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Fat Tony Challenge   Bunwer Consolidation Cup Final 2006-7

England v Rest of the World December 2007. Friendly Team. Calasparra 1984.    Moretas 1991.    Montilla 

Sevilla 1993.   Castlenau 1980´s.  Segovia.  Paraguay

With both league teams having a free Saturday the club took the opportunity to play another in club friendly.

In the absence of Gary Weir still suffering a hangover from Aberdeen´s visit to Madrid, the World were managed by the grizzly Irish veteran Paul Reidy and Phil Mugford complete with Motty style sheepskin coat was in charge of the English lads.  Both teams had good sized squads so the game was extended to 50 minutes each way.

The managers went with the "where do you play, well you´ll play where I tell you systems" which meant the likes of Mike Ojo a regular defender playing right wing, Howard Rouse accompanying Rob Turner up front and even Paul Reidy saw himself as a media punta. Strange creatures managers !

No team dominated early on so it was a slight surprise that the World went 2 up midway through the first period but just before half time Rob Turner pulled one back to ensure a close second half as well. Steven Cespedes and Sebatian Mejias and Mente were linking well but Warwick Smith and co were coping.

When Howard Rouse equalised it looked as if England would go on and find the winning goal. According to Mark Kieran the world had turned into a shambles and the English side demanded that McLaren do something. The referee´s descendency was called into question as a number of decsions were going against the World eleven.

But just as the English were gaining momentum the strong running of Jonas from Denmark and Prince set up 2 more goals for the World before Rob Turner dispossessed Conor Murray to strike a lovely goal. A tense final few minutes saw Ben Hessler England´s goalie up for  the final corner of the game before the referee blew time.

For the record

England

Ben Hessler, Rami Ali, Paul Ingram, Mike Ojo, Martin Osterhus, Ollie Atkins, Rob Turner, Dermot Ledwith, Howard Rouse, Gorka, Warwick Smith, John McKeon, Dave Pugh.

Rest of the World

Felipe, Mario, Paul Reidy, Kevin Stevenson, Matthew, Mente, Prince, Steven Cespedes, Diego, Jonas, Sebastian Mejias,Mark Kieran, Conor Murray,

Photos Courtesy of Alex Leggeat Dental Studio.                                   

(click on images to enlarge)
Britanicos first social football of the season saw Fat Tony´s diner bulging with players and expectations come to the training camp of the well established ex pats in Barrio Pilar to challenge 2  Britanico select teams. Plenty of sun and plenty of fun on the day. For those that don´t know, Fat Tony´s is a 5 star fish and chippy in the heart of the city,of which Harry Ramsden would be proud. They also do mushy peas. 

In the first match Fat Tony´s took on a Britanicos select of veterans bolstered by some regular team players. Britanicos dominated the ball from the start but  sound defence and in particular Tony´s keeper limited the number of real goal chances. And at times the Britanicos had to be wary of some strong counter attacking. The winning and only goal came from a move down the left  which eventually saw Mark Rogers, a true Britanico veteran deliver one of those lovely crosses reminiscent of his haydays. The ball then fell to  Dave Pugh who settled the match. 

The winning Britanicos opted to play in the second match. Fear of stiffening bodies or the need to get home to assist children with their homework made this an easy decision. In this  match they played the new lads also boosted by some regular team players. And again the experienced side controlled the game early on as the new lads struggled to hold onto the ball. But the goal didn´t come as Rob Turner started to get isolated up front. The new lads began to find their feet and driven on by the returning Neil Moran in midfield and the speedy up front pairing of Steven Desair and Ruben from the Benelux academy of F.C.Britanico (Rami, must get an agent in there somewhere) came more and more into the game. This allowed Sebastian M.  a free role ( or is this a term given to someone who can´t defend or mark a man ) which he perfected by scoring a wonderful goal from 25 meters, Phil Mugford from Derby had previously kept out a couple of other long range efforts.  Special mention must be made here of Gerald Loughlin, son of legendary veteran Gerry. Perhaps lacking the passing skills of his father he was more than willing to work to allow his team mates to express themselves. Gerald forget what Cantona said, every team needs a water carrier.

And so to the final game between the New Lads and Fat Tony´s. Both teams knew what was on offer. Fat Tony´s needed 2 goals and the New Lads only  one more to collect the FAT TONY CHALLENGE TROPHY. Looking at the touchline Tony´s men were up for it. With the floodlights on, a close match was anticipated.  But what happened next is what can happen in any game of football. Within  5 minutes the New Britanicos had moved through all the gears and everything they touched turned into goals.  Alas Tony and his team were made to suffer, but all credit to them as they kept going to the end. Final score 8-0 or did the reporter miss one. And to think the New lads had lost their inspirational defender and last year´s player of the year John McKeon in their first game.

At the presentations vouchers for meals and drinks at Fat Tony´s were awarded to Steven Desair, Ruben, Sebastain and Conor Murray. Tony also extended an invitation to any Britanico who played in the tournament to drop in for a 'buy one get one free drink' at his restaurant in CALLE CRUZ 11 between Sol and Santa Ana.
When´s the next one !

