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Jun. 5th, 2011 10:03 pmTo Wembley for the women's FA Umbro Fives finals.
Arrived at the Bobby Moore entrance just after noon. Trevor was waiting just inside the bar; I joined him for a quick chat and drink before Yzzy's mum Suzy appeared, rather agitated. Today Umbro were supplying kits for the teams to wear, but all the women players had been given medium shirts. Like most female goalkeepers, Yzzy is a big lass, and the medium jersey left a strip of her showing between it and her shorts. So Suzy conscripted Trevor to go backstage and try and get Yzzy issued with more suitable attire. In the end Yzzy swapped shirts with a scrawny goalie from one of the male teams, whose issued Large size jersey was baggy on him but fitted her like a glove.
After a quick chat with the Hawk girls, and with lovely Michelle (there as one of a team of Portsmouth University players) and her girlfriend, I joined Suzy and a few other Hawks Ladies supporters sitting at the front of the centre section. As I was walking up the steps to pop back into the bar for a bottle of sparkling water, Chris and some more of Chloe's family arrived and I pointed them to where our contingent were. Sadie, Charley and Laura O rolled up and joined us just in time to see our first match.
The sacred turf was divided into eight five-a-side size rectangles. The Hawk girls' first two games were on pitches right in front of us. We came back from behind to beat Old Actonians 3-2 but then drew 2-2 with the Loughborough students.
The girls had a bit of a break then, and our group in the stand amused ourselves watching a male match reduced to three-a-side by sin-binnings then one of the players getting sent off and launching the ball into the stand on his way out. Later we saw him leaving the players' area carrying his kitbag; the rest of his team were also spoken to, resulting in a tame performance in their next game.
The Hawk Ladies faced the Portsmouth University girls on the far corner pitch, leaving us with a somewhat restricted view - we could only tell our team had scored from the celebratory air-punching and jigging of the players. Suzy and the others had been saying before kick-off "We've got to beat Portsmouth Uni or we'll never hear the end of it", but the message never got to the players - we lost 3-1.
That left us needing to beat a team from Leeds Carnegie - of the FA Premier National - in our last group game and hope Portsmouth Uni would then beat Loughborough. In the meantime, we had some action from the crème de la menthe of British women's football to savour, as the tournament for the eight FA Women's Super League teams took centre stage. On one of the pitches in front of us was Doncaster Belles v Arsenal. "Your old team," I pointed out to Suzy, and she shared with us some anecdotes of her time as a Belle in the early 1970s.
We knew Leeds would be a tough proposition, but our girls held them comfortably for a while - then Stacie sent us into dreamland with a magnificent volleyed goal. We held on for several more minutes - might the girls pull off the miracle? Sadie asked Charley "If we win this do we go through?"
"If we win, and Portsmouth Uni beat Loughborough," I clarified.
Right at that point, bloody Leeds equalised. Chris rapped me on the head with his programme for 'jinxing' us, when he should have been rapping Sadie - or our dozing defenders for that matter. A little later Leeds exploited a gaping hole in our ranks to score again. Goodnight Vienna.
Our party drifted away in dribs and drabs. I made the lonely walk back to the train station. At least it's time to forget about football till the Island Games.
Arrived at the Bobby Moore entrance just after noon. Trevor was waiting just inside the bar; I joined him for a quick chat and drink before Yzzy's mum Suzy appeared, rather agitated. Today Umbro were supplying kits for the teams to wear, but all the women players had been given medium shirts. Like most female goalkeepers, Yzzy is a big lass, and the medium jersey left a strip of her showing between it and her shorts. So Suzy conscripted Trevor to go backstage and try and get Yzzy issued with more suitable attire. In the end Yzzy swapped shirts with a scrawny goalie from one of the male teams, whose issued Large size jersey was baggy on him but fitted her like a glove.
After a quick chat with the Hawk girls, and with lovely Michelle (there as one of a team of Portsmouth University players) and her girlfriend, I joined Suzy and a few other Hawks Ladies supporters sitting at the front of the centre section. As I was walking up the steps to pop back into the bar for a bottle of sparkling water, Chris and some more of Chloe's family arrived and I pointed them to where our contingent were. Sadie, Charley and Laura O rolled up and joined us just in time to see our first match.
The sacred turf was divided into eight five-a-side size rectangles. The Hawk girls' first two games were on pitches right in front of us. We came back from behind to beat Old Actonians 3-2 but then drew 2-2 with the Loughborough students.
The girls had a bit of a break then, and our group in the stand amused ourselves watching a male match reduced to three-a-side by sin-binnings then one of the players getting sent off and launching the ball into the stand on his way out. Later we saw him leaving the players' area carrying his kitbag; the rest of his team were also spoken to, resulting in a tame performance in their next game.
The Hawk Ladies faced the Portsmouth University girls on the far corner pitch, leaving us with a somewhat restricted view - we could only tell our team had scored from the celebratory air-punching and jigging of the players. Suzy and the others had been saying before kick-off "We've got to beat Portsmouth Uni or we'll never hear the end of it", but the message never got to the players - we lost 3-1.
That left us needing to beat a team from Leeds Carnegie - of the FA Premier National - in our last group game and hope Portsmouth Uni would then beat Loughborough. In the meantime, we had some action from the crème de la menthe of British women's football to savour, as the tournament for the eight FA Women's Super League teams took centre stage. On one of the pitches in front of us was Doncaster Belles v Arsenal. "Your old team," I pointed out to Suzy, and she shared with us some anecdotes of her time as a Belle in the early 1970s.
We knew Leeds would be a tough proposition, but our girls held them comfortably for a while - then Stacie sent us into dreamland with a magnificent volleyed goal. We held on for several more minutes - might the girls pull off the miracle? Sadie asked Charley "If we win this do we go through?"
"If we win, and Portsmouth Uni beat Loughborough," I clarified.
Right at that point, bloody Leeds equalised. Chris rapped me on the head with his programme for 'jinxing' us, when he should have been rapping Sadie - or our dozing defenders for that matter. A little later Leeds exploited a gaping hole in our ranks to score again. Goodnight Vienna.
Our party drifted away in dribs and drabs. I made the lonely walk back to the train station. At least it's time to forget about football till the Island Games.
