow leaving the rest to make their own way. A mile
further down the road from Polys pitch would have provided an excellent
view of that plane crash. We had our normal squad of twelve meaning the usual
permutations across the forward line. However, with Billers playing for The
Senators, there was considerable discussion regarding the deployment of the
remainder of the team to counter Polys speedy forward(s). A three, three,
three, one formation was devised as follows:
Ricardo
WillB Blommers The Baron
Clarkie Gropes TMS
Henn Crampers DixC
Huggie
with MOC replacing DixC who in turn replaced Huggie who then replaced Henn
whilst HughB whistled.
Things were looking good as we got an early goal through Crampers. We continued
to play the ball around but conceded right on half time. A barren second half
followed. However some excellent London Pride rekindled our spirits and we set
off for a direct trip home
to test out the Club. Ricardo was a little over enthusiastic in his over taking
resulting in our seeing rather more of the M4 than planned, but in good time we
at the Clubhouse. The place was looking good with new furniture, a new open
minimalist layout, new flat screen TV with Sky Sports, smart newly
refurbished changing rooms and showers but same old IPA. It was crowded
and it was noisy. It was very good to be back. A lot of catching up was going
on, not least in use of the bar.
We are playing Eastcote at home, 13:30 next Saturday. Come and admire the new
facilities and have a beer with us. You'll like it.
Saturday 26th
January – Eastcote at home
I have to admit it has been preying on
my mind. How could it happen? It was horrendous, the aerial of the year without
a doubt. It should have been our first goal against Eastcote this season. Three
encounters, three heavy defeats and not a Falcons goal on the score sheet. And
yet there it was, a loose ball at the top of the circle. Gropes was doing his
best to distract their keeper by ensuring he couldn’t get off the ground. All I
had to do was to get to the ball first and crash it into the back boards. Their
keeper continued to flounder under Gropes attention. Miraculously no one from
their defence appeared near the ball. I got there and missed the ball
completely. Shouts of encouragement (?) from the massed ranks of those waiting
to start their game, and the moment was gone. Having thought it through I now
realise that I was suffering from post operative stress caused by the
unexpected diagnosis and immediate operation to remove a cyst from inside the
right thigh on Friday.
The week had started leisurely enough
and, on Tuesday, tea was taken at The B&RA. A select gathering spent a
respectable couple of hours or so from 16:00. Wednesday saw a gathering of
Hawks Ancients at Cumnors other establishment, The Vine, for lunch. Eleven of
us sat down and partook of very acceptable fare. I thought my rump steak at
under £9 very good value.
The cyst had been spotted earlier in
the week but had to wait until Friday for an appointment to be made. Upon
inspection we were given three alternatives: ignore it and see what happens, do
a biopsy and await results, remove it. Initial advice was to wait and see but a
second opinion was saught by the person we saw. The second opinion was to
remove it. Further more it could be done immediately if that was OK with us. It
was a bit of a shock, but we went with it and the offending lump was removed
under a general that day.
Friday evening was a quietish affair in
the Bear with, like the clubhouse, only IPA on the pumps. Quality was good
though and I won a nice joint of beef in the meat draw. The promised cast of
thousands had shrunk to twelve by the time we assembled at NOSC for our first
use of the new changing facilities. We welcomed back Mighty (Mike Kentfield) to
the team for his first match of the season after far too long away. The plan
was to line up as follows:
Ricardo
Mighty
WillB
Blommers Billers
TMS
Henn
Clarkie DixC Gropes
MOC
With The Baron off for first nine
minutes, then MOC off for nine, then DixC off for nine, then Mighty off for
second half. Meanwhile The Pope was umpiring. However The Baron pulled
something whilst operating down the left flank and Mighty had a full debut.
Eastcote, as usual, were the better
team and scored three in the first and two in the second half. Changing rooms
were splendid, water very hot and excellent to be back on the Keller Chilli:
much enjoyed by all, especially as we did not have to do the washing up.
