The blueseventy Great Big Open Water Swim (11 July 2009)

Avondale narrowly beat their Surrey rivals Sutton and Cheam to become the highest placed water polo team (possibly) in the 3k swim. Whilst registering for the event Jonnie and Dave noticed an impossibly tall foreign chap who looked like he knew his way around a rowing lake without a boat! Focco sensing a fellow Dutchman in his midst quickly found out that it was none other than Maarten Van Der Weijden, the Olympic 10k gold medallist. Well the boys now knew that they should have someone to slipstream around the lake, of course sprinting past him in the last 50 yards to take the win, at least that was the race plan. As the race started and 188 swimmers fought to get in the slipstream of the Dutch Master those well tuned water polo skills came in very handy and the Avondale lads managed to get themselves up near the front of the pack. The field quickly thinned out and by about 500 meters the high elbows and tactical manoeuvres essential in a water polo game gave way to the extended steady strokes of the long distance swimmer.

 

Unfortunately the boys didn't manage to implement the race plan but all put in an extremely credible effort and did the Avondale name proud. Special mention goes to Dave Brooks who got caught up in the excitement of the race and also caught up in the swimmers he was lapping a decided to start on a 4^th lap of the 1k circuit. Luckily sense prevailed and after about 50 meters Dave turned around and found his way out of the water.

 

First Name	Last Name	Age category	Finish time	Position	Category Position
Maarten	Van Der Weijden	U30	0:32:25	1	1
Jonathan	Beder	30-39	0:37:54	7	3
David	Brooks	40-49	0:39:53	15	3
Focco	Van der vegt	40-49	0:42:42	29	6

Croydon 8 - Avondale 7 (London Premiership 29 June 2009)

An all too familiar story, with a few colourful embellishments. The first quarter finished 4 - 1 to the home side and given the final score that's not a great way to start a game. Avondale, despite once again finding themselves well below full strength could have won this game but for a very lax first quarter and an inability to put the ball away in front of goal... made all the more difficult by some excellent keeping from the home goalie. Even after the slow start the visitors showed signs of pulling themselves together until a 'difference of opinion' about what constituted playing the ball after a foul resulted in Shaun sitting out the remainder of the game. The Croydon player went to pick up the ball and dropped it and the eagle eyed Bond flicked the ball away. His reward, an exclusion for interfering with the foul. As ever, debating this with the referee produced a less than satisfactory outcome for the visiting team.

Neither side really distinguished themselves in what ended up being a scrappy game. The final quarter started 8 - 4, and in the end the home keeper frustrated the increasingly dominant Avondale attack and allowed Croydon to hang on as the clock ticked away.

Ealing 7 - Avondale 11 (London Premiership 25 June 2009)

Where were you when Michael Jackson died....

Louis will remember it as the night he received his first red card as a coach. Shrieking at the referee, "Your ruining the game!", along with some useful refereeing tips that included learning the rules, proved to be too provocative for the match official. Avondale's most successful captain of the modern era and team coach for this evening's match spent the last quarter cheering from the stand.... along with Andy Parkin, whose demise triggered Louis' vein bulging outburst. Meanwhile, back in the pool.....

The visitors were well below full strength for this potential banana skin against a reportedly 'frisky' Ealing team. Late withdrawals from TBFTE and Shaun meant that four of the starting seven were absent and the informed pundit might have anticipated plenty of exercise for the Avondale keeper. In fact, the visitors started the stronger and some very solid defence, a couple of saves and some wayward shooting from the home team preserved a clean sheet for Avondale in the first quarter. In contrast, 007 was in sparkling form. The hapless Ealing keeper flailed ineffectually at the early howitzers and 007 notched up four of avondale's five goals in the opening quarter. Ealing contrived to miss a penalty, their shooter dropping the ball in the act of shooting. The avondale keeper will be claiming a save!

Never a team to deny the crowd value for their admission fee, the visitors then proceeded to pass the ball to the opposition rather than their team mates for large portions of the second quarter. Ealing had their share of extra man opportunities and converted two well, working their far post man inside his defender on both occasions. The quarter finished 3 - 6 and there was life in the game still.

Avondale incurred more reversals in attack in the third and fourth quarters than they would expect in two or three games under normal circumstances. This was a very physical game that would have suited several of Avondale's missing players very well and Andy Parkin took exception to being hit in the face and reciprocated. The resulting fracas meant that he and Louis saw out the remainder of the match from the stand. In a very hard faught(!) third quarter 007 added a further two to his total despite the constant attention of several defenders and Steve Eakins found the top corner with a quality finish. Despite the improved control from the visitors the home team took advantage of the stream of majors and pegged back another goal. Avondale should really have been out of sight, but the last quarter started at a far from comfortable 7 - 9.

