A strange one this. Bouyant and high spirited, we were ready to just get on and celebrate the end of our season, our 5th year 
together. We shared the dressing room with Clapham, most of whom were a friendly bunch. Joao Spinola broke the dressing room awkwardness of both teams sharing such an intimate space, with a slap on the back and chat in his native Portuguese with the Benfica fan from our opposition. Then out we go for a team photo, Steve's missus managing to cut everyone's heads off in the end of season photo. Dark clouds brought hard freezing rain and hail as Mario stepped up to referee. Once again the ref we paid a bloomin' £47 in advance (through London Ref Agency) failed to materialise in time for kick off, shuffling slowly across the Marshes 20 minutes into the first half. "Sorry I had a semi-final to do this morning". Same old story.
together. We shared the dressing room with Clapham, most of whom were a friendly bunch. Joao Spinola broke the dressing room awkwardness of both teams sharing such an intimate space, with a slap on the back and chat in his native Portuguese with the Benfica fan from our opposition. Then out we go for a team photo, Steve's missus managing to cut everyone's heads off in the end of season photo. Dark clouds brought hard freezing rain and hail as Mario stepped up to referee. Once again the ref we paid a bloomin' £47 in advance (through London Ref Agency) failed to materialise in time for kick off, shuffling slowly across the Marshes 20 minutes into the first half. "Sorry I had a semi-final to do this morning". Same old story. The football was enjoyable, despite going 1-0 down by half time. Second half saw a complete turnaround as we realised this was probably our last 45 minutes of league football for five 
months. We played some very good football indeed, passing to feet, keeping possession and were rewarded with goals from Ben (2), Bilal and Kali. By this time one of the oppo had lost it. Russell was knocked to the floor in a very bad challenge. We complained, the ref did nowt and their goalscorerer from the first half spent the next half an hour labelling us 'pussies'. He then recieved a little bump to his nose and turned into some little three year old, crying and bawling and screaming about some non-existant scratch on his little facey-wacey. It was hilarious! Instead of getting on with it and trying to get something back for his team, his last drop of energy was spent moaning and crying, telling anyone who would listen that he was better than all his team mates, while making finger-gun-pointing motions. You catch what I'm sayin' blood? The last few minutes niggling, arguing and name calling seemed a little infectious as it spread to our team, one of our own leaving the pitch in a not quite Dyer-Bowyer incident, but all a little bit petty all the same. The whole match was played out to sunshine and showers, hard rain and then calm. A very stange one indeed.
months. We played some very good football indeed, passing to feet, keeping possession and were rewarded with goals from Ben (2), Bilal and Kali. By this time one of the oppo had lost it. Russell was knocked to the floor in a very bad challenge. We complained, the ref did nowt and their goalscorerer from the first half spent the next half an hour labelling us 'pussies'. He then recieved a little bump to his nose and turned into some little three year old, crying and bawling and screaming about some non-existant scratch on his little facey-wacey. It was hilarious! Instead of getting on with it and trying to get something back for his team, his last drop of energy was spent moaning and crying, telling anyone who would listen that he was better than all his team mates, while making finger-gun-pointing motions. You catch what I'm sayin' blood? The last few minutes niggling, arguing and name calling seemed a little infectious as it spread to our team, one of our own leaving the pitch in a not quite Dyer-Bowyer incident, but all a little bit petty all the same. The whole match was played out to sunshine and showers, hard rain and then calm. A very stange one indeed.
So that's it. We are still owed two more games (home and away vs Albion Sundays), whether they'll ever happen is up to them. Some of us are ready for the summer break to be honest, but know come next autumn we'll be pulling on the claret and amber shirts for another season of ups, downs, thrills, spills and heartaches. FORZA RECREATIVO!Team : Steve Jones, Mario Pisano, Chris Read, Jimmie Gregory, Joao Spinola, Kali Gregory-Hagenstede, Osama Mansour, Russell Smith, Daniel Hall (Paolo Cordoza) Stefan Garcia Fernandez (Bilal Talib Ali), Ben Corlett.
