The South London Correspondent is still away!
Matt Jeffrey had this to say about the game: "After a furious start where we went 3-1 down, things settled into a tight game with a lot of swimming (mainly by the opposition). Titanium Pete lived up to his name by making some fantastic saves, whilst up front, Milan took on the mantle of 'Shooter' and put away a couple of scintillating long shots. In the end we fought back to 6-7 but did not have enough time on the clock to put away an equaliser. A fine team performance - pity about the result!"
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Triathlon Sunday - 7th September 2008
Avondale Water Polo club made it's first serious foray into the now very popular world or Triathlons. Maarten (44th) and Jonnie (11th) took part in the Mens Fitness Roughtrack Triathlon at Dorney Lake near Windsor and Peter (62nd), Dave (229th) and Matt (219th) ventured rather further afield to compete in the Helvellyn Trithlon in the Lake District.
Suffice to say that Avondale finished as the top Water Polo Club in the Helvelly Triathlon (top 3 finishers count)! Now don't they look like they were enjoying themselves!
Friday, 15 August 2008
Sutton 12 - Avondale 16 (London League 14th August 2008)
I shoot
You shoot
He shoots
He shoots again
and again
and again
.....
The South London Correspondent is away in Beijing and asked me to cover this game for him. Well, blood it thicker than water, and I had no prior engagement, so I indulged cousin John.
I know nothing about Water Polo and little of the players save what cousin John's rather inadequate briefing via a poor mobile phone connection from 5,059 miles away (give or take the odd furlong) had imparted. He mentioned, "The Beast From The East", "sniper" Jacobs and "007", frankly I was lost and suspected he had finally crossed into that other country from which he would not return.
However, were I a sports commentator, after delivering the requisite cliché's, such as "a game of four halves " (or is that quarters?), and "the best team won on the night" (how hard can this be...) I would then have had to conclude that we had been treated to a virtuoso performance by "The Sniper".
He opened the game with a shot from somewhere near Guildford that arrived in that inconvenient moment for a goalkeeper when he is assessing the state of his defence, rather then attending to the whereabouts of the ball. I initially put it in the, "impressive but lucky" column, which by the end of the game I had merged with the "This goalie is out of his depth" column.
For a neophyte, this game is rather entertaining. I had no idea why the referees were blowing their whistles so often, and judging by the reactions of some of the players I was not alone. But this hardly detracted from the spectacle. I particularly liked "The Beast ..." (you know). He has obviously done this a few times before, and rather than facing the goal to shoot he increases the degree of difficulty by intentionally facing away from it. Most entertaining! I'm not sure the Sutton goal keeper ever really recovered from stopping one of these surprise deliveries with his face in the second quarter; but he wasn't exactly animated from the outset, so I may be doing him an injustice.
The pattern of the game seemed to be that Sutton would be very organised and score a well constructed goal involving lots of complicated passing and movement. Then Avondale would give the ball to "The Sniper" and he would throw it through the flailing arms of the goalkeeper, or against the inside of the goalpost or the roof of the net from wherever he happened to be when he got the ball. It strikes me that if you want to win at Water Polo you need more players like him!
Now don't get me wrong, there were lots of players on both sides and many of them caught my eye in addition to the aforementioned trio, but when all is said and done, you want those boys on your side. I left thinking about the eight goals that "The Sniper" scored and began to conjugate the verb "to shoot". As you can see I didn't make it past "he shoots"; and neither did Sutton.
Cousin John will probably still be on his Far East junket come Monday, when according to the press pack, these team reconvene for another game at Putney. I can think of worse ways to spend an evening.
Until then dear reader.....
You shoot
He shoots
He shoots again
and again
and again
.....
The South London Correspondent is away in Beijing and asked me to cover this game for him. Well, blood it thicker than water, and I had no prior engagement, so I indulged cousin John.
I know nothing about Water Polo and little of the players save what cousin John's rather inadequate briefing via a poor mobile phone connection from 5,059 miles away (give or take the odd furlong) had imparted. He mentioned, "The Beast From The East", "sniper" Jacobs and "007", frankly I was lost and suspected he had finally crossed into that other country from which he would not return.
However, were I a sports commentator, after delivering the requisite cliché's, such as "a game of four halves " (or is that quarters?), and "the best team won on the night" (how hard can this be...) I would then have had to conclude that we had been treated to a virtuoso performance by "The Sniper".
He opened the game with a shot from somewhere near Guildford that arrived in that inconvenient moment for a goalkeeper when he is assessing the state of his defence, rather then attending to the whereabouts of the ball. I initially put it in the, "impressive but lucky" column, which by the end of the game I had merged with the "This goalie is out of his depth" column.
