Raging Fever 5, Union Royale Namur supporters' 1

Who would have thought it? At the age of 43 I am making my 'international debut', guesting for the supporters' team of Union Royale Namur, from the Belgian third division, away to
Raging Fever, which is the Oxford United supporters' team!

How on earth did that come about? Do you want to know...how long have you got? It's a long story. Here goes!

I was one of the founding members, & instigators, of the Dulwich Hamlet Supporters' Team way back in May 1989. We had a not too serious game against a Club XI, which we 'won' 9-7! It wasn't really under Football Association rules, well nominally it was, and four of our goals were from the boot of an eight year old boy called Bobby Cooper! Last seen watching Football League football down the road at The Den! Towards the end of that match we must have had twenty players on the pitch!

From little acorns, and all that, fast forward over two decades later & the Supporters' Team are clinging to survival. albeit with an ageing team, with a problem recruiting players. It's not for me to say here really why that is, but like all football, some management teams are better than others...

I think it would be fair to say, without me trying to blow my own trumpet, that without my perseverance in arranging fixtures over a substantial part of those decades the Supporters' Team would have folded many years ago.

One thing we talked about for many years, typical bar talk over many pints, was how great it would be to go on tour abroad. In 2002 I bit the bullet & decided to arrange one, for our first ever 'beano' overseas. Not against other supporters' sides, but through a football tour company called Eurosportring. I chose Amsterdam as our destination, as I knew it would appeal, for the beer, drugs & tarts, some of our squad partaking in all three...but what goes on tour stays on tour eh? ;-)

That tour to Amsterdam was also an event that changed my life, believe it or not. I had known for a number of years that I had a serious drink problem, & looking back was clearly concerned about it at the time. I had 'convinced' myself, as I had organised the tour, & was the 'team secretary',so to speak, the contact with the tournament organisers, that I would 'pace myself' & control my drinking. Unsurpringly I couldn't. Without going into detail at one stage I was out on my own & I blacked out somewhere, collpased on the street, with the police taking me back to our hotel, with-fortunately-none of our lot seeing this! And on another evening we went for a team meal, at a local steak house, & I literally threw up half way through my meal, over my table, got up and walked out. Understandably everyone, not just from my crowd, were not impressed! Sadly, even to this day, I have no recollection of any of this, apart from vague flashbacks. I went home by boat, still drinking, a couple of beers 'topping me up' in the morning, so I was pissed before luchtime. To be honest I'm not sure how they managed to let me on board, I was wobbling that much.

It sounds quite shocking like that, and that's the sanitised version, but I can't hide from the past, just learn from it. That Monday-the 27th May 2002- was the last time I picked up a drink. Late that night I got home, and simply stayed it bed. My body fought like mad, I was sweating & shaking. Burning up & then freezing. I was craving alcohol, but fighting it. This was what going 'cold turkey' from alcohol was for me. The next day, on the Wednesday, I picked up the phone to one of my fellow Hamlet supporting mates, who I knew was going to Alcoholics Anonymous, & asked him full of trepidation, & if truth be known, very scared, to ask if I could go to a meeting with him. Now, nearly eight years later, I am still sober, only going to meetings once in a while, when I feel the need to go to them. I am grateful for that, and if I was still drinking....well I'd be dead by now without a doubt. And I certainly wouldn't be enjoying the football trips I have abroad, & days out like today. My friend, who I went to AA in the early days, I don't know if I've ever thanked him properly. But I know he sometimes looks in on here, so if he does, then from the bottom of my heart....thank you for your support mate!

Back to Holland, I thought that after the inaugrial one future tours would be simple. And you know what? I was right! Two further competitions with this company were entered in 2003 & '04. To Prague, in the Czech Republic & to Rimini, in Italy. The following year we travelled to Paris, for our first international eleven-a-side match, against the fans of Red Star '93. Which we won by the odd goal in five, and to this day my proudest moment as part of the Hamlet Supporters' Team. Our first victory on foreign soil on a wonderful day, at a great club, who I have become a big fan of, albeit very part-time & long distance! But all of that is for another tale. I could probably write a book on its own about our trips over the English Channel!