Shepherds Tuesday 1-4 Recreativo 9.3.08
Brilliant! An early noon kick off and only a couple of miles down the road. Despite the sloping pitch nestling within the leafy avenues of the local idle rich, it's always a good day out whenever we've headed out to Hampstead Heath Extension and done battle with the Shepherds. For one reason or another we've always had a little needle with this lot. But today we just get on with it and try and play some good football. Daniel's already moaning about his trainers getting muddy as we traverse the boggy track that leads to the dressing rooms. It's welly territory. You can almost imagine some farmer driving his hay bales down the track laden with a load of country girls with flagons of cider. How the mind wanders when you happen across these very un-London pockets of our beautiful city. Out on the pitch we start a little sluggish, the ground heavy and muddy, the upward slope against us. We go 1-0 down, a defensive fuck up. We shout at Steve. That'll do the trick. Up the other end, the oppo's goalie handles the ball quite deliberately three yards outside his box and the ref gives him a red. A little harsh for a sunday morning game, but inside most of us are quietly happy. Adam gets a yellow for berating the fat guy in black and the second half sees us step it up, playing downhill in the pouring rain. After an indifferent first half, Ben starts to latch on to every ball, bags a hat-trick of very well taken goals. Daniel gets another (though should of buried at least another two!) and Reccy see out the game for another 3 points. That's three wins in a row. We head back through Highgate feeling very pleased with ourselves, job done. Back home the
soaking wet kit is all over the kitchen floor, the sunday football ritual not over til it's all washed, dried and put away for next week. Spurs are beating West Ham 4-0, the red wine is uncorked and some very fine Toulouse pork sausages await to be scoffed. Another superb sunday!Team : Steve Jones, Mario Pisano, Shane O'prey, Jimmie Gregory, Marcus du Sautoy (Russell Smith), Stefan Garcia Fernandez, Joao Spinola, Adam Bradbury (Paolo Cardoza), Daniel Hall, Ben Corlett, Osama Mansour.
Recreativo 4-2 Livingstone Academicals 2.3.08
Half our lot are out at the Marshes with plenty of time to spare (the usual suspects) and in the dressing room with half of Livingstone. We're discussing the Eurovision Song Contest, X-Factor and faded ex-Eastenders stars. The corridors outside are packed with teams of every nationality either getting kitted up for the afternoon games or still arguing about this morning's battles. Our lot are a little slow in turning up today. Russell's been trapped in Sainsbury's car park, Ben's on a
crowded bus, Sama's still in Tottenham and Dan and Stef appear out of the distance of the North Marsh. Our ref is 5 minutes late (a record good time for anyone the agency sends us!), but finally we kick off with the wind in our favour. We're heartened to see Sama join us ten minutes into the first half, resplendent in his Barbados trunks ('I've come straight from work'), but after weathering an early Livi's onslaught we concede to a tall Harry Hill type centre forward. Dan gets us back into it with a superb free-kick-over-the-wall, but then sloppy defending from a throw in sees us go in 2-1 down at half time. We rally round during the interval, 'If we score first, if we get level early on, then we'll see what can happen'. And that was the plan. Don't let them score and we've got a half decent chance. And that's what happened. 2-1 down at half time, playing uphill, the wind 
against us, (without Joao!) and against the team who are top of the league, Recreativo turned it round in a truly fantastic performance. Ben bagged one and Stefan, showing more confidence and belief, charged after a ball, took on the keeper and booted it home. Daniel put the game beyond them with another ten minutes to go and we left the pitch more than satisfied with a mighty fine win. Next up, it's Shepherds Tuesday. If we put in another performance like this, surely, we can finally beat that team who play in grey?Team:Steve Jones, Mario Pisano, Shane O'prey, Jimmie Gregory, Chris Read, Stefan Garcia Fernandez, Adam Bradbury, Russell Smith, Daniel Hall, Ben Corlett, Osama Mansour.
