So much happens in the high profile world of sport every day that it’s sometimes easy to overlook those that take great joy out of continuing their involvement in their chosen games.
They go well past the age where boots may have been hung up and waist lines inevitably thicken.
Recently, the Phuket Soccer Sevens took place in Thailand’s tourist destination, just one of the stops on the Asian Football Sevens circuit which sees action each year in places such as Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Penang and Manila.
Now before you wave a hand and dismiss this as the domain of fat old blokes who drink a lot of beer and stagger onto a football pitch, these tournaments are professionally run and attract some of the biggest names in world football.
Michael Rummenigge, Uwe Bein, Andreas Moller, Pierre Littbarski (all World Cup winners), Andy Cole, Ian Rush, Peter Reid, Mustapha Hadji, John Barnes, Paul Parker, Nigel Winterburn and Peter Beardsley to name a few have featured in various tournaments, turning such events into something of a football fantasy camp for a lot of players.
Add to this teams from various Asian nations whose skills and technique are wonderfully suited to the hot, humid conditions most matches are played in, and you have the recipe for intense, if not lightning fast, competition.
Then throw into the mix a close-knit group of guys, many who have grown up together, who have been chased off just about every park in south-east Sydney by overzealous councils with stupid notions about what a ‘public’ park is supposed to be, but who continue to train and keep themselves fit for the next football trip.
The core group are names the general public won’t know, but they’ve at times been bolstered by former Socceroos or NSL players, all with the common thread of having known, played with and been coached by the late Ian ‘Iggy’ Gray. And they’ve punched well above their weight for more than a decade.
When Iggy tragically died in 2010, the organisers of the Phuket Masters changed the name of their tournament to the Ian Gray Cup. Held every November, Iggy’s band of guys who play under the identifiably Australian moniker of Team Bondi, won that 2010 tournament in hugely emotional circumstances.
They have not lost a game in Phuket since.
Now guided by former Socceroo and current assistant coach for the Malaysian Under-23 national team, Brad Maloney, Team Bondi won their fifth Ian Gray Cup in a row last month. It’s the essence of grassroots football – playing for the love of the game and in honour of a departed mate and mentor.
All of the teams for the tournament stay in the heaving, gaudy tourist trap of Patong, with its rows and rows of knock-off clothing and accessories stores, bars, clubs, spruikers trying to sell you anything from Gucci bags to boat trips to James Bond Island to timeshares in resorts that haven’t been built yet.
The tournament stadium is a one hour mini-bus trip through smaller towns, past spectacular beaches and fruit markets where the bananas mysteriously are always better on the left hand side of the road – something to do with the angle of the sun, perhaps.
One selfless bloke plays the role of team manager and overcomes local language issues to book buses, training fields, find out game times, make sure there are training balls, playing kit, strapping tape (lots of strapping tape!), post game bananas (from the left side of the road only) and that the kit is washed at the local laundry on the Saturday in time for Sunday’s bus trip. The cost is split evenly among the squad. For ‘Bugsy’ Maloney, it’s football going back to its roots.
“I wasn’t sure if I could make this tournament due to commitments in Malaysia. But I love it,” he said.
“Everything is shared, guys carry their own stuff, strap their ankles at the hotel (one of the players doubles as a physio and brings a medical kit to keep the players on the park), get on that bus and get focussed on playing those six games to win the tournament.
“And of course, our great mate’s name is on that trophy which is motivation enough!”
Team Bondi won the 2014 final 2-0 against Rangers FC, who had endured a penalty shootout in their semi-final to get past a Thailand Select team sponsored by Bangkok Airways. That might have played into Team Bondi’s hands, who had despatched the Tokyo-based Footy Japan 3-1 in their semi, and who kept possession for long periods in the final until the Scottish lads gave up chasing large shadows.
A torrential downpour and flooded roads couldn’t dampen the spirits on the packed mini-bus on the way back to Patong for the tournament awards night. Legs cramped and stiffened as the players hobbled to their rooms for a shower and a night of celebration for another victory. And there might have been a nagging thought as those painful steps were taken – “Can I do this again next year?”
Of course. It’s football as we all should experience it.
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