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I couldn´t wait to get home to get started, on what will probably be the last match report of the season. In the absence of Big Phil from the Derby Chronicle and with most footballers not able to put 3 passes together, never mind writing words of 3 syllables, I give you my account on the Consolation Cup Final won by the Britanicos at El Pardo. Stuart was dressed as if he was going to the circus in the morning and meeting the Queen in the afternoon.

An exciting end of season was guaranteed.

Without some regular Bunver boys and with many players involved in the Mundialito, the club went with a mixture of first and second team and a couple of new lads, Olly and Rolo. Well they say football is a squad game these days. The oppositon AAPLA had come to win with enough to make 2 teams.

Both teams started well but the Britanicos were handling the dusty conditions better than their opposition counterparts. Whenever they broke up play the Britanicos controlled the ball and midway through the first half Prince put the club one up after a very smooth move involving Olly, Rolo and Jack. Soon after another attack ,the ball fell loose in the penalty area and Brent Ferguson on his farewell appearance scored to give his side a 2 nil lead. Everything the Britanicos did, was turning to gold, whereas AAPLA seemed to be content with the headless chicken approach.

HALF TIME Britanicos 2 AAPLA 0

The second half saw a number of anxious moments for the Britanicos because apart from dealing with the inevitable attacks from AAPLA as they attempted to get back into the game, they had to deal with the card happy referee Angel, never slow to show yellow when the Britanicos are in town. Say, buenas dias, take longer than 10 seconds to take a free kick, tie your bootlaces or adore the Pardo countryside and your name goes in the book.

Then with 15 minutes to go AAPLA scored, setting up a tense finish. Britanicos were always dangerous on the break but couldn´t find a third goal which would have calmed RAMI´s nerves. AAPLA came forward but unsung heroes Dermot Ledwith and Mike Ojo stood firm and were the rock for a very fine Cup win.

 FULL TIME Britanicos 2 AAPLA 1

The club has friends with other immigrant populations and none more so than our friends from PARAGUAY who always do well in the Mundialaito, in fact they were winners in 2006 and 2007. A few years prior to this  the Britanicos started playing them in friendly matches. We first played them at New  Year in 2004 and we played them one Friday night at the exact time when the draw for the 2006 was being made and incredibly England and Paraguay were paired in the same group. After Paraguay won the  Mundilaito in 2006 the Britanicos beat them in a friendly, a bit like Scotland being the first team to defeat England after they had won the World Cup in 1966. And the links have strenghtened with Felipe one of their goalkeepers now turing out on Saturday mornings for F.C.Britanico.

In 2002 due to having more and more players the club started to play friendlies as  well as league matches. The club only had one league team and therefore there was a need to keep people involved. The friendly team played a variety of matches and also formed a mini league with King´s College, Freshfields and Sun Micro Systems. 

The mini league games were played at VALLECAS and RIVAS on Friday nights or Sunday afternoons. Each team played against each other twice before a knock out stgae. The Britanicos reached the final only to lose one nil to a very youthful Freshfields team.

The club continued to play friendly matches till the inevitable step was made......League Football, and so an official second league team was formed in 2005.  The BUNWER league were approached and after a couple of meetings Paul Musgrave and Paul Heal became the first joint managers of the team, both had ben stalwarts of the Friendly team.

Gerry Loughlin has family in Montilla near Cordoba and was instrumental in setting up a couple of tours in the mid 1990´s to play the local Veteran´s team most of whom had played at a good level and had played against Real Madrid Veteran Teams and other top sides. When we went there we played on natural grass at the local stadium both matches ending in draws. One year we went and the rain was so torrential that the match had to be played on a nearby sand pitch and which was won by the Britanicos. Revenge was gained when Montilla came to Madrid and we lost to them in a match at Fuencerral.

In September the club went to Sevilla  where one of the current players PAUL CASSIDY was from. It was a pre season mini tour and the club welcomed new faces including Richard Carey Evans, Jim Rose and Laurence Ball all soon to become regular team players and bring their own particular personality to the club. Soon they would be joined by Rob Lamb and Richard Allen.

The weekend also saw the arrival of Simply Red who everyone was hoping would be the ideal replacement for Steve Tierney who had left the club earlier in the summer to settle  near Leeds.

In blazing heat the club lost 4-1 but with the opposition having more substitutes than the Britanicos, they were able to make changes more often. something essential in the 40º + heat.

In 1991 Paul Rhodes walked into MILANO the gent´s boutique in central Madrid to buy a suit and by the time he had come out he had secured an invitation to play in a competition with 3 other teams. The tournament was played over 2 weekends pre season in September and the Britanicos walked off with the trophy.

Stuart Gibb had just started to manage the club, forget Mourinho the Scottish Special One had arrived. Stuart played with 3 at the back before Cruyff did, turned a center forward into a right back(Barry Mistry) a midfielder into a center forward (Alan Munro), changed the sweeper to midfield (Steve Tierney) a midfielder to sweeper ( Graham Clark) a full back to midfield(Rami Ali) a right back into a left back (Gavin Cookman)and with new arrival Mark Mullaney the cocktail was complete. Add Nick Hyner,Rob Jones and Paul Rhodes and this team was regularly in the top 3 for the next 2 seasons.

Due to the success in the tournament, Moretas became the post match venue for a couple of seasons.

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