Rio Kaiserslauten 1-3 Recreativo 10.2.08
What a wonderful day! From the minute everybody turned up on time at the morning meet, we knew this was going to be another great Recreativo road trip somewhere into deepest south east London. A radiant winter sun shone gloriously across our city as we cruised through King's Cross and over the Westway, past the Trellick and concrete towers of Notting Hill. You could almost hear Clash City Rockers from the urban sprawl below us. We managed to overtake both Steve and Sama after a crafty manoeuvre amongst the gridlock of Shepherds Bush and after nearly knocking a scooter rider off of Putney Bridge, found Wandsworth Park with plenty of time to spare. And hey, what a gorgeous location for a game of football, the wide River Thames the
backdrop for today's game, the park brimming with picnickers, frisbee kids and kissing couples out in the sunshine for a lazy sunday afternoon. As we done our pre-match warm up, we noticed a group of Putney's finest gals looking in our direction (at the more rugged rugby types playing the egg-chasing game at the other end of the field!). Rio's ref didn't show. We know what it's like, so no hassle, no over dramatics like our previous game, get a sub to blow the whistle and let's play football. Which we did. Very well indeed. Dan stood between the sticks for the first half and hardly had a shot to stop. We stood strong and defended. We bossed in the middle. We took control up front. Another two goals for Ben and amazingly, Adam got his second goal in two games! With roll on-roll off subs everyone seemed to change and fit into a different formation throughout the game and today it worked. Despite a late penalty for Rio, Recreativo were victorious today, but no gloating, no triumphalism. The sunshine, the fantastic vibes, the team spirit and the lads' togetherness were the real winners today. Joni Mitchell once sang 'You Don't Know What You've Got Til It's Gone'...when we're old(er) and grey(er), some of us will look back on days like today 
and remember just how bloody great it can be sometimes. And that's what it's all about. Forza Recreativo!Team : Daniel Hall, Mario Pisano, Shane O'prey, Jimmie Gregory, Marcus du Sautoy (Steve Jones), Chris Read (Stefan Garcia Fernandez), Joao Spinola, Osama Mansour, Adam Bradbury, Bilal Talib -Ali, Ben Corlett.
Recreativo 2-6 Jeffs Chippy 3.2.08
Bloody referees! Bloody referee agency! Bloody players not turning up! Bloody freezing cold standing around waiting for the bloody match to start! Don't you bloody well love it?! Well..sort of. We pick up Dan and Stef at the bus stop and everyone's in fits of giggles as we drive past Bilal, who's running for the bus. The mood is good, we're happy to be out for another sunday afternoon playing the beautiful game. However the mood takes a slight down turn when we get to the dressing rooms and find Jeff's Chippy have already taken it over, their gear all over the place and their manager barking away like a sunday league Dave Basset, bemoaning the pitches not being numbered. Welcome to Hackney mate, the spiritual home of
world football. Our pitch is half a mile away, which isn't great when you have to keep dashing back to the dressing rooms to look for the ref. The agency says he's called Michael. With a name like that, Dan says, 'he's gotta be a white bloke'. Twenty past two, twenty minutes late, a black rather portly gentleman turns up out of breath, but with a whistle and a referee's badge on his shirt. We'd made three or four calls to the ref agency, searched the vast expanse of the Marshes looking for him, and almost lost it with the Dave Basset geezer who was demanding 3 points for the ref not showing up, but finally the game could kick off. Anyone would of thought the oppo were gonna be like Real Madrid after 40 minutes of military style training they done before the game, various squad players with camcorders, the manager running behind the goals to take photos, barking out to players about 'knowing the drill' every time they got a throw in. It was hilarious! We matched them all over the park, but let ourselves down with not defending corners. Yes,
they were a little quicker in moving the ball around, a little taller on average, but with the wind behind us in the second half we definately gave them a bloody good game. Two late Reccy goals (Adam's first of the season and a great Joao free kick with 10 mins to go) sent their manager into fits of shouting and promising recriminations etc, again very funny! Despite the scoreline, a good entertaining game, a great squad turn out on a very cold day.Team : Steve Jones, Mario Pisano, Shane O'prey, Jimmie Gregory (Osama Mansour), Marcus du Sautoy, Kali Gregory-Hagenstede (Stefan Garcia Fernandez), Adam Bradbury, Joao Spinola, Daniel Hall, Bilal Talib Ali (Paolo Cardoza), Ben Corlett.
