Saturday 13th February 1999

Sara: "We all awoke about 7.30 as we wanted to get to breakfast early (we learned *that* from last year!). Sara arrived in the bathroom to see Culvin trying to make himself presentable and unsmelly, after a nightmare train trip all the way from Lithuania. He had arrived at about half past five that morning, got a key to one of our empty rooms from the night-watchman and gone straight to bed. He promptly bought a T-shirt from Sara, as he had no other clean clothes! At last the team was complete!

We were the first down to breakfast, which was a similar combination to last year's fare - bread, meat and cheese, washed down with hot Ribena or hot chocolate. At one point most of the room was clothed in royal blue, but one by one the other teams filtered in, and many reunions with old friends were made.

Doug and Martin R - our two captains - set off for the pool at about 9:20, as they had to attend the Captains' meeting at 10:00. However, most people wanted to get there early, and give themselves the chance to buy food along the way, so most of the rest of the team set off about ten minutes later. Seventeen marauding Octopush players completely ransacked the first little supermarket they came to, buying up every doughnut, bottle of water and banana they had in the place.

As we were completing our walk we saw Martin R hurtling past, rucksack on back, having spent twenty-five minutes in the bank queueing behind six people for any one of three cashiers. He had had to get out enough money to pay for our accommodation, which was supposed to be paid in full at the Captains' meeting, so really didn't have any choice other than to queue. Fortunately, the Captains' meeting didn't start until about 10:20, as some of the other captains were also not there when Martin arrived.

"Chesham 1"                                                              "Chesham 2"

L-R: Colin, Sara, Martin F, Mark, Eryl, Paul, Rob, Liz, Doug

Back Row: Anna, Martin R, Andy, Jan, Larry Front Row: Val, Helen, Culvin, Marion, Keith

As she had done in Bologna, Božana of the Yugoslavian team Calypso came to beg for the loan of players to assist her team. However, this time she had nine players rather than the six she had had in Bologna, and we had also had a tip-off that Calypso had a number of new, very good, very fast players and were likely to cause a few upsets. We explained that we were also a player short, and that we really needed to get a few things sorted out with our teams before we could think about loaning anyone out to any other teams, and she seemed happy with this explanation.

Chesham 1 played three games in the first round, and won them all, putting them top of Group A. The tip-off about Calypso had been correct, though, as the game between them and Chesham 1 was red-hot, with only Chesham's single goal scored in the whole game. However, we did notice a rather dodgy G.O.V. cap lurking in the thick of it the whole time . . .

Chesham 1: all change!

Eryl in the sin-bin!

Chesham 2 cruised easily through their first game, winning 5-0 against DPH Kranj, in theory the hosts of the tournament. Last year this team beat us 4-1 and finished in third place, one ahead of us, yet this time they didn't even get to touch us. Martin R was wary: "They're definitely not the same team we played last year". Our next game was against KPA Beograd, a new team that had formed as a splinter off the URS team, Belgrade's premier team and the runners-up in last year's tournament. This game was very fiercely fought, with KPA three times going ahead and Chesham 2 three times equalising. By the end of the game, however, Chesham had all guns blazing and but for lack of time would almost certainly have taken the game. However, the bell saved KPA, and we finished all-square at 3-3. Even the referees said it was a great game to watch.

This draw meant that either we or KPA would go through to the winners' play-off on goal average, depending on the results of our last game and KPA's last game. KPA's last game was against DPH Kranj, who we had beaten 5-0, while ours was against the mighty Norik sub, the winners of last year's tournament, who had already beaten KPA 6-0. Martin R then had an agitated time - though trying not to show it to the rest of the team - while he worked out how few goals we needed to concede against Norik sub, while at the same time hoping that KPA did not manage a goalfest against DPH Kranj. In the second to last game of the round robin KPA beat DPH Kranj 6-0, giving them nine goals for, and nine goals against. We had at that point eight goals for and three goals against, so we needed to lose to Norik sub by fewer than five goals to go through. It seemed that the odds may be against us.

Martin's only instruction to his team was "Keep them out!", and this is what we did. Even though we only once managed to get the puck into Norik sub's half, everyone played their hearts out in keeping them as far away from our goal as possible. Marion, Larry, Keith and Culvin pulled out some sensational pieces of defending, but it really was a superb team effort all round, and even forwards could be seen clearing off their own goal line and getting the puck away. At the final whistle we had conceded only four goals, which put us ahead of KPA by one goal. Both Chesham teams through to the winners' play-off - yahoo!

