RECREATIVO 3-2 Ladzio 28.3.10
When the kit catalogue arrived just before our first season we found the strip that most resembled Roma's red. It should not be the garish Liverpool red, but the maroon/claret red that's a little bit different, has that aura of imperial dignity. Some of us aligned ourselves with Roma back in the early nineties when everyone seemed to chose an Italian team when Channel Four's Football Italiano erupted on TV. The sun always seemed to be shining in Rome and the stadium dramatics of fan choreographies, flares and flags made a change from the emerging all singing, all dancing Americanisation of the Premier League. So today, up against a team called 'Ladzio', complete in their Biancocelesti trim, this match was always going to be a worthy local version of Il Derby Della Capitale.
The opening 25 minutes rushed by and in general was a very good game of football, but a few late challenges from the opposition, some pushing and shoving (by both teams I might add) and some niggly argy-bargy went unpunished and a tempestuous vibe hung over the game like a storm cloud about to explode. We had words with ref at half time about what we felt were blatant fouls committed against us (I am sure Ladzio had their own grievances). However, in the second half a series of near leg-breaking challenges against Chris, then Nick, then Aaron and the subsequent scraps that seemed to break out all over the pitch made us seriously think about walking off the pitch altogether. Two yellow cards for Ladzio (straight reds from any other ref) for dangerous tackles and a yellow for Recreativo (back chat) seemed sufficient to calm the game down for the last few minutes, as Bilal popped up and slotted home the winner.
Luckily, there were enough of us (on both sides) who wanted to play football and not break someone's leg, throw punches or tell the ref to fuck off. The Ladzio geezer who gave his name as 'Dick Head' to the ref when getting booked for a horrendous challenge on Nick, summed up exactly what we all thought of him, one complete twat of a so called footballer who seemed intent to ruin a decent match. As always, we shook hands at the end, feeling like we had ridden waves of bad tackles, but at least grabbing those precious three points. After a very lengthy discussion with the ref at the end of the game, we headed for home for dinner, a fine bottle of Rioja, Antiques Roadshow and Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid on the box.
Team: James Humphreys, Mario Pisano (Gregg Morgan), Nick Candy, Joao Spinola, Jimmie Gregory (John Megaughin), Aaron Gayle, Joe Paul Scholes (Chris Read), Adam Bradbury, Tino (Bilal Talib-Ali), Connor Joseph, Max Bland.
When the kit catalogue arrived just before our first season we found the strip that most resembled Roma's red. It should not be the garish Liverpool red, but the maroon/claret red that's a little bit different, has that aura of imperial dignity. Some of us aligned ourselves with Roma back in the early nineties when everyone seemed to chose an Italian team when Channel Four's Football Italiano erupted on TV. The sun always seemed to be shining in Rome and the stadium dramatics of fan choreographies, flares and flags made a change from the emerging all singing, all dancing Americanisation of the Premier League. So today, up against a team called 'Ladzio', complete in their Biancocelesti trim, this match was always going to be a worthy local version of Il Derby Della Capitale.
The opening 25 minutes rushed by and in general was a very good game of football, but a few late challenges from the opposition, some pushing and shoving (by both teams I might add) and some niggly argy-bargy went unpunished and a tempestuous vibe hung over the game like a storm cloud about to explode. We had words with ref at half time about what we felt were blatant fouls committed against us (I am sure Ladzio had their own grievances). However, in the second half a series of near leg-breaking challenges against Chris, then Nick, then Aaron and the subsequent scraps that seemed to break out all over the pitch made us seriously think about walking off the pitch altogether. Two yellow cards for Ladzio (straight reds from any other ref) for dangerous tackles and a yellow for Recreativo (back chat) seemed sufficient to calm the game down for the last few minutes, as Bilal popped up and slotted home the winner.
Luckily, there were enough of us (on both sides) who wanted to play football and not break someone's leg, throw punches or tell the ref to fuck off. The Ladzio geezer who gave his name as 'Dick Head' to the ref when getting booked for a horrendous challenge on Nick, summed up exactly what we all thought of him, one complete twat of a so called footballer who seemed intent to ruin a decent match. As always, we shook hands at the end, feeling like we had ridden waves of bad tackles, but at least grabbing those precious three points. After a very lengthy discussion with the ref at the end of the game, we headed for home for dinner, a fine bottle of Rioja, Antiques Roadshow and Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid on the box.
Team: James Humphreys, Mario Pisano (Gregg Morgan), Nick Candy, Joao Spinola, Jimmie Gregory (John Megaughin), Aaron Gayle, Joe Paul Scholes (Chris Read), Adam Bradbury, Tino (Bilal Talib-Ali), Connor Joseph, Max Bland.