NEWSLETTER	Issue 7  April/May, 2002 http://www.fc-crusaders.co.uk

SOME PEOPLE ARE ON THE PITCH, THEY THINK IT’S ALL OVER …

… but there is plenty of action yet to come in the rollercoaster ride that is FC Crusaders, the friendly (and increasingly manic) football club.  We have stamina that other clubs can only crave for – we refresh the parts that other clubs cannot reach - and we are determined to keep the momentum going until the final final whistle blows in mid-June, when we can at last concentrate fully on the World Cup on TV (assuming our glorious boys are still in the competition).

Please take the opportunity to look at and to inwardly digest the dates for your diary feature opposite.  As we highlighted in the last Newsletter, Dean and Roger need to know the players’ availability for each fixture listed as soon as possible, to ensure everyone gets to play when they want to and we have enough players to put up a respectable show.  We are taking two teams to each tournament but, although it may appear to you that there is not a single free moment in May, we cannot play everyone in every event (squad sizes are limited in some and rules insist we field League registered players only).  The necessary selection process combined with the likely unavailability of some players some weekends mean you will not become rooted to the touchline and will still have time for gardening, DIY and lazing by the pool.  You can feel the sun on your back already … don’t forget to rub in your factor 24 !

We are committed to the matches we have arranged and have already paid the required tournament fees, so, to the Lions and the Dragons we say, YOUR COUNTRY MAY NEED DAVID BECKHAM BUT YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOU !  Maintain your enthusiasm and determination right to the end of the season and please let us know well in advance if you cannot play in any of the fixtures.

 Events news   Before we set off for Clacton, we would like to get all the attending adults together (i.e. no children for this one, please) to discuss the details of the trip.  Almost as unusual as Clacton itself as a venue for talking football is Guildford Police Station which becomes a Crusaders stronghold on Friday 24 May from 7.30 sharp (before the drunks are brought in for the night).  Please try to be there if you possibly can – we’d really like at least one parent member from each touring family - and to arrive promptly at 7.30.  Detective Inspector Hollands of the Surrey Constabulary will be waiting to meet you at the entrance and will escort you in an orderly fashion to the truncheon function room.  After the “debrief”, which shouldn’t take too long, the station bar will be available for us to use.  All Parent Members are welcome (Clacton-bound or not), but, if you’re going to Clacton and you can’t make 24 May, please let Penny know.

CRUSADERS TOURNAMENT 18 MAY- DETAILS WILL BE SENT OUT WHEN FINALISED

 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

APRIL

Sunday 21               LIONS PLEASE NOTE at Mount Brown: Friendly v Sheerwater (k.o. 10.30 am)
Saturday 27 }          Training at Boxgrove (10 am to 12)       
Saturday 27 }          LIONS Away: GSDL Premier Division v Milford Pumas (morning k.o tba)
Saturday 27            CRUSADERS Penalty Shoot Out Competition at Boxgrove (starts at 4 pm)
Sunday 28               No fixtures – free day !

MAY

Thursday 2              LIONS Away: GSDL Premier Division v Claygate Royals Griffins (k.o. 6.30 pm)
Saturday 4              Training at Boxgrove (10 am to 12)
Sunday 5                 LIONS / DRAGONS: Horsley Tournament (time tba)
Saturday 11            No training   
Saturday 11            LIONS / DRAGONS: Farncombe Tournament (time tba)
Sunday 12               LIONS / DRAGONS: Guildford Saints Tournament (time tba)
Saturday 18            No training
Saturday 18            CRUSADERS TOURNAMENT at Boxgrove (three Crus teams entered) (time tba)  … followed by a barbecue and the parent members match !
Friday 24                 Clacton 2002 meeting at Guildford Police Station (k.o. 7.30 pm)
Saturday 25            No training
Saturday 25            LIONS / DRAGONS: Molesey Tournament (time tba)

JUNE

Saturday 1              Training at Boxgrove (10 am to 12)
Tuesday 4               Travel to Clacton
Wednesday 5          LIONS / DRAGONS: Clacton Tournament (Mitre Cup)
to Friday 7
Saturday 8              Return from Clacton
Saturday 15            No training
Saturday 15            CRUSADERS 2001/2002Awards Ceremony and 2002/2003 Registration  at Boxgrove (k.o. tba)
Sunday 16               LIONS / DRAGONS: Meadow Sports Tournament Woking (time tba)