Barking Mad 5-1 Recreativo 27.1.08
This was a crucial game. If we really cared about our final league standing, this game really mattered. A win would of seen us leapfrog Barking and with the final two month run-in, we could of pushed for Europe! But it wasn't to be. After standing in rather a large pile of dogshit as we packed up the kids morning football session and subsequently treading it all over the pedals and carpet of the car, we were running late as we scraped the motor clean and bombed it to the meet. Bilal was half hour late and Joao was nowhere to be seen. It dawned on us that for the first time in our 5 year history we would be starting the game with only ten players. Not good. The most frustrating sound for a manager is the sound of a player's answer machine or even worse; "this phone is switched off, please try again later". Why don't players switch their bloody phones on match days?!*! We make frantic calls, going through the phone books, desperate to recruit one more player, but are left listening to very weak men bleat their feeble excuses for not
coming out to play with the boys. Ikea. Kids. Wedding anniversaries. FA Cup on the telly. Cooking Sunday dinner. Walking the dog. Are we the last ten real men left in Stoke Newington for fuck's sake?! How could anyone possibly turn down the opportunity to spend an hour stuck in traffic in a dogshit splattered car listening to a cd of Chas and Dave singing "Spurs are on their way to Wembley", getting changed in a rubbish strewn shed on Clapham Common, getting bawled and shouted at by his team mates, thrashed and muddy and bruised? What's wrong with blokes these days? First half, we're playing up hill, the sun in our eyes, our goal posts 3 inches higher than our oppo's and with only ten players. We actually take the lead.....which doesn't last with the ref, feminism and God against us today. Deutschland Dan Dan the Bayern Fan turns up 'to watch' at half time and is physically pulled away from his missus and bullied into putting a Recreativo kit on. He does his best and we apologise at the final whistle for if he can't feel his legs in the morning. Overall, another good day out. A good laugh despite the result. We stop at a very fine Cost Cutter on the way home right next to the shrine to John Charles Menezes. We buy 
lucozade, Chunky Kit Kats and a Double Decker. Red wine and a Spanish football double-header on the box top off a very fine day indeed.Team : Steve 'the sun's in my eyes' Jones, Mario Pisano, Chris Read, Jimmie Gregory, Bilal Talib-Ali, Kali Gregory-Hagenstede, Marcus du Sautoy, Daniel Hall, Stefan Garcia Fernadez, Daniel Lucht, Ben Corlett.
Recreativo 2-0 Hackney Marshans 13.1.08
After last week's Total Football display, we find ourselves reverting back to a kick and rush, hoof and hope game, struggling against strong winds and Igor the Ukranian ref. Every time we do manage a neat piece of football, threading balls from midfield into the Marshans box the Ukranian in black blows his whistle stopping us dead in our tracks, to a Recreativo chorus of "Bollocks referee!".However Ben slots home with 15 minutes to go before half time and Jimmie takes and scores a penalty after 5 or 6 players turn down the chance to go for spot kick glory (the first time he's ventured into the oppo's box all season!). Adam has a goal ruled out for offside, both Ben and Bilal should of had a couple each in the second half and Mr Jones was hardly troubled for the entire game. A scrappy game, ugly football at times, but in the end it's job done and three points in the bag. A sunday afternoon off next weekend, before another away day the following week. Well done boys.
Team : Steve Jones, Mario Pisano, Shane O'prey, Jimmie Gregory, Marcus du Sautoy, Stefan Garcia Fernandez (Chris Read), Joao Spinola, Adam Bradbury, Daniel Hall, Kali 'I'm no shirt throwing Hossam Ghaly' Gregory-Hagenstede (Bilal Talib-Ali).
Recreativo 4-2 Lyric Celtic 6.1.08
Was this perhaps Recreativo's finest hour (and a half?). Was this the best game we had ever played in the short history of this fantastic football club? Did we finally click? After the usual is-the-ref-gonna-turn-up-panic (he did), we took to the field with a simple plan; the oldies at the back would lump it forward and let the young legs do all the running. Within a couple of minutes any thoughts of playing such an ugly game disappeared, as a passing, possessive, skilful, crafty and most definately more beautiful football display begun to unravel. Up front, every flick, back heel, dummy and step over seemed to work today. Headers and tackles were fought for and won in the middle (at one point Adam was throwing himself into so many challenges, he got a whack to the head and had a Gus Poyet moment, suffering nasty concussion. Gus had famously once
collided with a goalpost at a game at WHL and was so badly concussed he got to his feet and tried to order fish and chips from the referee!). Joao smashed a ball onto the crossbar which literally broke the goal into pieces, the goalposts only missing the hapless Lyric keeper by inches. At the back we defended corners (for once!) and our goal kicks even reached the halfway line (for once!). Steve dived, caught, jumped and punched...done all the things a goalkeeper is supposed to do! With goals from Ben, Bilal, Dan and a 30yard Gazza-esque screamer from Russell, we were 
assured the 3 points. Late handbags, pushing, shoving, two fingers, gypsy references and other un-gentlemanly conduct failed to take the shine off what had been one of the most fantastic afternoons in many a year for the lads from N16. It was a magical feeling over this little part of London today. The deep blue sky seemed to stretch forever into space. The well trodden earth filled the senses as the late afternoon sun set over Clapton Park Estate, silhoutting the pylons along the River Lea. Beautiful Hackney. Beautiful football. It doesn't get more beautiful than that.