For a neophyte, this game is rather entertaining. I had no idea why the referees were blowing their whistles so often, and judging by the reactions of some of the players I was not alone. But this hardly detracted from the spectacle. I particularly liked "The Beast ..." (you know). He has obviously done this a few times before, and rather than facing the goal to shoot he increases the degree of difficulty by intentionally facing away from it. Most entertaining! I'm not sure the Sutton goal keeper ever really recovered from stopping one of these surprise deliveries with his face in the second quarter; but he wasn't exactly animated from the outset, so I may be doing him an injustice.
The pattern of the game seemed to be that Sutton would be very organised and score a well constructed goal involving lots of complicated passing and movement. Then Avondale would give the ball to "The Sniper" and he would throw it through the flailing arms of the goalkeeper, or against the inside of the goalpost or the roof of the net from wherever he happened to be when he got the ball. It strikes me that if you want to win at Water Polo you need more players like him!
Now don't get me wrong, there were lots of players on both sides and many of them caught my eye in addition to the aforementioned trio, but when all is said and done, you want those boys on your side. I left thinking about the eight goals that "The Sniper" scored and began to conjugate the verb "to shoot". As you can see I didn't make it past "he shoots"; and neither did Sutton.
Cousin John will probably still be on his Far East junket come Monday, when according to the press pack, these team reconvene for another game at Putney. I can think of worse ways to spend an evening.
Until then dear reader.....
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Avondal II vs Sutton II (Surrey League 11th August 2008)
A Report from the Real Avondale Captain:
coming soon!
....
or not! Too much foreplay Jo.
coming soon!
....
or not! Too much foreplay Jo.
Monday, 11 August 2008
Cranleigh 6 - Avondale II 17 (Surrey League 29th July 2008)
A Report from the Real Avondale Captain:
A warm evening saw a streamlined team from the large ranks of highly tuned 2nd team players… ah-hem!
It’s a little sad to see a once worthy competitor reduced in numbers with little new blood in their team. But it also reinforced our desire to ensure that we succeed in the comping games to go up a division to avoid playing matches at this level.
Monday, 14 July 2008
Avondale 10 - Otter 11 (London Premiership 14th July 2008)
Finally, a game worthy of the price of admission; Rocky didn't even finish his chocolate digestive.
Otter looked to have a stronger squad than for the season's opener, nearly 3 months ago, when the visiting Avondale team ended up winning relatively comfortably. Once again Avondale were without their sharpshooter 007, but also, for a change, without the ever reliable Bind and Brooks. Strangely Moorhouse, the bedrock of their defence, also sat out the game, performing duties at the table. With two competent referees to keep order this had the hallmarks of a decent polo match, and Rocky and I had a small wager (I always keep the odd dog biscuit handy) as I fancied Otter to reverse their previous defeat.
Had this been greyhound racing, a trainer would have been sent to trap 1 early in the event to rouse the dog in white, who had clearly dozed off. Otter started by far the stronger side and at 0 - 4 half way through the first chukka, my antenna that had sensed a decent game appeared to be picking up the wrong channel. Otter were all half a yard quicker than their opponents and again and again managed steal the inside advantage and tap the ball into the vacant net. Avondale rallied slightly at the end of the quarter to pull a couple back, but still ended up 2 - 5 down at the change.
I need not have worried. Captain Fantastic managed to conjure the will to win from the lacklustre home team and the motivation that was sadly lacking from the start, reappeared in the second quarter. Goals from the strangely subdued 'sniper' Jacobs and two trademark backhands from Konrad from fast passes directly from the Avondale keeper quickly levelled the scores. The first of the backhands literally punctured the ball as it hit the far top corner of the net at barely sub-sonic speed and a replacement had to be found. Avondale managed a fourth in the quarter from the big ginger bloke who's bike I stole to ride home on (always worth popping a decent pair of bolt croppers in ones laptop bag) plus two good saves, one on each post from their evergreen keeper and finally in the last second an outrageous miss into a completely open goal from Otter closed the quarter at 6 - 5. Otter must have been kicking themselves. They had definitely played better polo as a team but the individual brilliance of the Avondale players and finally a defence that began to pay attention, with the long arms of Standley catching more than his share of ball, and we had a game worth watching.
From this point on there was never more than a goal in it, and a good sized pool of saliva collected at Rocky's feet as he sat rapt throughout the second half. Avondale looked the less fit, but their lack of aerobic prowess was more than compensated for by the skill of their attacking players and a persistent defence from one and all. Frank 'the tank' Ford, for whom an otter is generally only an appetiser, had earned a penalty in the second quarter and both he and Konrad earned one apiece in the third, somehow keeping Avondale ahead 9 - 8. "The Sniper" spent much of the third quarter on the bench looking decidedly unwell.
