HAPPY EASTER

I hadn’t actually remembered until Kim Cosiano wished us all a Happy Easter after we boarded the Coach. So Happy Easter from all of my fellow travelers.

Speaking of the Coach today we have a new version. Our favorite driver Paul is back this morning and he brought with him the Mercedes Coach used by Luton Town FC, a professional side. I’m writing this morning from my table in the Coach under electric power sitting at the pitch. Today’s matches are being played at Grays Athletic Field (Grays, Essex) Keep in mind, that pulling in, spectators can see the Luton FC Badges on the sides of the Coach and are wondering just who they are playing today. It’s a three way today, each team will go 30 minutes vs. each side twice. The boys had better be up to a high standard today. Following their training match two days ago and the Chelsea match yesterday they should be closer to a form that will allow them to show well. Today TFA has time for a solid warm up before playing in the stadium for the first time. I’m off to scout the grounds and have a coffee. More on the way to London.

Today’s fixture included TFA, Leyton FC (London, England), and Grays Athletic (Essex, England). A fixture refers to the tournament not a shelving unit in a retail store, by the way. Four games finished. In the first 3, our boys played like they wanted to be back in the hotel in bed. Some good things today, but mostly not so good. So much so that between the 3rd and 4th PH had a private talk with the boys liking for leadership, effort, and anyone who would show a measure of pride for their badge.

In the fourth match the boys went hard and played very well. Up 1-nill until a very late finished corner won the draw for Grays. These are some of the things we have quickly learned this week: football is LIFE in Europe, the lads on every side play as if this is their last chance to impress and all are looking to move up in division. The tackles are frequent, hard and fair. On field communication is required for success. Respect is earned for the exhibited on field skills and effort on behalf of gaining a positive result for your side. Play simple football with excellent first touch while opening up to the ball and having a forward first touch. Balls in the air are always to be challenged in England and the challenger is always to attack the ball, that is, not stand idle and wait for the ball to reach their head.

To be kind, our boys and American footballers in general are soft compared to their counterparts here. Not to be read as weak or unskilled, just not to the physical standard that is played in England. The referees here allow a much more physical game than in the U.S. and this has been unsettling for our players.

We are waiting for our boys to finish showering. We’ll then head to find some lunch as it is already 3 pm. Following that we’ll be doing a little sightseeing although I’ll have to let you know more on that as it develops.

From our private coach on the way out of Westminster 7:15…did you know: that the name Big Ben does not in fact refer to the Clock, but rather the very large Bell inside? If you said yes, when was your trip to London? Recently you say? I am doubtful, Big Ben is not in London actually. It is in Westminster as are most of the historic landmarks. London proper is very small, only 1 square mile and is covered by financial and insurance institutions among other large firms.

We stood in front of Buckingham Palace this afternoon, along with The House of Lords, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and a fine statue of Abraham Lincoln. The architecture of the city is amazing. More importantly the boys tied the TFA record for the number of players to fit into a Red London Phone Booth (11). We actually had 50 people around taking stills and video. It was fun that you simply cannot pay for, although we did drop a hat and watched people fill it with coins which the adults will use to sample a few pints as a way of taking the edge off of another very long day.

At this point we are working our way back for a 9 pm dinner- so you can see we really are only putting in half days.