Team : Steve Jones, Mario Pisano (Marcus du Sautoy), Shane O'prey, Jimmie Gregory (Stefan Garcia Fernandez ), Chris Read, Russell Smith, Joao Spinola, Adam Bradbury, Daniel Hall, Bilal Talib-Ali, Ben Corlett.
Sandmere 2-1 Recreativo 16.12.07
Once again a few of us are already out of puff having whisked away muddy paraphernalia from the kids session in the morning, the car boot emptied of muddy goalposts and footballs and hastily filled up again with kitbags and muddied boots. But having followed Carl the Cabbie's instructions to get to Battersea Park, we once again arrive at another far away field before the home team. The dressing room attendant greets us with an unfriendly demand that we show our booking permit despite our protestations that we are the away team and didn't make the booking. He's rude and been drinking. Some of us barge our way into the dressing room while the other scaredy cats stay outside. After our warm up is brought to a halt by the impatient ref ("it will be getting dark soon!" he shouts), the game kicks off and we soon find ourselves locked into a really good battle with Sandmere. Once again, we play some very tidy football, Joao playing some beautiful passes to our wingers, Daniel and Bilal linking up well which results in a lovely chipped goal for Reccy. Steffan starts on the right and makes some great penetrating runs, putting his foot in when he has to. With 30 seconds to go until half time the opposition get a free kick on the edge of our box which is whipped in, skimming off Shane's head and over Mr Jones. The second half is a much more scrappy affair as the tackles fly in. It soon turns into a verbal bitch-fight! Jimmie calls their no 17 a 'fat cunt', then their left winger 'a big poof', the respectable voice of moderation in a second half of cat calls and handbags. The ref blows up at every chal
lenge and gives everything to the home team. Well that's how it seems looking at the game through Recreativo-tinted specs. Ten minutes to go and a neat Sandmere move through our tiring backline finds the back of the net. We finish the game with handshakes all round having really given our all today. And at the end of the day, that's all we can really ask for. A two week break for Christmas, yippee!Team: Steve Jones, Jimmie Gregory, Shane O'prey, Chris Read, Adam Bradbury, Stefan Garcias-Fernandez, Daniel Hall, Joao Spinola, Kali Gregory-Hagenstede, Russell Smith, Bilal Talib-Ali.
Albion Sundays P-P Recreativo 2.12.07
Shane is already there. He rings us just as we're passing Stamford Bridge. "The groundman is locking up the dressing rooms. He's leaving. Apparently the home team haven't paid for the pitches". Here we go again. After last year's debacle against this very same team (see match report of April 2006), surely it couldn't get any worse?! Have we really squeezed the entire squad into two cars and sat in traffic slowly winding our way through the back streets of Olympia to find locked dressing rooms during probably the worst weather we've endured all 
year? Indeed, the groundsman buggers off leaving us and a couple of players from Albion bemused, cold, soaking wet and close to packing in sunday football altogether. The Albion manager blames the council, says the pitches are unplayable, "a health and safety issue", but doesn't seem to have the foresight in getting to the ground before the rest of his team and sorting the bloody mess out! We have a quick team 
meeting and decide 1) never to travel away to play Albion Sundays again whether we get the 3 points or not and 2) to get our kit on and have a match between ourselves. Rain, mud, slosh, no paid for pitch, no dressing rooms, no opposition, no ref, no showers, no hot water. It's got to be better than turning the cars round and heading home? So we go through our pre-match warm up as our opposition slinks off home, get the ball out and have an old school kitbags-for-goalposts five-a-sider. We always said this team meant more than just winning games, more than worrying about our league position. Despite everything conspiring against us today, we played football for the sheer fun of it. And that's truly what Recreativo is all about. Sunday afternoons with a load of mates, having a laugh and charging about. Before we get too old.
Team : Steve Jones, Mario Pisano, Shane O'prey, Jimmie Gregory, Marcus du Sautoy, Stefan Garcias-Fernandez, Adam Bradbury, Joao Spinola, Daniel Hall, Russell Smith, Chris Read.