Latest medical update: stitches due out
next Monday, biopsy result sometime soon, meantime keep to minimal, non
strenuous exercise to avoid stretching the stitches and the vet says all should
then be well. Considering, Jim the dog looks very well.
Looking ahead (new feature!) to next
Saturday: following teams at home:
Mens 3s at 10:30
Ladies 1s at 12:00
Mens 1s at 13:30
Falcons at 14:00 at
Senators at 15:00
Fledglings at 16:30
Saturday 2nd
Feb. – Eastcote at home again!
Round 1 - Saturday, 13-Oct-0
Eastcote (5) - Falcons (0)
Round 2 - Saturday, 08-Dec-07
Eastcote (6) - Falcons (1)
Round 3 - Saturday, 26th-Jan-07
Falcons (0) - Eastcote (5)
Round 4 - Saturday, 02-Feb-08
Falcons (?) - Eastcote (?)
"Read it and weep"
Long range weather forecast isn't looking to promising - Predictions of
4 inches of snow and temperature likely to be dropping to -10 Friday night
don't really inspire you to say "yes" when Billers puts out the call
on Monday but being made of stern stuff and lacking anything else to do 13
of us do so vote.
[ah ha! - could this be an unlucky number for Eastcote, might
we finally get the better of them]
Saturday early morning - Wot! No snow and only a light frosting on the
windscreen of the Mighty mobile means that Gosford shouldn't resemble a
skating rink.
Turn up at Gosford to find we're now only 12 as Blommers has dropped out
because of a viral attack (!!!) - Didn't hear all the message so I can't
confirm whether the virus began with a "
Having made the decision that we needed to tighten up defensively
we opted for a newish style to the line up which gave us
Ricardo
Sobes
Mighty Humph
WillB
Ian
Caws* Billers
Crampers
Smartie GMHuggie PixC
PJ on whistle
Breesy & Ellio - The home supporters club
*Debut player, who having watched us lose the previous week was still
keen to play - he'll fit in just perfect then.
They started well, we didn't - Defensively we were all at sixes and
sevens, we couldn't keep the ball out of our D, Eastcote solved that problem by
burying it in the goal on several occasions. Three duck down at half time we
switched back to a more recognisable Falcons format of 5 - 3 - 2.Did it make a
difference, well - Yes! I think it did - OK we conceded another 3 without reply
but we did put their defence under a lot more pressure. The MOC, had he been
there, would have been proud of the way our players lined up to emulate his
phenomenal air shot of the previous week. Ian, our debutant, played well but
with cramp threatening both ankles came off with 5 minutes to go. This allowed
a cameo appearance of Breezy [Paul Brees] who, being told he could come on at
right-wing promptly moved into the left-inner position.
In the end we just could not get the ball into their goal, which allowed
our right-back the final word on the game, turning to Ricardo he uttered
"It's just as well that the police raided and closed that brothel in
Back to the clubhouse where we rounded off the day with - Cold
showers, hot 'killer' Chilli and the, welcomed, return of the Jimmy Riddles
[
Meantime, for those “opting out” of the activity at
Gosford (n.b. that is opting out, not dropped!) we saw the other side of
Eastcote.
However, this came at the end of a testing week that
commenced with an excellent birthday lunch for the son of MOC. This was on
Sunday and taken at The Dog House at Frilford Heath where they do a very good
value carvery on a Sunday. As usual with a carvery the meat was plentiful but
the bonus was the finely cooked vegetables, not the sorry soggy sort one
sometimes experiences at such offerings. The weather was pleasant and we were
able to have post lunch drinks sitting outside in the sunshine. Monday involved
a medical inspection of the stitches left in following removal of the cyst
reported in the last edition of this blog. All was pronounced satisfactory and
the stitches to be removed after a further week. Meantime to take care and try
to discourage any licking of the wound. (Many
thanks to the several people who E-mailed following reports of the operation to
wish me the best for a speedy recovery).
We then moved forward three days and ten years to
celebrate Mr Hunters 40th birthday by taking tea at the B&RA.