Otter levelled early in the fainal quarter and then edged ahead, only to see Avondale pull it back level after some persistent chasing from their captain and pressure on the Otter keeper forced him to submerge the ball and present Avondale with yet another penalty. A well worked extra man from Otter finally put them in front with only a minute to go and the game looked over. But, once again Avondale managed to work the ball to their right where the magician Konrad somehow completely fooled his defender who from where I was sitting just suddenly seemed to decide to take up a position behind the Hugarian rather then in front of him. Another penalty with 20 seconds on the clock and "The Tank" stepped up to the plate with the scores at 10 - 11. Perhaps he'd overdone the feeding and had grazed on one otter too many, who knows. The shot bounced up and rattled back off the crossbar to relieved cheers from the visitors, who ran down the clock to take a well earned victory.
What a pleasant way to spend a Monday evening.
Otter looked to have a stronger squad than for the season's opener, nearly 3 months ago, when the visiting Avondale team ended up winning relatively comfortably. Once again Avondale were without their sharpshooter 007, but also, for a change, without the ever reliable Bind and Brooks. Strangely Moorhouse, the bedrock of their defence, also sat out the game, performing duties at the table. With two competent referees to keep order this had the hallmarks of a decent polo match, and Rocky and I had a small wager (I always keep the odd dog biscuit handy) as I fancied Otter to reverse their previous defeat.
Had this been greyhound racing, a trainer would have been sent to trap 1 early in the event to rouse the dog in white, who had clearly dozed off. Otter started by far the stronger side and at 0 - 4 half way through the first chukka, my antenna that had sensed a decent game appeared to be picking up the wrong channel. Otter were all half a yard quicker than their opponents and again and again managed steal the inside advantage and tap the ball into the vacant net. Avondale rallied slightly at the end of the quarter to pull a couple back, but still ended up 2 - 5 down at the change.
I need not have worried. Captain Fantastic managed to conjure the will to win from the lacklustre home team and the motivation that was sadly lacking from the start, reappeared in the second quarter. Goals from the strangely subdued 'sniper' Jacobs and two trademark backhands from Konrad from fast passes directly from the Avondale keeper quickly levelled the scores. The first of the backhands literally punctured the ball as it hit the far top corner of the net at barely sub-sonic speed and a replacement had to be found. Avondale managed a fourth in the quarter from the big ginger bloke who's bike I stole to ride home on (always worth popping a decent pair of bolt croppers in ones laptop bag) plus two good saves, one on each post from their evergreen keeper and finally in the last second an outrageous miss into a completely open goal from Otter closed the quarter at 6 - 5. Otter must have been kicking themselves. They had definitely played better polo as a team but the individual brilliance of the Avondale players and finally a defence that began to pay attention, with the long arms of Standley catching more than his share of ball, and we had a game worth watching.
From this point on there was never more than a goal in it, and a good sized pool of saliva collected at Rocky's feet as he sat rapt throughout the second half. Avondale looked the less fit, but their lack of aerobic prowess was more than compensated for by the skill of their attacking players and a persistent defence from one and all. Frank 'the tank' Ford, for whom an otter is generally only an appetiser, had earned a penalty in the second quarter and both he and Konrad earned one apiece in the third, somehow keeping Avondale ahead 9 - 8. "The Sniper" spent much of the third quarter on the bench looking decidedly unwell.
Otter levelled early in the fainal quarter and then edged ahead, only to see Avondale pull it back level after some persistent chasing from their captain and pressure on the Otter keeper forced him to submerge the ball and present Avondale with yet another penalty. A well worked extra man from Otter finally put them in front with only a minute to go and the game looked over. But, once again Avondale managed to work the ball to their right where the magician Konrad somehow completely fooled his defender who from where I was sitting just suddenly seemed to decide to take up a position behind the Hugarian rather then in front of him. Another penalty with 20 seconds on the clock and "The Tank" stepped up to the plate with the scores at 10 - 11. Perhaps he'd overdone the feeding and had grazed on one otter too many, who knows. The shot bounced up and rattled back off the crossbar to relieved cheers from the visitors, who ran down the clock to take a well earned victory.
What a pleasant way to spend a Monday evening.
Beckenham 10 - Avondale 2 (London Premiership 8 July 2008)
We have sketchy reports regarding the polo in SE London on 8th July, but Elliot Cross enjoyed a very pleasant family evening on the occasion of his 13th birthday and Guardian had this to say about Gnarles Barclay at the Astoria:
Green and Burton, a bespectacled, keyboard-playing boffin in a blazer, produce a set that has a foot in both the funk and psychedelia camps, and melancholy at its core. No matter how ebullient Cee-Lo's banter, when he sings, it comes from down deep. He pulls out all the stops on Neighbors, a soul ballad so weighty he sits down to deliver it, and it's not hammy but intensely poignant. Poignant is also the word for Just a Thought, a number that sounds huge and symphonic, but masks an aching heart.
"We've heard this a million times," Cee-Lo apologises at the start of Crazy, but familiarity hasn't dimmed its brilliance. By the end, Green is beaming like a searchlight, basking in the crowd's love for him and his singular band.
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