year? Indeed, the groundsman buggers off leaving us and a couple of players from Albion bemused, cold, soaking wet and close to packing in sunday football altogether. The Albion manager blames the council, says the pitches are unplayable, "a health and safety issue", but doesn't seem to have the foresight in getting to the ground before the rest of his team and sorting the bloody mess out! We have a quick team 
meeting and decide 1) never to travel away to play Albion Sundays again whether we get the 3 points or not and 2) to get our kit on and have a match between ourselves. Rain, mud, slosh, no paid for pitch, no dressing rooms, no opposition, no ref, no showers, no hot water. It's got to be better than turning the cars round and heading home? So we go through our pre-match warm up as our opposition slinks off home, get the ball out and have an old school kitbags-for-goalposts five-a-sider. We always said this team meant more than just winning games, more than worrying about our league position. Despite everything conspiring against us today, we played football for the sheer fun of it. And that's truly what Recreativo is all about. Sunday afternoons with a load of mates, having a laugh and charging about. Before we get too old.Team : Steve Jones, Mario Pisano, Shane O'prey, Jimmie Gregory, Marcus du Sautoy, Stefan Garcias-Fernandez, Adam Bradbury, Joao Spinola, Daniel Hall, Russell Smith, Chris Read.
Recreativo 1-1 Shepherds Tuesday 18.11.07
Dark skies. Freezing cold. Chaos at the Pitch Bookings office. Flashing blue lights in the car park. No electricity in the dressing rooms, no light, no hot water and the corridors are thick with the fog of spliff. We're back home at the spiritual home of football, two teams crammed into the 
darkened dressing room, everyone grabbing at the tangled mess of kit, shirts and shorts spilled all over the floor. In such failing light it's amazing that anyone at all has managed to exit the dressing room without their shorts on backwards or the oppo's kit on. We shuffle past the rude 
boys in the corridor. It feels like 5am at some dodgy rave back in the day at Hackney Wick.... Kali asks to be captain. Within five minutes he's told the ref to fuck off and is bollocking most of the team. His lack of muscle means the armband keeps slipping, so he wears it round his leg. But the football is good. Russell fills in for Joao in midfield, screaming "Russell's baaallllllllllllll!!!!!" and winning it every time, mini seismic soundwaves rippling from inside the centre circle. With Ben scoring a well taken goal in the first half and Shepherds equalising almost immediately, the game is fought for all over the park, both teams eager for the points. Jimmie:"Fuck it, I'm going off".Kali:"Why dad? You always sub yourself".Jimmie:"Yeah I know, I don't wanna take anyone else off though. And besides, it's about to rain and I want to put my coat on!".And at the final whistle the rain comes down. We get the nets down and are away. A decent draw and a 
thoroughly enjoyable game of footy. We stop for bananas and Dairy Milks on the way home. Lovely. Back home it's roast chicken and a pot of coffee and a few hours with a pristine Sunday Observer before Top Gear. Superb!
Team : Steve Jones, Mario Pisano, Shane O'prey, Jimmie Gregory (Chris Read), Marcus du Sautoy, Stefan Garcias-Fernandez, Adam Bradbury, Russell Smith, Daniel Hall, Ben Corlett, Capt Kali "I'm a quarter German" Gregory-Hagenstede.
Livingstone Academicals 3-2 Recreativo 11.11.07
darkened dressing room, everyone grabbing at the tangled mess of kit, shirts and shorts spilled all over the floor. In such failing light it's amazing that anyone at all has managed to exit the dressing room without their shorts on backwards or the oppo's kit on. We shuffle past the rude 
boys in the corridor. It feels like 5am at some dodgy rave back in the day at Hackney Wick.... Kali asks to be captain. Within five minutes he's told the ref to fuck off and is bollocking most of the team. His lack of muscle means the armband keeps slipping, so he wears it round his leg. But the football is good. Russell fills in for Joao in midfield, screaming "Russell's baaallllllllllllll!!!!!" and winning it every time, mini seismic soundwaves rippling from inside the centre circle. With Ben scoring a well taken goal in the first half and Shepherds equalising almost immediately, the game is fought for all over the park, both teams eager for the points. Jimmie:"Fuck it, I'm going off".Kali:"Why dad? You always sub yourself".Jimmie:"Yeah I know, I don't wanna take anyone else off though. And besides, it's about to rain and I want to put my coat on!".And at the final whistle the rain comes down. We get the nets down and are away. A decent draw and a 
thoroughly enjoyable game of footy. We stop for bananas and Dairy Milks on the way home. Lovely. Back home it's roast chicken and a pot of coffee and a few hours with a pristine Sunday Observer before Top Gear. Superb!Team : Steve Jones, Mario Pisano, Shane O'prey, Jimmie Gregory (Chris Read), Marcus du Sautoy, Stefan Garcias-Fernandez, Adam Bradbury, Russell Smith, Daniel Hall, Ben Corlett, Capt Kali "I'm a quarter German" Gregory-Hagenstede.