The plan had been to meet circa 16:30 ish and return home circa 19:00 ish.
Things did not go quite to plan with a somewhat later departure from the Bear
followed by a visit, en route home(!) to The Vine. We hoovered some Guinness!
Friday evening saw eight to ten of us gathered at the
B&RA for our weekly training. Once again my three pound investment in the
meat draw was productive and we had excellent roast pork for tea on Saturday.
As Mighty commented, it was “fresh” on Saturday. We
walked the dog by the river, had scrambled egg for breakfast and then toddled
off to NOSC to watch the Ladies “1s” who were playing Eascote. (Eascote seem to
be everywhere!). However, this match appears rather better (Hawks) value than
the Falcons one. For a start Eastcote did not score. Second, Hawks scored four.
Third, Eastcote coach was carded and forced to retire to the gate to the pitch
in the first half. Fourth, he was Australian and was carded for “sledging” the
umpire. Fifth, he didn’t learn his lesson when he was allowed to return at half
time such that he repeated his antics in the second half and got a “red”. At
this point he patrolled up and down outside the fence behind us muttering
Antipodean comments.
The Mens “1s” that followed was tame by comparison,
albeit some rather odd umpiring resulted in the “1s” losing a player without
any warning and the seemingly harsh from where we were standing award of a
flick to the
Next week:
Falcons at
Whilst at
10:30 Mens 4ths
12:00 Ladies 2s
13:30 Mens 2s
15:00 Ladies 3s
16:30 Ladies Harriers
Saturday 9th
Feb 2008 –
Official Adastral Training took us to a
new venue Sunday evening: The Bear at Home,
After all that, is it worth the visit?
The place has a very good feel to it. There is an impressive selection of real
ales on the pumps, but the menu is unspectacular as was the food itself.
However it is worth a visit for the beer. Our attention was drawn to an
offering from the local to Oxford Stanford In The Vale brewery of Ian Rogers:
White Horse Brewery. Whilst I can drink their bitter I have always been much fonder
of their Wayland Smithy brew. Now I can report another excellent ale, Giant,
named after the Cerne Abbott chalk hillside one. Like the hillside version
quite outstanding and thoroughly recommended.
With no duties required at The Queens I
was able to enjoy the weather and, having had the stitches successfully removed
on Monday from right thigh, enjoy riverside dog walks. No invitation to
afternoon tea at The Bear either this week but did have to visit there Thursday
evening for a meeting of The Mayors Fund Committee. Matters for discussion
included the planned draining of the village pond on Saturday in order to
de-sludge it, and whom should benefit from the £4K we have in the bank. All
satisfactorily settled within three pints so home by nine.
Back there Friday for our weekly
gathering of locals and the meet draw. Won a joint for third week running so
lots of “brownie points” at home. Early start Saturday to supervise the 0830
start of pond draining. More accurately, 0830 saw tea being served at the pond
side car repair garage run by an ex-mayor shortly followed by the firing up of
two pumps drawing water out of the pond into the recently cleared drainage
ditch. More tea, more ex-mayors in evidence and a bit of initial enthusiasm
exhibited by last years mayor along with our prime organisor for donning waders
and hand pulling out the reeds. This enthusiasm soon dissipated as the reeds
were not inclined to give up their roots very readily. More tea. Then arrived
the big tractor with big tanker trailer: the sludge sucker. A bit of percussive
maintenance and the sludge sucking pipe was in the pond and the sucker fired
up. Six minutes later the tanker was full and a substantial gulley sucked out
of the sludge. Then the tractor was off towards Eaton and Appleton to fire the
stuff out of the tanker and over the environment. Very eco friendly as long as
we kept the fish away from the sucker pipe.
Time was now 11:30 so I had to leave
them to it in order to prepare for departure to
Ricardo
Marquis Of
Blommers Sobes
WillB
Henn
Smartie GMHuggie Crampers
MOC
With HughB umpiring and PixC and DixC
on the bench.
