Nomads Sports Club History

The SKINNY on Bangkok Tour

December 27, 2012  |    Share

Organized, professional and motivated are three words that one could use to describe Manila Nomads as they arrived at the ground for the German All Stars Bangkok Tournament 2012 held last April at Thailand’s capital city.

However, if we are to be truthful – unorganized, leathered/hung-over and disinterested would probably fit the bill more appropriately. Having sat for too long at Nomads prior to the Tour discussing the intentions to win the Tournament, the manner in which we turned up on the Saturday did not exude much confidence.

Having readied ourselves whilst complaining about the heat, having to play football after a 15- to 18-hour drinking session and Matt Freeston’s ridiculous decision to start the previous day’s itinerary at 12:30 pm, we did at least look the part in our sponsored UFL shirts with names on the back. We did somehow manage to scrape a 1-0 victory in the opening game, but I am pretty sure no-one can remember quite how when after only 30 seconds of play the ball was played back to Friso Klok in net who managed to swipe at the ball with his left canoe and gift the opposition a corner. Other than Phil ‘Chin’ Connolly scoring the only goal of the game and proceeding to celebrate by running off the pitch and demanding to be subbed, it was possibly the worst game of football ever played.

We then had a three-hour wait for the next game that felt more like three years. Such was the state of some of the players during the first game that five of the 11 players who started could not remember the color that the opposition played in, led again by Klok and Den-ial Williams.

The second game was played against the reigning Champions, Swiss Kickers and resulted in a 0-0 bore. The less said the better, and  to be honest, I can’t remember anything about it other than violently puking before the game, which could also be said about Phil Connolly and Loic Toullec after.

Two further games followed on the opening day, one against the Pink Flamingos who were terrible and another against someone else who again I can’t remember other than that they had a female (no, not James Relen) playing right back who had Andy Yates in her back pocket all game. I can remember that we finished the opening day with a record of three wins, one draw and no goals conceded thanks to our wonderful back four who then proceeded to mention this every 10 minutes for the rest of the night.

In the end we left the ground in high spirits thinking we were in with a great chance having topped our group.

We continued with the itinerary for the evening which involved Matt giving us a big speech on how if we wanted to win, we HAD to be in bed by 12:30. At 11:00 Andy Yates and Mark Cocks decided it was time to break out the shots and then it went downhill from there for majority of the squad.

Sunday morning soon came around and the sight in the lobby at breakfast was arguably worse than the Saturday for some of the lads. Bloodshot eyes, shocking breath and then Yves De UseLuis deciding to actually turn up for the second day as opposed to Ice Skating, Shopping or having a bikini wax meant that our confidence in winning had diminished somewhat.

This was accurate as we did not win a single game on the Sunday and proceeded in only letting ourselves down. A draw in the opening game of the day meant the tie went to penalties. Unfortunately, the opening penalty was met by an incredible save by the opposing keeper. Borrill stepped up and hit a bullet that was heading right for the top corner only for the keeper to leap like a salmon and turn the ball on to the bar. The opposition then missed and all players scored until up stepped Mark ‘Sun Tan’ Johnson who missed the target by around five yards to end Nomads chances of glory.

It was then a case of having to play as opposed to wanting to play for the rest of the day. In the end we lost all of the remaining games and finished 8th. However, the Nomad Veterans were running riot in the Veterans Tournament. With an average age of 72 and an average weight of 84 Stone, they defied both age and beauty to take the Trophy finishing undefeated. Led by top scorer Andy Yates, who did play for 19 of the 32 sides on show all weekend, and twinkle toes Kevin Moylan, the result never looked in doubt; neither did Mark Cocks’ chances of moving more than 3 feet left or right Michael Denison was his usual self, loud, aggressive and abusive…to his own team, Nichy Severino in particular bore the brunt of the abuse which is strange as he has won far more medals than Denison and scored a goal in an 11 a side game at Nomads. Special mention must go to Nomads Goalkeeper Neil who produced an outstanding quadruple save in the final to keep a clean sheet and allow Nomads to lift the Trophy.

The final night of the Tour followed with everyone in good form especially the oldies having won the Cup. Onwards and Upwards and bring on 2013 Bangkok Tour and next year we will win it. Yeah, right…- Steve Borill