 
Paul, Marion, Anna, Mark, Helen, Eryl, Doug, Colin, Martin F, Sara, Martin R, Rob, Val, Larry, Culvin, Jan, Liz, Keith
                                                                                                Andy (kneeling)

The Play-Offs: A very unfortunate bit of programme arrangement then pitched the team that had finished first in Group A against the team that had finished second in Group D, and this meant a head-to-head between Chesham 1 and Chesham 2. As in Bologna, both teams really stepped up their game in an attempt to defeat the other team, and the work-rate and determination from every player was just incredible. Chesham 1 took a lead, which Chesham 2 then pulled back to 1-1. However, despite best efforts, the second team was unable to prevent the first team from putting in a winner shortly before time. All in all, a closely fought battle that was enjoyed immensely by all. "Three cheers for Chesham" rang out at the end of the game, to be followed by "Three cheers for Chesham" in return.

Thus relegated to the bottom half of the top eight, Chesham 2's next game was against URS Beograd, Dejan's home team, and the runners-up in last year's tournament. URS beat us 7-0 last year, but had obviously been weakened considerably by the defections to KPA, and this - coupled with some more superb performances from our side - saw us unlucky to lose 2-1 at the final whistle.

Doug in control

Chesham 1's next game was also a close game, which they narrowly lost 1-0 against the eventual winners of the tournament, the Slovenian Men. This left them with a match against G.O.V. for third place, and the 2-0 victory to Chesham belies the closeness of a game that all enjoyed so much that G.O.V. came and heartily shook our hands at the end.

Chesham 2's final game was against Bozana's team, Calypso Beograd. Again Calypso fielded ten players, but we fielded Dejan as well, against his compatriots, so it was ringers all round, which seemed only fair. Dejan, unfortunately, really hadn't got his head around the fact that he was playing in a different colour in a different position for a different team, and was not remotely ready to sub-in when Jan burst out of the water, gasping for breath. Martin R was then forced to sub-in for Dejan, thus putting himself out of position as sub for Val, and completely blowing out of the water the meticulously-planned subbing arrangements. When, a few minutes later, Jan again burst out of the water and Dejan was too busy talking to even notice, Martin R blew his top in a most spectacular fashion. Liz: "I've never heard you get angry before!" Helen: "Ooh, I got all excited then . . ."

As usual, much shirt-swapping ensued throughout the tournament, with Sara jubilant at the capture of a much-prized dark blue G.O.V. shirt that she had been after for ages. Helen was also doing well on the man-swapping front . . .

After the tournament we all headed to the bar and hall for a meal of pasta, meat and cheese sauce - a great improvement on last year. Sara was in T-shirt selling mode as she was trying to offload the remaining tour shirts. Rob attempted to help her out by hawking, but as more than half the room probably didn't speak English, much less Somerset, his effort were lost to most! At this point Helen got a bit of a surprise from Paul, with the presentation of "something for the weekend".

Team 1 takes third place

Team 2 takes seventh place

Frosty the Snowman!

The transformation begins . . .

Woooaaarrghhhhh!

We all got changed into our costumes, and it could quickly be seen that everyone had gone to considerable effort. Although only four of the men had managed the original "Star Wars" theme, no less effort had been made by the individualists, and the accompanying possee of ghosts, ghouls, hippies and pirates - not to mention "Ming the Merciless", straight out of Flash Gordon - looked every bit as good.

You suave devil, you . . .  

"Star Wars": Keith, Martin F, Martin R, Colin

"Pussy Power": Marion, Val, Anna, Sara, Helen

Once we had all put the finishing touches to our outfits we headed out to the town. Most people's outfits were not that warm - apart from Eryl, who virtually had a carpet as a cape, and Martin R who was a carpet! - so we headed straight to the nearest available bar where we bopped and drank beer and orange vodka all night. Most people found us: the Italians and Yugoslavs found us, and they also stayed put!

Where did that hand come from?

Martin R, Helen, Andy, Sara & Mark in the bar

Sara, Anna, Marion, Mark

Marion & Doug

3am saw a *very* brisk walk back to the ranch. Some went to bed. Some stayed up (s)talking. Some did other things . . ."

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