The Ball 2006, known for the first time as The Spirit of Football, embodied the motto of the 2006 World Cup: A Time to make Friends. Its short journey to Munich brought people together in the spirit of the beautiful game.
A quick behind-the-scenes look at how we get this site together while we’re on the road. Believe me, it’s not easy.
Our office
The trouble with this blogging thing is that doing and publishing both require time, and we just don’t have enough to give to both. So we muddle our way through, aware that one of them will suffer.
I usually work in my sleep
So we grab what time we can to edit and write — in this case after dinner in a cafe, as you can see. Ah, this gonzo journalism lark… how much easier it would be if we’d decided to simply write about what we’re doing — video seems to take so much more effort to produce that text.
Well, we did eventually manage to have a bit of a knock-about in Ieper, but not the full-scale game that we had hoped for. Instead, we found Glyn, Peter and Matthieu playing keepie-uppie in the field next to our campsite. As so often happens when it’s underway, The Ball quickly became a source of fascination and a little puzzlement. Once we’d explained what it was all about, Phil and I donned our KVK Ieper shirts and joined in the kickabout.
Since we left you hanging over the edge of the White Cliffs of Dover in our last post, this one is meant to reduce your stress levels as the World Cup approaches. I’m sure the media are whipping the populations of their various countries into a footballing frenzies, and, to paraphrase the great Douglas Adams, there are enough stresses in the world without inventing new ones to add to the real ones. So we’re giving you a slight spoiler for the next episode.
We did make it to France (was there ever any doubt?) and the Phantom Fouler’s efforts to impede the progress of The Ball didn’t pay off in the long run — but more of that in the next installment…
So The Ball has left Battersea Park and is now bouncing its way to Europe. Phil and I have reached the most iconic stretch of English coastline there is: the White Cliffs of Dover. Last time, in 2002, we kicked a long ball straight across the Channel to a beach near Calais… and the idea was to do the same this year. Until the (in)famous Phantom Fouler intervened, that is…
The Phantom Fouler in Xi’an
If you haven’t come across him before, he’s the Terracotta Warrior who ruthlessly hacked Phil down in Xi’an, providing us with the free-kick that took us direct to Tiananmen Square. You can watch the video in this post from 2002, or read the story in this post.
So then, will The Ball make it across the Channel? Will “fair play” win out in the end? Watch the next episode to find out if we make it…
They gathered at the Peace Pagoda, Battersea Park at 2pm to do battle. For some, it invoked memories of Passchendaele, Monte Cassino, Stalingrad, Trafalgar. For others it was merely a game of football. Jumpers for goalposts.
There were some old faces and some new, an interesting variety of footware and “football kit” and some shockingly white legs but the spirit and belief were high. After the necessary delays to greet the assembled worlds’ press (well…CNN) teams were picked and lined up Lights vs Darks.
Let the game begin
The Lights sprinted off to an early lead thanks to some excellent play by Phil down the wings and Chas, Shilton-esque, in goal by half time they were easily in front at 5-1.
The music of the fans provided by Andy on sax and Brian on flute
Whatever the Darks were drinking during the break (I believe it was Champagne) they came out a team transformed for the second half.
It was nip and tuck in the midfield with the Darks adding three goals to be answered only by one from the Lights. Phil then switched teams playing for the Darks and the introduction of doggy Maisie to harry the Lights attack saw the Darks draw level in the very last minute with a stunning effort on the half volley by Einar.
Gooooooooal!
So, to penalties and it was and Chas in goal for the Lights using the old Grobbelaar wobbly to great effect, saving three penalties. This just left Tom to score which he duly did, giving victory to the Lights. The post match analysis in the pub afterwards concluded that everyone had a very enjoyable day and it was a fitting send off for Phil and Christian on their journey to the World Cup.
Full match report to come, but in the meantime, here is reminder of what Phil had to say in 2002 about the reason we do this:
The Football Association itself grew from a small group of players who, tired of the broken arms, endless arguments (not to mention endless pitches) drew up some rules to level the stakes. The evening of that first game, they made this toast — “Success to Football, irrespective of class and creed”. We will be adding “sex” (don’t you mean “gender”? – ed.) and “talent” to the list, and generally getting right into this footballing occasion.
So the game in Battersea Park will honour the FA and mark the start of our journey to the World Cup, the very pinnacle of footballing excellence. Just grab your footballs and join in at the other end of the scale.