In 2005 we received emails from the supporters' of RFC Liege, a proud old Belgian club who had fallen on hard times. Apparently there was some sort of Dulwich connection, as they were founded in 1892, a year before the Hamlet, & one of their very early members was an Englishman from our Club, though his name had been lost in the mists of time.

As a result of this they discovered our supporters' messageboard & we ended up getting an invite to their Johan Felix Supporters' Tournament in May 2005, Johan being a lifelong loyal fan of theirs, who was cruelly murdered in a non-football crime. Taken far too soon...

This was an eight team tournament, and one of the Belgian clubs represented was Anderlecht. 'Guesting' for them was a man called Nicolas Lucas, who got talking to some of our crowd in the clubhouse, in between games. Nicolas, it turns out, was the chairman of the Belgian branch of the Paris Saint Germain Supporters' Club; which is the only official PSG grouping outside of France. As a result of him being so approachable he brought a PSG Belgian supporters' side to Dulwich the following September for an eleven-a-side match at Belair Park. In the same season, on the 27th January 2006, to be exact, we then visited Paris to play them! Honours were shared, two apiece, in a game played at no less a venue than the official Paris Saint Germain training complex! We then saw the 'big boys' take on on Sochaux, at the Parc des Princes, in the evening.

In May, still in 2006, we finally ventured to Belgium, staying in the home town of Nicolas, which is Namur, the capital of the province of the same name; as well as the predominantly French speaking region in the south of the country, Wallonia. This was a five-a-side tournament organised by Nicolas, for the PSG Belgium branch, with the full support of the main PSG club in France. It was staged at a local non-league club, CS Onhaye, & two things stick in the mind, for one. We had two teams entered, & Mark Hutton scrambled the ball in the back of the net for the B team, in a (i think) 5-1 defeat against the host club, who were Belgian Fifth Division level. What made this particularly memorable was not just the fact he was playing in borrowed boots, having forgot to pack his own, but that he became our oldest ever 'European goalscorer' at the age of 56! And in case you're wondering...yes he does still have a run out now and again, despite the fact his knees have gone & he has one eye!

The other abiding memory was 'the drugs test'! James O'Shaughnessy, who was only seventeen at the time, was totally duped by us in, in full collaboration with Nicolas Lucas! We had borught over a couple of test tubes & forged a note on 'UEFA headed notepaper' & halfway through the competition Nicolas came up and asked him for a 'specimen' for the 'tournament doctor' from the Belgian Football Association, having been chosen at random! Without Nicolas in on the joke it is doubtful if he would have fallen, but provide the specimen he did, only to be given the second bottle, when he said he'd just gone & couldn't do any more! cue much biting of lips, and holding in laughter in the changing room from the rest of us. But he did get a bit worried, when his old man, Mick O'Shaughnessy, who was also on the tour & in on the joke, shouted at him "James! If you've been taking drugs..!" whereupon he stamped his feet like, erm, the petulant teenager that he was! Of course, it won't surprise you that the 'tests' came back positive less than an hour later! He still denied being a druggie, but then though he night have inhaled the smoke from someone's spliff in the bar we were all in the night before! Just in case that 'excuse' failed he then put Herbie 'H' Smith, the former Fisher & Barnet footballer in the frame! 'H' refereed at the time in the 7-a-sides on the all-weather pitches at Champion Hill, & James had played there the previous Wednesday. Now while 'H' was thought of as a decent bloke at the time-& even if he wasn't you wouldn't dare say so to his face!-he was a poor referee, as he didn't always pay attention to the game, enjoying a roll-up of 'waccy baccy' in one hand, the whistle in the other. "Maybe I inhaled some of 'H's spliff" he tried to offer in his defence! We evnetually told him it was all a 'set up' about six months later, to which he claimed that he knew, & then threw another of his strops when his dad informed him even his grandad knew! "What do you mean grandad knew!?" Teenagers on tour eh?