The Horace Bachelor Infradraw system
deemed that Henn and MOC should absent themselves after 11 minutes, re-appear
11 minutes later and repeat the same in/out/shake it all about process in the
second half. Not sure which worked the better: the process or our hockey.
Whilst our defence was, in the main, solid with Ricardo outstanding, up front
we could not retain possession or even threaten. However we did win a shortie
and Sobes scored. Then minute eleven arrived and the first changes were made.
All well so far. Then minute 22 arrived and chaos ensued. Off came Huggie, on
came MOC and Henn. The only one who noticed we had 12 on the park was MOC, so
he came off again. Meantime Henn and Blommers were both trying to play at right
half and Crampers was oblivious to the need to absent himself from the fray
allowing Smartie to move to left inner, PixC to centre forward, Blommers to
move to right inner and MOC onto right wing. So they scored.
Sobes read the riot act at half time.
We started appallingly. We repeated the PixC, DixC, Henn and MOC exchange after
eleven and improved a bit. We then took charge but missed a few sitters. Then
Smartie got a goal, PixC missed a few more, Henn replaced Huggie and that was
that.
Ricardo man of the match, their bar ran
out of Youngs, their teas have improved from bread and cheese to sausage and
mash, and some of us stopped off at Lewknor for a couple of I cannot remember
what. It was here we learned that Blommers had made a pit stop en-route to
Then it was off to Cumnor Village Hall
for a splendid gathering of cricketers and hockey players old and even older to
celebrate Martin Hunters 40th. Yes, we did feature Martin once for
the Falcons in a loss away at
Next week:
Falcons away at Woking whilst at
11:00 Ladies 1s
13:00 Mens 1s
14:30 Mens 3s
16:00 Fledgelings
Ruddles back on the pump at the
clubhouse I hear.
Saturday 16th February - Woking Pitts [the elders] away
Billers request for availability for this game gives the Falcons,
by Thursday AM, a squad of 16 willing to make the trip to
· A luxury not
currently enjoyed by many of our other mens 11's Captains
· A nightmare for
working out a formula for substitutions
Still, Falcons squads being what they are, by Saturday's
noon meet time we are down to 12 travelling players as a few have
opted to stand down and the MOC, having decided that a full 70
minutes on the pitch with any team that'll have him was preferable to a
possible 50-60 minutes & rolling subs with us, elected to travel with
the fourth eleven to Eastcote of all places.
Those that should have met at Cutteslowe did so and after a brief
discussion amongst the drivers about where the pitch was and which was the best
direction to take to get there we set off. With several people going direct and
it being a new pitch as far as games against
Despite the fact that we're playing at the
Ricardo
MOB WillB
Blommers Billers Sobes
Gropes
Crampers
Hen
Smartie The Baron
GP on the subs bench & HughB on the whistle
First 9 minutes and we're all over them but not netting our chances, but
at least we're not putting on an air show like the previous two weeks
Next 9 minutes sees GP on for The Baron and us still not scoring until
Sobes buries his second shot from a penalty corner 1-0
Falcons
Next 9 minutes sees The Baron on for WillB, they break and despite a
valiant attempt by Ricardo net the
ball 1-1
Last 9 minutes of the first half sees WillB on for Blommers and a fine
goal from Gropes restores the balance
2-1 Falcons
Second half sees Billers off with Gropes dropping into the Centre half
spot, GP joining MOB at full back and The Baron marauding down the
left wing
We continue to hold the upper hand and after a few minutes we are
another goal, from Sobes, to the better 3-1
Falcons
Next 9 sees Billers on for Crampers, continued pressure and Smartie
adding his name to the score sheet 4-1 Falcons
Crampers replaces Smartie and GP at full back gets his first,
second half, touch of the ball. Gropes decides to go on a Sobes style
wobble which nets him his second goal of the game and does a lot to enhance his
Man of the Match award 5-1 Falcons
Smartie comes back on replacing Hen and
End of the match and a comfortable win.
Back to their clubhouse to find, that they like us, have had a much
needed refurbishment. We settled down to an excellent Chicken Curry &
Rice meal liberally washed down with pints of Badger beer.