Livingstone Academicals 3-2 Recreativo 11.11.07
I'm at what I think is the dressing rooms. It looks like a flying saucer.Shane's text message guides us to the cafe on top of the mound at Regents Park and soon we enter probably the best dressing room any municipal council could offer to a Sunday league team across London. Those with let's say, continental style locks, note the two hairdryers just inside the door. We feel a bit like some amateur team who've won a competition to play at a Premiership ground, pointing out the features of this large space. Coat pegs, clean showers, en suite lavatories. This isn't what Sunday football is supposed to be about. It's meant to be mud, sweat, fat blokes and no bog roll. Isn't it? We nearly didn't make this game at all. Midweek managerial turmoil (a near Kevin Keegan-esque 'I quit' moment) and seven missing players, nearly brought our club crashing to the ground. It's probably what we needed. A re-think. A taking of stock. Some new blood. And that's what we got, as four brave souls stepped forward, bringing shin pads and boots. The new kids on the block brought a good balance to the team. We looked better going forward, offered a little more up front. Pawel's charges into the box paid handsomely with two well taken goals. But it just wasn't to be today as we slipped into Spurs-Under-Jol Syndrome, conceding a last minute corner and watching the ball crash into our net with seconds to go. Like always, we trudge back to the dressing rooms, the score pretty meaningless when all is said and done. We had a bloody good game of football and we're stopping for Chunky Kit-Kats on the way home. And best of all, only seven days to go before we do it all again.
Team : Steve Jones, Jules Kirby, Shane O'prey, Jimmie Gregory, Stefan Garcias-Fernandez, Marcus du Sautoy, Pawel Ognik, Adam Bradbury, Joao Spinola, Daniel Hall, Russell Smith, Ben Corlett, Chris Read. (Roll on-roll off).
Jeffs Chippy 9-1 Recreativo 14.10.07
Fazzoletti di Seta al Pesto (serves 4)Every village in Italy has its own way of shaping pasta. On the Ligurian coast they call these shapes 'silk hankerchiefs' because they're light and delicate.1 x pesto ( a handful of fresh basil leaves torn up, 100g freshly grated pecorino cheese)455g/1lb fresh egg pasta doughflour, for dusting. First make your pesto. Then make your egg pasta dough and roll it out to 2mm on your pasta machine. Lay all the long strips on a well floured worktop. Using a knife or a pasta wheel, cut the strips into rectangular pieces, roughly the size of beer mats.Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling water. Toss the cooked pasta with the pesto, the torn basil leaves and the pecorino. Taste and season if neccessary, and add a few spoonfuls of the cooking water if you need to loosen the sauce up a bit. Serve sprinkled with more pecorino and tuck in straight away!Let's face it...it's gotta be better than a report of this match!
Team: Steve Jones, Mario Pisano, Chris Read, Jimmie Gregory, Adam Bradbury, Jonathan Goodhand (Stefan Garcias-Fernandez), Daniel Hall, Kali Gregory-Hagenstede, Sama Mansour, Godfred Sagoe, Bilal Talib-Ali.
Hackney Marshans 2-5 Recreativo 30.9.07
The day starts early for some of us, stuffing 30 footballs, bibs, cones and other paraphenalia into the car at 8.15am to ready ourselves for the long day ahead. An hour later we perch two portable mini-goals on our rickety old and now punctured pink bike and head for Clissold Park for the Recreativo Juniors coaching session. Our team are well and truly entrenched in our local community. We're proud of that. 30+ local primary school kids plus parents, dog walkers and spectators form a sizeable group in our local park and of course always want to know how our senior side are doing. Some look a bit puzzled today when we tell them it's the Hackney Derby today.......in Fulham! 'MK' Marshans seems more fitting...And so we find ourselves driving down the Kings Road. It always feels like another London round here. Monied. Blue blooded. Set apart from the rest of us. It's bloody 'orrible! At the end of the road stands the New Russian Embassy, Stamford Bridge. It says it all really....Half hour before kick off we're already in kit, playing attackers vs defenders before any of the Marshans have turned up. This is usually half the fun of these games, having a kickabout beforehand, taking pot shots at Steve. Finally the game kicks off with Adam reffing because today's man in black is lost somewhere on the District Line.It's a good game, a little one-sided and by the end of it we're 5-2 winners. Once again a very fine performance by Chris in goal who looked bored for most of the first half with little to do. Marcus well and truly deserved the captain's armband today with his commanding verbal onslaught uplifting every member of the team!