Our next trip to Belgium was in January 2008, when we shared a twelve goal thriller with the UR Namur Supporters' Club! Nicolas also supports his local town side, who were in their first ever season in the Belgian Second Division. Following on from this one of the top Namur fans Stephane Tournay 'guested' for us on our 2008 trip to Estonia & Helsinki; returning to Helsinki with us in 2009, along with fellow Belgian David Doumont.

Nicolas is not just someone who is a nice person, both him & his fiancee Danuta Wilmart have become close personal friends of myself, & one or two other Hamlet fans. I have stayed at their home several times, & they are very special people to me. Aa an added bonus they are now also Hamlet followers, coming over to watch the boys in Pink 'n' Blue at least once or twice a season!

I have has the 'misfortune' to 'adopt' UR Namur as my Belgian side. I say 'misfortune' as not only were they relegated at the end of last season, I have yet to see them win!

Anyway, that's the 'short' background to this supporters' game today. The Hamlet have a blank Saturday, as our league match away to Chipstead has been postponed as they are still in the FA Trophy. I don't really have enough money to make the trip up to Oxford, but & fortunate that fellow Dulwich man Lawrence Marsh is 'guesting' for Namur, & driving up with his partner Melanie Lucking. They ask me along with no petrol money wanted, so all I have to do really is find enough cash for the 'big boys' football in the afternoon. And as I haven't been to Oxford United before who am I to turn down the chance of a 'hop? ;-)

A couple of days ago I found out that Namur didn't have a full squad, so packed my boots 'just in case', secretly hoping to get some sort of run out. As it happened the main Namur honcho Stephane Tournay was more than happy to allow me to have a full ninety minute run out, which is more than I ever get for the Dulwich Hamlet Supporters' Team! But that's another story...

This morning I am not just happy to play, but-dare I say it-proud & honoured to do so. On getting to the changing rooms though I do panic...as I have forgotten to pack my boots! They are still on the table at home! Thankfully Lawrence has a spare pair with him, slightly bigger than mine, but not loose enough to look like Coco the Clown!

I'd met the Oxford bunch before, at the Queens Park Supporters' Fives back in June, & didn't really get to know them. But Nicolas speaks very highly of them, & he is right. They are a thoroughly decent bunch. The Namur team is a motley make up. Seven from Belgium, two from Dulwich...and two 'loaned' from Oxford. And not just their 'two worst players'. You know, like a kickabout in the primary school playground when two capttains would pick their sides, one at a time, from all the boys lined up who wanted a game. The last two would be the ones 'lent to the other side', so to speak. But not today. no, Oxford had class. They rotated the two players in Namur shirts, so half of their squad ended up having a run out with the Belgians. A gesture I've never seen before, & fairer than fair.

The game was played in the middle of knowhere, as far as I was concerned. It was at an open sportsground, at an area of Oxford called Horspath, where there was an athletics stadium adjacent, & where we changed. The obly thing that annoyed me though, was that there were three chaps with the Namur party who were clearly young & fit, but couldn't be bothered to get kitted up. Whatever their reasons I simply could not understand that mentality. It's a bit of fun & a FOOTBALL tour after all!

The game itself was the 'proverbial one of two halves'. Keenly contested, but never it a dirty or antagonistic way, it was actually our boys in yellow-Raging Fever being in a change strip-who took the lead! And,somehow, held on to it until around the half hour mark, when the equaliser came.

After the break the Oxford strength began to show, not surprising as they are a half-decent side who play on a regular basis, & we were changing keepers, using three different ones for the duration. An early second half goal as their player skipped past my challenge with ease to get the ball in for them to take the lead from the resulting corner. And after they went in front there was only one winner, adding another three before the final whistle.

Despite the fact I can't play football, not so much 'past it' as a 'never was', I thoroughly enjoyed my run out, and it was wonderful to be able to say that I've actually pulled on a Namur shirt.

Time to head to the rugby club bar for a couple of drinks before heading in a convoy over town for the afternoon match.