I have been asked to pass on regards to MOC and PJ from several of their
players.
No stop on the way back until we reached our clubhouse were Gropes
decided to buy a MoM round and Rogan joined us too late to get in on it.
Next week sees us at home
Saturday 23rd
February –
Busy week! Two early shifts on Monday and Tuesday at The Queens.
Comfortably, and predictably for the academic world, nothing had changed since
my last duties. Unlock the college at 06:30, welcome the Scouts (cleaners) and
dispense their keys from 16:30 to 08:00, welcome the Head Porter circa 07:40,
cooked breakfast at 08:15, post arrives circa 09:30 and is sorted and put into
pigeon holes by HP, parcels during the morning, answer the phone, watch people
come and go, lunch at 12:15, watch more people come and go, book the odd guest
room, go home circa 15:30. Not too much stress.
Very select gathering at the B&RA
Friday and a failure to win anything in the meat draw. Short rations at the
weekend then. Just as well we are at home on Saturday and there is a “do” at
cricket club that night. Predictably, with a home game, we had a cast of
thousands for the 15:00 match. Billers bailed out and opted to watch No. 1 Son
play for league leaders
By this time Falcons are 1 – 0 up and
in depth research discovers the oranges under the keepers bag on the bench!
Yes, Ricardo plays a jaffa.
Falcons had lined up for this first
half:
Ricardo
MOB
WillB
Blommers Gropes
Sobes
Henn
The Corrs HuggieFiveO Crampers
Smartie
Further goal from Crampers before
Ricardo granted
Ricardo
FGTH
Humph
Blommers Sobes
WillB
Supertanker GP
Smartie Crampers MOC
A knock to the heel saw Crampers retire
and HuggieFiveO return to the fray and we ended up with a 5 – 1 win with goals
from Henn, Crampers, Sobes, Smartie and someone else (help????).
The KC was much appreciated by all as
was a return to the Jimmy Riddles and we duly celebrated Huggies fiftieth
(hence HuggieFiveO) and Gropes second on the trot MOM (Man Of The Match), hence
Serial Gropes (SG). We dispersed before the Wine Tasters arrived and in good
time for the rugby which was taken in at CCC where Ricksey was celebrating his
13th birthday. He doesn’t wear well!
Saturday 1st March - Reading at home
Active week! With the assistance of "best mate" Adrain (Faulkner)
helped No 1 daughter move house by loading her hired 7 tonner on T Thuesday
morning. Job completed in a little over two hours enabling her to depart
Swindon at midday and have everything unloaded at her rented cottage just
outside Exeter by 18:30. Wednesday and Thursday found me on duty in the
The portents for Saturday were not good with thousands pronouncing themselves
available for the Falcons. However, Ricardo was garenteed a clean sheet as he
had gone skiing and was, therefore, NA. The "4s" were short for their
match at
Breezie
MOB WillB
Clarkie Gropes Sobes
JPA Smartie Huggie Crampers PixC
with The Pope blowing and the bench populated by MOC, Billers, The Corrs and
the late arriving Baron. JPAR was suffering from right wing itis as this
position meant he was forced to pass left, not one of his most prolific moves.
However he rapidly overcame this technicality by moving off the wing to an
inside position. Meantime
Half time saw The Corrs join the fray along with PixC returning and Crampers
and Huggie retiring.
Excellent chilli and good Jimmy Riddles until it ran out circa 19:30.
We are on a roll and hope we can keep it going at Haslemere next
week.
On Saturday 15th March we host Woking Pitts The Younger. It will be our
last match with them as they are returning to the
But what do you think?
Saturday 15th
March –
Full week, this week, starting with Adastral Training
on Sunday at The Greyhound, Marsh Gibbon. Some good beer and excellent Thai
food to go with the good company. Late shift at
Early shifts Weds and Thurs at
Saturday morning up and out for a dog walk by the
river followed by “brunch” then off to NOSC to see the second half of the
Ladies “1s” as they lost to Southampton, all of the Mens “1s” losing to
Chichester and then it was the main event: Falcons v. Woking PTY. In the
2005/2006 season we did draw at home with them. Otherwise they have won all
other clashes. They are moving out of our “league” next season so this was our
last crack at them. Could we field a side strong enough to give them a game?