JULY

Wednesday 3          CRUSADERS Annual General Meeting (k.o. and venue tba)
Yet to be arranged (and now unlikely to be so): DRAGONS HOME League match v Hampton Hawks

AUGUST

Thursday 1              Membership fees due
Saturday 17            Start of the 2002/2003 season:  Training at Boxgrove (10 am to 12)

Management Committee (01483): Dean 826355, Roger 503387, Penny/Andrew 457998

Safety / protection issues

The Management Committee feels it appropriate to remind all Members of the importance of keeping the boys safe while they are involved in - and particularly while they are travelling to and from - Club activities.  Here are some basic Club principles that, if followed, we believe will help to ensure each child’s protection.

Saturday training starts at 10 sharp.  Not only does this enable our coaches to fit in all the activities they have planned, but it allows us to record each boy’s attendance in an organised fashion so we know exactly for whom we are responsible on a given day.  Coaches are ready to welcome the boys as parents drop them off from 9.50.  Saturday pick up time is 12.  Recently, boys have not been picked up on time or, more worryingly, have not been picked up at all. 

ü     We strongly recommend that boys are delivered to and picked up from training by a responsible adult. 

ü     We should also like parents to instruct their children

ü  to wait for them at the edge of the field, near the school, if they are late,

ü  to tell Dean, Penny or Roger if their lift isn’t there

ü  and, above all, not to leave the Boxgrove site until their lift arrives. 

Although the Club does not take responsibility for the players’ welfare after the end of the training session, a Management Committee member will of course wait after training until all children are collected and will, if possible (which it isn’t always), prevent them from making their own way home.

Parents are responsible for their children at all matches and tournaments.  If a parent can’t attend, the Club will assume that an arrangement has been made with another responsible adult to look after the child.  To avoid confusion, it is helpful if Penny, Roger or Dean is aware of any such arrangements.

Sorry if this all seems a bit nanny-ish.  The Club recognises that the children are developing at different rates and that some may already be making their own way around the area and across the main roads with total confidence and with the approval of their parents.  If you do wish your child to walk home unattended, please write to Penny to confirm this.

Match reports          

17 March: DRAGONS’ KEEP THEIR SPIRITS UP   Dragons lost 13–2 to Windlesham Village but again showed superb spirit.  After the first half, despite strong defending and Jake’s athletic keeping, Windlesham were 6-0 up.  Efforts by Ben, Liam, Harrie and Shreyas put them under pressure but attacks were closed down and the Dragons just couldn’t find the room to score.  The boys fought on, refusing to succumb to the impressive Windlesham onslaught, but the formidable defensive efforts of Paul, Tommy, Adam and Andrew couldn’t fend off the attacks. Injured in the first half, Ben went in goal for the second and was bravely agile despite the injury.  With the score at 11-0, many teams would have been hoping for the final whistle, but not our Dragons whose attacking formation battled on and, with passing that thwarted Windlesham, got the ball to Jake who slammed the ball into the back of the net.  Windlesham scored another but the Dragons would not yield and, at the end, a sharp forward pass across the halfway line by Andrew gave the ball to Jake, who took it on past the defence and struck it into the net for his second.  Jake was our Man of the Match for his skill, his spirit in goal and in attack and his sportsmanship.

24 March: NEW KIT INSPIRES CRUS   Dragons were inspired in their first outing in their new white and red away kit to play Hampton Hawks.  A previous loss to the Hawks increased the Dragons’ resolve as captain Paul led them to one of their most impressive campaigns to date.  Hawks’ attackers were among the most able we’ve seen but Dragons’ teamwork contained them for much of the game.  Ben (1^st half) and Tommy (2^nd) performed well in goal, both reading the play, securing the ball then kicking it out to start many Dragons attacks.  Paul, Adam, Andrew, Ben and Tommy formed in turns a defensive wall to hold the Hawks, while, up front, Arjun, Harrie, Shreyas and Oliver often caused the opposition problems and kept the game on edge as a goal would surely come in reward for their efforts.  But the goals went the other way.  In the closing minutes, Oliver was bought down just outside the Hawks goal area.  A free kick gave Dragons a last chance to score, but the ball was well blocked by the keeper and the Dragons remained goalless.  The Hawks eventually won 3 - 0 in this superb and friendly spirited game.  Our Man of the Match went to Arjun for his individual ball skills, his team play and engagement in the play around the pitch.