Despite incurring two further majors Avdondale defended very well and managed to contain the home side in the last quarter. It was a very physical battle against 'heavy' opponents, but the whole team fought hard for a well deserved win.

NB. The home team videoed the match so perhaps Louis' contribution is recorded somewhere for posterity...

Beer & Rugby on 20 July!

Gents,

Don't forget to join us at The King's Arms for the 1st test between the Springboks and the Lions.
We'll be there from 12am and the game starts at 2pm.

The pub is on the Fulham side of Putney Bridge at the corner of Fulham High Street and New King's Road.

Andrew Parkin

Avondale 9 - Penguin 10 (London Premiership 8 June 2009)

Penguin brought a strong team for what promised to be a very competitive game. The home side were missing the tank from his usual pole position and the always entertaining Beast From The East...

For a change, Avondale started well and after an even start began to asset themselves and looked more likely to control the game. A far tighter defence that included a double Bond and Moorhouse combination restricted a very strong Penguin offence to two goals in the first quarter. In offence the same Bonds and the ever dangerous sniper Jacobs hit the target repeatedly. Then having led by four at one stage Avondale let their concentration slip. Against a team with the talent of Penguin, this is not a smart move and by half time the game was back to 6-5.

Avondale had their chances to win the game and hit the woodwork repeatedly. Some barely sub-sonic shooting and the odd slower ball deceived both keepers, but as the clock wound down it was Penguin who managed to get their noses in front and, with their considerable experience, to stay there.

Avondale wasted too much ball and on occasions the last pass let down an otherwise solid performance. With their fire power Avondale will always score spectacular goals, but Penguin controlled their own possession better and in the end the home side could not outscore these visitors.

Avondale 18 - Otter 18 (London Premiership 18 May 2009)

This was a game that both teams could have won, and in Otter's case probably should have won. Their coach may have left Putney Leisure Centre with what felt more like a loss than the draw it was. But, at the death, it could have turned out much worse for the visitors when the home team came within inches of scoring a last gasp winner, the ball failing to completely cross the line in the closing seconds.

Avondale were well short of their strongest side with four of the starting seven and five of the squad missing through injury and confectionery. Here was a clear opportunity for Otter to take revenge for their most recent defeat. As is often the case with this somewhat relaxed Avondale squad, the visitors started much the stronger and in a very high scoring first quarter were 3 - 0 to the good after less than two minutes and 6 - 2 up in five. In the end, Avondale pulled themselves together and clawed their way back to finish the quarter only two goals adrift at 4 - 6.

Both the second and third quarters went to the home team, each by two goals. The defending frailties of the first quarter seemed to be behind them, their keeper finally managed to get to a few shots and a more organised and aggressive attack rewarded the Tank's efforts with a string of exclusions. Throughout this shift to the home team, Otter managed to keep their score ticking along nicely with a number of long range efforts that the Avondale keeper, on a better day, might have kept out. As the game went on, The Beast From The East became an increasing presence and a thorn in the visitors side. He scored three in the third quarter and appeared to have a hand (visible or otherwise!) in most of Avondale's attacks.

The last quarter began with the home team two goals to the good and a game that Otter might well have controlled seemed to somehow have slipped from them. Four minutes later the positions were reversed and with three minutes left the home team had contrived to ship five goals to the one scored and were 15 - 17 down. Three minutes can be a long time in a water polo match and so it proved. Avondale levelled through the irresistable BFTE and with just over a minute to go took a one goal lead. A well organised time out on the extra man allowed Otter to level the scores with thirty seconds remaining and as the final attack played out, the BFTE seemed, once again, to have slipped his shackles and a tipped cross bobbled, out of the keepers reach, across the line .... almost.

Great entertainment, but an opportunity missed for both teams in the end.

Bucks Off Road 121k

Bucks Off Road Classic
At the Finish - 8.5 Hours and 77 Miles

Avondale were once again the highest placed Water Polo club in this endurance cycling event.

Club members went to extreme lengths to avoid having to complete this gruelling course. One emigrated, one is in hiding somewhere in mainland USA and another kicked his derailleur into his rear wheel after two miles and retired. The remaining, Avondale 3, continued to the finish in a total time of 8.5 hours.

Their expressions at crossing the finish line told the story: Jonnie's 'extreme taper' regime, starting in January and culminating this week with sustained cycling inactivity (he even outsourced his warm-up ride) may be under review. He's got a lot of cycling miles in those legs, and had to dig deep for them. Binder is reviewing the usefullness of fast twitch muscle for an event of this duration and may be hard to locate when the invitations for the next event are being sent. Peter had a very nice day out.