Billers and Breezie arrived back from featuring for
the Senators and we started off with:
Ricardo
MOB The Baron
Blommers
Billers Sobes
Henn JPAR Gropes
Crampers MOC
With HughB and The Pope blowing, DixC, The Corrs and
Clarkie on the bench and Breezie and Huggie supporting.
Half way through the first half DixC replaced MOC.
Meantime they scored, Sobes equalized, but they took the lead. The Corrs
replaced Henn at half time but Clarkie had become the invisible man. The Corrs
blew up after ten and Henn re-entered the fray. He was replaced by MOC and then
came back again to replace DixC. Meantime they scored some more. They
acknowledged the fact that we had given them a match and the 5 – 1 score was
not a true reflection. They deserved to win. Man Of The Match was a close call.
Initially it was thought Clarkie had got it, then Huggie headed him by the fact
he lasted a full game, but then Billers pipped everyone. How we have missed him
in the middle. Despite conceding five Ricardo also featured in the voting.
A very good chilli was much appreciated by W PTY and,
eventually, we got stuck into The Giant whilst The Pope was enjoying
So, here ends another enjoyable season of Vets League.
Before Saturday we were 4th behind Woking PTY and Eastcote, joint
leaders, then came Epsom who did not come to
Saturday 29th
March – City Of
Time was this fixture would have been a keenly
contested, block fixture blood bath between the two clubs. In more recent years
it has been a keenly contested, sociable end of season friendly between Falcons
and City/Morris’ Old Combustibles. However, gone are the likes of Sid Denton
and his son, Les Deakon, Mickey Boodells son and the rest. These eminent
ancients of mens and mixed hockey in
The warnings were there for all to see when the Oxford
Mail and Oxford Times printed an article and accompanying picture of the City
Over 35 side were Mercian Masters Div. 3 Champions and unbeaten to boot. Oh,
errrr, this was the side we were due to face on Saturday! A number of Falcons
ran for cover to avoid the conflict:
GP – Geof Paver decided to go on honeymoon, Crampers,
Gropes, WillB, Clarkie and JPAR all absented themselves.
This left us with Ricardo, Humph, Billers, Blommers,
H, DixC, PixC, Huggie, Smartie, The Baron, MOC, Henn, MOB, TMS, Ellio and
Breezie to place on the park with HughB umpiring and The Corrs spectating. The
initial line up was something like:
Ricardo
MOB The Baron
Blommers
H TMS
PixC
Smartie Huggie Humph
DixC.
After 12 or so minutes there was to be a mass cull of
the forwards to let the rest on with the swapping to repeat in second half.
Whilst City may not have had their strongest line up they had too much in the
legs department for us. And, just to really take the p*** they featured a
teenager of ability in their midfield for a mjor part of the match. What was
even more galling was the fact that he is, reportedly, a Hawk! They scored a
few, We failed to even win a short corner but did raise the biggest cheer of
the match when the MOC cleared the ball upfield to Ellio who exchanged passes
with his wing of the moment before holding the ball up on the goal line to the
right of goal gaining the attention of a couple of defenders plus the City
keeper. This gave sufficient time for the MOC to amble/sprint upfield and roof
Ellios pass back. This, unfortunately, was not the last action as City netted
yet another before Hugh ended the onesided contest at, I think, 1 – 6.
An excellent Killer Chilli as usual washed down by the
equally excellent Giant until it ran out! Time for a bottle of something
suitable before home to change and get off to the Club Awards. And awards a
planty there were, most of which washed over the Falcons Table except the well
earned Falcons Player Of The Season award which went to Ricardo. That deserved
a round. Did we get it?