Crus members quizzed by local detective with successful results – but will there be enough evidence to bring the perpetrator to justice ?

There was a series of disturbing plagiaristic robberies from several well-respected quiz books in the weeks leading up to 2 March.  So, questions needing to be asked, DI Hollands gathered all the usual suspects together in the Boxgrove School Hall to investigate this very serious crime.  After interrogation by Dean of some fifty Club members and friends, a team comprising the combined, awesome and, as it turned out, unbeatable intelligence of Janice and Jeremy Hutchings, Haidee and Chris Shead and Sue and Pete Selley finally cracked and gave him enough of the answers he wanted to piece the case together.  They tried to escape with their ill-gotten gains of course, but Mr Hutchings’ pathetic attempt at hiding under the quizmaster’s table was no match for the wit and wisdom of Guildford’s finest sleuth. 

As to whodunit – well, in the best Morse tradition, there were twists and turns along the way, but it transpires that it was an inside job.  Using all his guile and cunning, Hollands himself – yes, hard to believe, we know – had for weeks been insidiously copying questions and facts from various sources for his own nefarious purpose, that of giving us a hard time with impossible geography questions and a theme tune round that would break even the most hardened Survivor contestant.  He “fessed up” of course in the end, as he always does when faced with the incisive stare of Maria (aka “his Julie”). 

When he decided they had no more beans to spill, Dean allowed the assembled throng to leave and everyone made their way out of the hall, puzzled, bemused and still disputing whether one of the faces in the photo competition was that of the Queen or Gareth from Pop Idol. With some comfort from the evidence of the evening’s events, they all slept safely in their Guildford beds that night while Dean, with characteristic dedication, sat up in his for hour after hour, poring over even more quiz books in preparation for the next “night of a thousand questions”. 

Our thanks as usual go to Maria Hollands for her excellent culinary stimulation of our little grey cells, to Ian Lee for giving us the opportunity to see Dean prance around like Madonna in a head-mike and to Tony, who so admirably and non-controversially totted up the scores.  Finally, from a grateful group of “thickos” and “know-alls”, who all thoroughly enjoyed themselves on the night:  Dean, we salute you.

Match reports

7 April: EASTER DRAGONS   This match against Worplesdon Rangers proved exhausting for players and spectators.  With end to end play and huge determination all round, the first half was finely balanced.  Rangers headed off attacks by Tomas, Harrie, Shreyas and Oliver, so a Dragons shot at goal was rare.  Ben’s athleticism in our goal, supported by Tommy and captain Andrew in defence, also kept Rangers out for some time.  However, Worplesdon did score before half time, but a fired up Dragons team levelled things early in the second half.  Tomas’ free kick from the halfway line got through with customary accuracy to Ben who tapped it into the net, leaving the goalie scrabbling in the dust.  Tommy, in goal for the second half, played well again and a welcome debut performance by Geden allowed some essential substitutions.  But tiredness began to take its toll on the Dragons and, despite putting up a strong fight, with Harrie and Tomas always dangerous in front of the Rangers goal, was a big factor in the eventual result, 6-1 to Rangers.  Shreyas was our Man of the Match, for good team play, particularly in support of the defence, for attacking with vigour, and for his excellent ball skills.

13 April: LIONS RAMPANT AT ST FRANCIS  It was deceptively cold and blustery up at sunny Park Barn (a day for thermals to keep the ball rolling) and, after going down to an early goal against the run of play, it looked for a time as if Lions (as well as their loyal supporters) would be harshly frozen out.  However, our boys warmed to their challenge.  Robert (MotM) and Stuart, both imperious in defence, Pete and Richard, with intelligent midfield play, all led the way back and, with two excellent solo efforts from an on-fire Putera up front, Lions pulled ahead and never really looked in trouble thereafter.  An unlucky own goal added to our tally, then Jordan put away the first of his pair for 4 - 1.  Crus fans know better than to relax, though, and there was a Franciscan fight back, with Andrew’s goal, almost completely unthreatened for most of the game, seeing some action to which he responded splendidly.  James, Edward and Alex all fought hard but a second goal did come for St Francis’ efforts.  It was 5 – 2 shortly after, though.  Then, in the dying seconds, a third St Francis goal was squeezed in under Andrew’s body;  he was battered but unharmed and proud, as were all the boys and rightly so, of a magnificent victory.