Viva Lewes April 2015 Issue #103

feature: football
Sunday League
Callum Archer-Dennis - Elephant and Castle football team
So you run the Elly football team… Me and
my brother. Technically, I’m Secretary and he’s
Manager, but we both do a bit of both.
Is it hard to get an XI out? It has been lately.
Facebook helps enormously – I don’t know how
people managed before – but we’ve been struggling
to get a team out recently. Yesterday [Sun
15 March] only eleven turned up, so we couldn’t
bring any subs on.
I photographed you before the match [on
Priory School Playing Fields]. How did it go?
We lost 6-2, against Stone Cross Newhaven. It’s
not as bad as it sounds, actually. We let three in at
the end, because we were knackered. We had no
subs, you see… That sounds like a terrible result,
but it’s pretty typical for Sunday League.
What’s your heaviest ever defeat? One game,
in a Cup match, we were playing a team from
a higher division, and only seven of our players
turned up. That’s the minimum you can have for
the game to go on. We lost 24-0.
Do you make sure to get an early night before
a game? [Matches generally kick off at 10.30am]
Not us. The bulk of the team is a bunch of mates,
and we’re generally on the piss the night before,
so we’re playing on a hangover. Some teams take
it more seriously.
And what do you do afterwards? We go to the
pub! The Elephant and Castle, naturally. We do a
post mortem – which can be quite long if we win –
and watch a match or two on the TV.
So how often do you win? We’ve won a couple
this year, and when you’ve been losing as much
as we have, it’s a glorious feeling. It was against
a team in Eastbourne, away, who were second or
third in the League. Sometimes when it’s chucking
it down with rain outside and you wake up with a
hangover and have to play away you wonder if it’s
all worth it. Times like those persuade you it is.
Are there many bad injuries? The occasional
injury happens. I’ve done my knee ligaments a
couple of times, which means six weeks out. One
of our team-mates broke his leg – not a clean
break thankfully – earlier this season.
And what about on-the-pitch aggro? Some
teams are worse than others. We might have a few
slanging matches but no physical stuff, to speak
of. However, one of our players has recently been
suspended for three games after a bit of a scuffle.
Do you ever play in a fancy continental formation?
No. It’s usually 4-4-2 or 4-5-1, though we
did play with three defenders and wing-backs
yesterday [see above]. It worked for a while…
Describe your last goal. Actually I’ve scored
quite a lot this season, for a central defender. A
corner came in, the ball bounced kindly for me,
and I thumped it in, from four yards.
Who washes your kit? Thankfully, they do that
at the Elly.
Alex Leith
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