When you consider that we have leaked more goals this
season than for at least the last seven seasons, and the last clean sheet was
on 29th September last year, the Falcons vote of our goalkeeper as
Player Of The Season says something, albeit I am lost for words!
Saturday 11th April - Chippenham at home.
Bet you thought I had forgotten this match. Well you are nearly correct. For
the sake of completeness I am writing this, albeit out of sequence.
Having been stuffed by City Of
Couple of shifts at
Ricardo, MOB, The Barron, Humph, H, Billers, Blommers, WillB, MOC, Henn,
Crampers, DixC, Ellio, Breezie with HughBie umpiring.
What can I say about the match? They were not at their strongest, but had some
wise heads amongst them. We could have won, but they were three two up before
MOC converted a shortie towards the close. Before then Crampers had scored
after their keeper was grounded by DixC, Ellio scored, and we were giving a
debut to our latest goalkeeping find from Afganistan or somewhere: I Bin
Lobbed.
Yes, twice the ball was deftly lifted over the advancing keeper to dive under
the bar into the goal. IBL was not impressed, the rest of us were. Meantime
their keeper provided a diving save from an MOC edge of the D shot to earn him
the Golden Moment award from his team mates and we retired to the bar for the
Killer Chilli and some excellent Wayland Smithey.
I gather I Bin Lobbed was selected again for the following match at Olton.
Could be a new find for next season.
See you at the dinner.
Saturday 12th April - Oulton & West Warwick - Away
Last official fixture of the Falcon's 2007/2008 winter season.
The Falcons, being a caring bunch of people, had obviously decided that
because all of them declaring themselves "available" each week
was having a detrimental effect on the Billers brain they'd not do so this
week. Which meant that the midweek team selection had us as 12 with a possible
13 if GMH passed a late fitness test.
Saturday's noon meet time confirmed 13 to travel. Ellio having arrived
with a big smile because he wasn't a) the last or b) late soon lost it when
finding out it was away at Oulton realised he'd have been better off going
direct.
Journey up no problem and we arrived in good time. We're on their new
pitch which, apparently, at the beginning of the season had been ankle deep in
sand, but now showed no sign of any sand at all [Who knows, maybe it was
all lurking under the mat of hailstones that decorated the surface]
Starting line up was
Ricardo
Mighty The
Baron
GP
Sobes Billers
Smartie
H
PixC
GMH The Corrs
Subs: Ellio; Breezy
Now I don't know how widely read Rogues match reports are but 8 minutes
into the game and an advancing Ricardo is lobbed by their centre forward [1-0
down] - Obviously he must have seen last weeks match report. 7 minutes later
and the score is 3-0 to Oulton - Is there a massacre on the cards.
Penalty corner Falcons, Sobes shot is blocked by their keeper and GMH
nets the rebound [3-1]
First set of changes sees Ellio on for GP & Breezy on for The Corrs.
Just before half-time and continuing for 5 minutes into the second
half the heavens open and the hailstone mat reappears - Nice pitch,
shame there are no dugouts.
Falcons make a couple more changes at half time and continue to pile
pressure onto Oulton's defence with no luck. Final set of planned changes
sees The Baron on for Mighty and The Corrs on for PixC; 2 minutes and
one run later sees PixC back on for The Corrs as, once again, his hamstring
threatens to go [Lucky he's not a racehorse]
Finally a well worked move out of the Falcons defence sees Breezy
deliver an inch perfect pass [Happy Breezy] to Smartie who calmly slots home
from the top of the D
[3-2]. From this point on it's all one way traffic but we can't squeeze
an equalizer out of the proceedings
We retire to their temporary clubhouse for a "do-it-yourself"
sarnie tea, a few pints of Greene King IPA or Brew XI, if you happened to be in
Breezy's round. Non-stop journey back to our clubhouse to sample the Village
Idiot to round off the day.
Don't forget - This Friday is the Falcons dinner at the White Hart,
Fyfield 7-7.30pm meet for 8pm sitting.
Enjoy,
Thanks, MOB, for the match report.
