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Published: August 11th 2007
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Finally, after much anticipation, the newly formed Nsinda ‘Blue Bloods’* (Formerly known as Nsinda Vocational School) kicked off in their first match of the new ‘Dry Season’, away to Nsinda Secondary. If you thought travelling to Old Actonians was a nightmare, you ain’t seen nothing - this was a ‘local derby’ and it still took us over an hour in two much needed 4x4s, and the pitch, best described as bush, made Old Stationers 5th team pitch look like a bowling green - a good one.
We were in our red away strip, Nsinda Secondary in their customary white - When I say ‘strips’, what actually happens is all 22+ players line up and we try and mix and match the most common colours as best we can, old school style. - Today its red and white, with a few faded oranges and yellows thrown in the mix.
Just in case you were wondering, Man U are currently winning The Premiership shirt count, closely followed by Arsenal, with Henry leading the ‘most named player’ league (Beckham 2nd, Rooney 3rd). As for international tops, England are miles ahead, with the red away strip preferred. For some strange and unkown reason
The Hooligan Element
East East East Province!! the most popular item of clothing seems to be a black Man Utd woolley hat - seen at least 5, unless theyre all sharing.
For a few very worrying days I thought the Rwandan's round here were all Palace fans - luckily turns out they’re local side wear red and blue striped tops. You can imagine my relief. They play in the Rwandan equivalent to the Premiership. Oh and get this I went to watch them the other day and midway through the second half the opposition made a substitution - nothing unusual you say - until you see he's wearing their away strip ie green not white AND no-one said a word (apparantly theyd run out of the white ones) - clearly swapping shirts with the subbed player was too much to ask.
Sadly still no West ham shirts spotted (probably because theyre worth too much in the UK) and the club are not helping matters by not replying to my request for 50 shirts and shorts.
Anyway, the game quickly lived up to its billing, as a fiercely fought local derby ensued, with tackles flying in all over the place. Even though the referee
I know lets send on the sub in a disguise!
Yeah - use the away strip, they'll never notice (in a matching ‘red’ England 82 World Cup shirt, his choice) did well to keep the game under control, it soon turned into a very ‘stop-start affair’, with an ever increasing number of injuries on both sides. Not helped by the fact that Secondary in Rwanda is open to all ages (and Ex Soldiers), from 12 right up to 40 and no guesses on who owns boots and who’s donning flip-flops! By half time it was safe to say there were no children left standing, I mean playing and therefore more familiar senior game resumed.
Innocent (by name only), The Blue Bloods forward, opened the scoring with a beautifully crafted free kick, cannoning in off the underside of the bar, stunning the large but very partisan crowd (300 at least, no joke) into silence. Sadly, we then had to take an enforced 10-minute break, whilst Isaac the local chippy fixed a new branch to the Home Teams goal.
The break proved fatal, as a Nsinda Secondary quickly equalised with a simple tap in after miss-kick by Joseph, our right back. Which I’m putting down to him playing in only one sandal (left foot), unfortunately an all too common
sight amongst the thread bare Blue Bloods at the moment. The juniors regularly share boots if they can find them ie one has the left the other the right one - barefoot or sandal on the other. 'Robot' (13) one of our less gifted players (name comes from his unorthodox running style), regularly comes on with two left boots and young Emmanuel (aged 7) is not scared of a pair of size 10's with socks stuffed down the ends.
The newly resurgent Nsinda Secondary continued to press and not surprisingly went ahead with a long range effort from there number 32, aged 36 (at least). This time the crowd went wild, a cheer only beaten by the one a certain ‘super sub’ named Neil Jennings received when entering the field 5 minutes later. Being the only Muzungoo* in town does have its perks.
Although instantly lifting the team’s and the crowd’s spirits, he failed to make a significant impact on the game (still acclimatising obviously) and it finished Nsinda Secondary - 2, Nsinda Blue Bloods - 1. A valiant effort, but disappointing start to the new season.
For those loyal fans our next game is in
Jumpers for Goalposts
If they owned one!! Today we're using sandals. two weeks, at home to Kibuye Secondary in the Kibungo Regional Trophy. Kick-Off is at 6.00pm and please be aware refreshments will not be provided.
Neil Jennings
Director of Football / Truck driver) - Nsinda Blue Bloods *Blue Bloods - Nickname of West Wickham FC - Proud ‘soon to be’ shirt sponsors
**Muzungoo - Term used round these parts to describe white folk. Traditionally shouted by small children in surprise and bewilderment.
Footnote; Just in case any of you were thinking of a cheeky outside bet on England in the next World Cup in South Africa - save your money. Ive been playing with these boys for 5 weeks football in temperatures around 85C and I still havent seen one take a drink or a break and most are in barefoot! We have got no chance - especially if the African teams find themselves boots.
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