The Salopian no. 157 - Winter 2015

60 OLD SALOPIAN NEWS
Tour Report - Berlin 2015
Much like the fields of Glastonbury
being laid to fallow every
few years, the tradition of the Old
Salopian Football Club’s annual tour
to mainland Europe had been put on
hold for the previous three seasons.
This year the OSFC Tour was very
much back on the agenda. On the
August Bank Holiday a spirited touring
party of 19 Old Salopians left Gatwick
bound for Berlin, looking forward to
shaking off the cobwebs of a wedding
-and-stag-laden off-season - and
getting some much needed pre-season
fitness under their (strained) belts.
After spending the first evening
following the advice of talismanic Nick
Corlett, the Salops were well and truly
acclimatised to the local conditions by
the time the team bus departed the
hotel at 8am the following morning.
The squad were looking forward to
their first taste of German opposition,
with only a couple of the touring party
suffering from any serious jet-lag.
Two OS teams had been entered into
a 7-a-side tournament that Saturday,
with each team playing a total of
10x15 minute games in a leaguestyle
format. Conditions were not
favourable to the British tourists, as we
were faced with an uncharacteristically
German 30 degree sun, some less
than objective refereeing and, more
worryingly, a tempting German
barbeque catching more than one
hungry Salopian’s attention. However,
fuelled by Bratwurst and Diet Coke,
the two teams did themselves proud,
swatting aside every team that they
came up against, with the likes of
George Wade-Smith, as ever, light
on his feet and returning veteran
Hamish McKenzie tickling the onion
bag with regularity. The crunch game
arrived when the two OS teams met
one another, with the inevitable result
being a nervy 1-1 draw with chances
for both sides. In the final two games
Team 2 - perhaps weighed down by
the impressive intake of processed
meat - found results harder to come
by. Team 1 took advantage by
winning their final two games and in
doing so secured the famous ‘Golden
Ananas’ Trophy. Given the burgeoning
discontent from the locals to an
OSFC 1st/2nd finish, a hasty retreat
by the victorious touring party was
quick to follow.
After an evening celebrating the first
silverware of the year, the 8.30am
coach journey to our 2nd Tour game
on the Sunday morning was a little
muted. Back playing in their first
11-a-side game for over four months
and sore from over six hours of
football the previous day, the Old
Salops were understandably a little
rusty. We soon found ourselves 3-0
down by half time. However, after half
time, the dramatic turnaround was
complete, with Rory Griffiths (who
arrived at the ground a Salopian-esque
90 minutes late) running rings around
the previously formidable opponents
and turning a deficit into a 4-3 victory
– his week’s worth of tardy book was
waived on this occasion.
Staying true to absorbing as much
local culture as possible, the
afternoon was spent celebrating
another Tour win in a traditional
German Beer Garden, with inevitably
yet again more Bratwurst. Indeed, as
well as the football, over the three
days in Berlin the team took in the
fallen Wall, the Brandenburg Gate
and were particularly fascinated by
resident local guide Oliver Heywood’s
lessons on ‘queuing etiquette’. The
victory on Sunday capped off a
thoroughly enjoyable tour and that
evening the whole squad relaxed on
the banks of the River Spree, mixing
with the locals and enjoying some
light music and dancing.
As a proud former winner, it was my
honour to present Alistair Hutchinson
with this Year’s TC award; in the
future I am sure he won’t forget to
pack his razor. Rory Griffiths was the
unanimous choice for Player of the
Tour, scoring wherever he went. Well
done to both of those players.
What was especially pleasing was
bringing together six different year
groups of Old Salopians. Everyone is
already counting down the days until
the next tour in August 2016!
Floreat!
Rob Hawkin