Meanwhile I was on the annual outing of the Project Management Institute,
Project Management Professionals which, this year, was to
No free drinks this year but four rounds of G & T on the plane assured a
comfortable landing. Thankfully the
Nice city,
Season
2007/2008 – The Conclusion
The annual Falcons Dinner took place
at The White Hart, Fyfield on Friday 18th April where 32 Falcons and
partners sat down to an excellent quality meal, even if the plates were not as
full as some might like. The Pope was absent owing to the need to be on stand
by for the birth of first grand child which Celia confidently predicted would
occur on this particular Friday. She was wrong, I was right in predicting it
would be late.
The Henn was manning the barricades
in his leading role with the Weston Fronts NIMBY army. My personal vote would
go to Shipton Quarry, but I would prefer Weston to the field behind me. JPAR
was returning number three son to
Thanks were delivered to our very own
Killer Queen Of The Chilli, to I Bin Lobbed for fiture organisation and to
Billers for team organisation. A précis of the season was provided which showed
that, overall, we had:
Played 24, won 11, drawn 5, lost 8,
scored 57, conceded 64 with GMH our leading scorer with 10 closely followed by
Smartie with 9.
League wise we played 16, won 8, drew
4, lost 4, scoring 39, conceding 45.
This gave us a points average of 1.75
which put us in 4th equal place in the league, according to me!
|
League Positions - 2007/8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Club |
Ave. |
|
1 |
|
2.81 |
|
2 |
Eastcote |
2.80 |
|
3 |
Epsom |
2.05 |
|
4 |
Falcons |
1.75 |
|
5 |
Wokingham |
1.68 |
|
6 |
|
1.67 |
|
7 |
Polytechnic |
1.63 |
|
8 |
|
1.61 |
|
9 |
|
1.16 |
|
10 |
Haslemere |
0.94 |
|
11 |
Amersham |
0.67 |
|
12 |
Havant |
0.67 |
|
13 |
|
0.65 |
|
14 |
Oxted |
0.59 |
However the league AGM Minutes,
published a few days later showed we had played one more match but had three
fewer points, putting us in 8th place out of 14. The league results
and positions published on Wokingham HC web site appear to agree with my own
stats so I await a response from the league.
A full list of results is provided on
The Falcons web page within the Hawks web site.
We now enter
that key period of the year where maintaining ones fitness is so important to
ensure a smooth start to the next season. To this end I am, once again,
entering the Cumnor Annual Sponsored Bike Ride that raises money for local
deserving causes including SSNAP. This takes place on 7th June. If
you would like to sponsor me please let me know. Alternatively, if you would
like to enter I can supply further details.
Thanking you
in anticipation……………………….The MOC.
For further information see: www.oxfordhawks.homestead.com
Falcons Cast List:
Ricardo
– Richard Wilsdon
I
Bin Lobbed - Ricardo
Clarkie
– Richard Clarke
Humph
– Humphrey Battcock
JPAR
– Paddy Roche
Billers
– Chris Billington our captain and organizer
WillB
– Will Barton
DixC
– David Cole
PixC
– Peter Curtis
Huggie
– Dave Hughes
GMH
(Goal Machine Huggie) – Dave Hughes
Huggie
FiveO – Dave Hughes
Smartie
– Richard Smart
Crampers
– Mark Crampton Smith
The
Baron – John Baron
Rogues
– Rogan Meadows
MOC
(Mayor Of Cumnor) – Rogan
Hughbie
– Hugh Bentley
The
Pope – Peter Wilson
Henn
– Tony Henman
Blommers
– David Blomley.
Gropes
– Giles Roper
Serial
Gropes (having been Man Of The Match on successive Sats.) – G Roper
GP – Geof Paver
Twizzle – Nick Bailey
TMS – The Mighty Sobes, Ian Sobey
Mighty – Mike Kentfield
MOB – Marquis Of
The Corrs – Ian Caws
Breezie – Paul Breeze
FGTH (Frankie Goes To Holyrood) – Frank Nawn
H or HG – John Kaluza