Pork Pie Tournament, Melton, June 2024
This year, the tournament was won by Santos from Nottingham, who were bolstered by the guest appearance of ex-professional Real Betis player Pedrin Barrio, who flew in from Spain for the occasion. It was a pleasure watching him play! Full marks to Melton for organizing such a fantastic competition, which also featured a team from Syston and two teams from Melton. We eagerly look forward to participating again next year.The day was topped off by watching England struggle through to the next round of the Euros, and to top it all, every team was awarded a pork pie!
We all enjoy winning, but that's not the sole reason we play Walking Football. "Taking part" is even more important, along with the camaraderie and the opportunity to get fit. So, I'm not too proud to share our experience at the superb tournament we participated in on June 30th, where we propped up the table.The event was the Pork Pie International Challenge, held in Melton Mowbray.
Lambeth Tournament April 2024
We value the social aspects of our club as well as the football
On to the actual competition: facilities at the centre were excellent, and Oakham faced three teams from Lambeth (South, East & West) and Wandle Wanderers. Disbelief set in when, despite delivering a barrage of shots in Lambeth's direction, the opposition eventually emerged as 1:0 victors. It clearly helps to have an
On the 20th April the boys from Rutland set off on an adventure heading to that there London. Quip of the day came from Matt, who gazed up in awe at the majestic arched roof of St Pancras and remarked, 'You could stack a lot of hay in here! It's like a Dutch barn, only bigger!' Shortly afterwards, Tony demonstrated why he was leading the gang as he drew upon his intimate knowledge of the underworld. No, strike that. I meant the underground, and he led us to Brixton despite attempts to block our route by sabotaged signals at Victoria (desperate opposition tactics?).
International goalkeeper between the sticks! Mind you, Oakham probably had the best Iranian GK in Oakham, who had a fine afternoon throughout the competition. Undaunted, our boys went on to win the next two games, 3:0 and 2:0, and if they had held on to their lead in the last match, they would have ended the day as competition winners. That honour went to Lambeth West, with Oakham a worthy second.
What did we learn, apart from competing in tournaments can be good fun? All teams were pulled up for running, although the refs were no stricter than those we are used to. They generally tried to keep the game moving by not halting play when both competing players were running, and no advantage was gained. What was a learning experience was that absolutely no contact was
allowed. So, even if the tackle was made head-on, if there was any follow-through after the ball had gone, no matter how slight, the defender was penalised. However, we had been forewarned in an excellent referee's briefing before kick-off.
So, with Oakham the proud winners of the Fair-play trophy, it was on to the Duke of Edinburgh, which, despite a crowd almost equalling the population of Rutland, gathered to watch the FA Cup semi-final in the vast beer garden was a very friendly and efficiently run pub.
Then, back North without further misadventure with the good wishes of the Lambeth club and the notion of inviting them back to our patch. Many of them expressed how much they had enjoyed the Rutland experience the last time they came.
Rutland play Nottingham Forest & Leicester Tigers.
A tournament to raise funds for the Matt Hampson Foundation
