Sunday 13th September 1998

Another early start for the hungover Brits, with Martin continuing his recent trend of being the first up. Chris took on the role made famous by Martin Huddlestone in Slovenia and did a remarkable impression of looking completely hammered. The realism was faultless and it certainly had most people fooled.

The tray on which Chris had brought back the beer did provide a source of amusement for Rob, as he thought that it, plus two bags, bore an uncanny resemblence to a duck! Strange boy . . .   The rest of the team were jostled into consciousness by a contingent of Yugoslavs blockading the door of the tent demanding the services of Ed in their game against Italy 1. Ed duly helped them out, but even he couldn't prevent them from losing 8-0.

The majority of us had not got our acts together sufficiently quickly to allow us to get to the cafeteria before Leone and Donato arrived to pick us up, so we arrived at the pool ready to eat anything we could lay our hands on. The snack bar at the pool showed no sign of opening, so we raided the tournament cafe and bought up almost its entire stock of food, drinks and bananas.

Liz lends Mark a hand

Chris Davey: a patriot to the end

GB1 takes off in search of another goal

Today turned out to be not such a successful day on the hockey front. Both teams defeated Italy 2, but GB2 lost to a fired-up Italy 1, leaving it to GB1 to redeem British honour by beating them back at the end of the day. Unfortunately, GB1 were then beaten by France 2 who fielded an upgraded team to that of the previous day.

Mark S in possession

Doug on a charge

Overall, it was very much "dodge the weather" day, as the local climate really couldn't make up its mind between downpours and bright sunshine. However, no matter what the weather was doing, the water didn't ever get above bitterly cold, and it was noticeable that whereas the previous day most teams had been engaging in fairly lengthy warm-ups before their games, today most teams were going straight into their games from "cold". It seemed that nobody really fancied a warm-up in which they stood no chance whatsoever of getting warm!

Having lost to France, there was at least justice in the world, as the weather put on a tremendous display of thunder and lightning during the final between France 1 and France 2. "God showing his displeasure" was Sara's explanation, still mindful of the previous day's bad sportsmanship! The French women did play a much better game than their male counterparts - although perhaps ten players against four was more than a little uneven - and ran out 7-0 winners.

With the final rankings now determined, we all got changed, then assembled in the pool foyer, where Leone presented the certificates and the winners' trophy. The rain was still pelting down, so the players from eight teams plus all the officials were huddled in together. It was certainly cosy!

Our Hosts

Cillo with Dejan

Donato, Luca and Enzo

Moreno, Enzo, Fabrizio, Leone, Riccardo

The Team


Ed, Gilly, Peter, Martin
Jimm, Doug, Sara, Liz
Paul, Val, Mark S, Anna
Keith, Mark Z, Dejan, Rob, Chris

Once the tournament was over, and goodbyes had been said, Max, Donato and Leone drove us back to the campsite. A few went straight to their tents to catch up on much-needed sleep, while the rest flopped down on the grass and just chilled out. Ed laid a claim to the hammock, but was swiftly joined and then ousted by Sara.

After such a competitive weekend, the chilling-out period didn't last long. Doug produced a frisbee from his rucksack, and this seemed to stir most to a further rush of energy which turned into an international frisbee match, with Brits, Slovenians and Yugoslavs expending lots of energy. Obviously not enough effort was put into the Octopush!

Sara's glamour shot

Keith's scientific nature comes to the fore as he performs a controlled test of "skin on astro turf"

While this was going on, Ed, Val and Paul went out to explore the locality in search of food. They returned half an hour later with bags full of rolls and fizzy drinks, sourced from a nearby petrol station. Dejan managed to add two bottles of white wine - he can definitely come back!

With all food consumed, more hammock-swapping ensued. Doug laid first claim to the hammock, but Anna and Sara had other ideas and soon tickled him out of it. Ed again tried to claim it as his own, but again had his space invaded, this time by Liz. Ed got out, Mark got in . . . and the hammock collapsed! One ham roll too many, Mark! A further hour or so of mellowing passed, with Keith bravely - if not foolhardily - guinea-pigging the retied hammock.

We then decided that we really must get some more substantial food, so we changed and headed out to the Italian restaurant at which Val and Paul had eaten on the Friday night. Many of us were keen to sample the local fare, but communication proved to be a difficulty with anything beyond "Beer!". Rob was OK, as he didn't want say anything more than that, but fortunately for everyone else both the restaurant owner and Martin spoke German, so communication was made that way. We all ate Italian - no one taking on the Andrew Stillwell role this time around - and partook in abundance of the local beer and wine.

Doing what we do best . . .

Val causes a stiffy at the dinner table

Chris had earlier demonstrated yet another of his many party pieces by making an erect penis out of a table napkin, and Val was quick to show that anything these mere youngsters could do, she could do just as well. With the exception of the serious note provided by Jimm and Dejan's heavy political discussion, the evening just descended from there!

Eventually, the evening came to a close and we meandered back to our tents, where - mindful of the early start the next day - we actually went straight to bed, although Martin and Doug did then keep the main tent awake for another hour or so by telling a series of jokes that elicited an ever-increasing series of groans from their captive audience.