Team: Chris Read, Mario Pisano, Marcus du Sautoy, Jimmie Gregory, Kali Gregory-Hagenstede (Stefan Garcias), Joao Spinola, Osama Mansour, Daniel Hall, Adam Bradbury, Jonathan Goodhand, Godfred Sagoe, Bilal Talib-Ali. Goals : Sama 2, Godfred 2, Bilal.
Clapham Sundays 4-2 Recreativo 16.9.07
It's not good. We're already late for the meet and Sama is nowhere to be seen. Chris is not answering his phone. Kali meanwhile has rung us the night before to tell us he's getting aquainted with some attractive young lady. He's drowning his sorrows after another Spurs defeat to the red half of North London and decides that shacking up in Scunthorpe for the weekend is preferable to facing a dressing room full of his gooner team mates. Still, we count eleven of us so bundle into the cars and set off. A couple of us boo the Emirates Stadium as we cruise past on our way south. Then we see Chris strolling back from the newsagent with his sweets and newspaper. We wonder whether he's tripping as he stands open-mouthed with a look of total bewilderment across his face. The words very slowly tumble from his mouth. Something about getting the time wrong. Being late. Being an hour late! Fuck! See you down there! Despite this classic comedy moment, Chris does infact make an appearance on Clapham Common, just in time to get the goalie's kit on and perform quite superbly between the sticks.Sunday bur-lud-dee football! Two of the Sundays goals were offside. Plain and simple. But without Sky's Andy
Gray and his little box of tricks or Alan Hansen's replays, we have to settle with the ref's decision. We remind ourselves this is Sunday league football. It's what it's all about. The penalty that we never got, the two offsides that were never given, the pushing and shoving. We accept it, shake hands as always and head back to Hackney after another fairly decent day out kicking a ball around. The in-car banter flows on the way home and touches on dodgy ex-Thai Prime Ministers, Sven's sex-life, Arsenal leaving the lights on at the Emirates all night, BMJ getting the elbow if Spurs lose at Bolton next week, Portugal's World Cup rugby team, Fatty Arbuckle Sunday league footballers etc...all between mouthfuls of Lucozade and Chunky Kit Kats of course. Nice one lads. Another top Recreativo day out!Team : Chris Read, Mario Pisano, Shane O'prey, Jimmie Gregory, Marcus du Sautoy, Daniel Hall, Joao Spinola, Adam Bradbury, Stefan Garcias-Fernandez (Osama Mansour), Godfred Sagoe, Bilal Talib-Ali. Goals: Joao Spinola, Osama Mansour . Ref's Assistant : Steve Hairline Fracture Jones
Lyric Celtic 3-3 Recreativo 7.9.07
We celebrate our 5th season together sharing a few words under the shade of the trees that run alongside the train track that cuts Wandsworth Common into two. This southside oasis of
football looks in fairly good nick before the onset of autumn kicks in and ready to take the rumble of hundreds of pairs of boots over the coming months. The first game of the new season always feels good. Sunshine. Goalmouth grass. Anticipation. Hands are shaken. Backs are slapped. Piss is taken and the banter floweth. It's good to be back.At the business end of Reccy's league campaign, at least half the team promise to 'get fit for next season'. But with a few of us actually putting in the evenings running along the River Lee or around Clissold Park, or in Shane's case running the 7 miles into work (before realising there's no shower facilities!), the 
team looks in pretty good shape. Combined with the younger boys returning a year older and stronger we have probably our best opening game of any season so far. We match Lyric all over the park and after dragging ourselves back from a negative 3-1 scoreline, we get stronger as the game came to a close. It's the oppo who are probably glad to hear the final whistle. The game was slightly sullied by infantile gypsy references to our Dan's Tiago-like mane (this it must be said was spat out by a man who was as bald as a baby's arse). All a bit sticks-and-stones-Sunday-league-football-handbags-at-ten-paces stuff. But hey, we're big boys, we let the football do the talking and today Recreativo were positively screaming!Team: Steve Jones, Mario Pisano, Shane O'Prey, Jimmie Gregory (Bilal Talib-Ali), Marcus du Sautoy (Stefan Garcias), Daniel Hall, Joao Spinola, Osama Mansour, Kali Gregory-Hagenstede, Chris Read, Godfred Sagoe. Goals: Godfred, Godfred (pen), Sama.