EA Football Club were delighted to welcome Arun Allstars to Olhão on 19 and 20 October to play some friendly games.
Arun Allstars had 2 teams as did EAWF and everyone played 6 matches in a mini tournament style.
Day 1
At the end of the morning Olhão Yellow led the table with 3 wins and 3 draws, having only conceded 1 goal, with Arun B and Arun A both totalling 8 points in 2nd and 3rd positions and only being separated on goal difference.
The winning team was delighted to include one of the visitors – helping the opposition was definitely in the spirit of the game. Thank you, Robin, for coming over to the dark side – couldn’t have done it without you!
Play was good spirited and there was some great football on display. I cannot name all the goal scorers, but I am rather gleeful that at least 2 of the 16 goals scored came from the woman players on the pitch.
Day 2
Saw a repeat of the mini tournament style with the 4 teams this time playing 7-a-side.
The games were, perhaps, played in a slightly more competitive spirit but the end result was once again Olhão Yellow in the top spot, closely followed by Olhão Red and Arun B.
The golden boot on Day 2 had to be shared by Ian and Chesly. Goalkeeper of the morning was Chesly, with some of his more acrobat saves wowing the crowd! Henry deserves a special mention as manager of the day (or so he told me).
Thank you to all players for two enjoyable sessions of football in the true spirit of walking football. Player ages ranged from 20s (first day) to 80s. The teams included both men and women. And football experience ranged from decades to a couple of years. New friendships were made and I can truly say I feel lucky to be part of the walking football community.
All this was achieved in the face of some interesting bureaucracy, and we definitely thank our visitors for going with the flow so we could all enjoy some football in the end. At least the Algarve provided some glorious sunshine for the visitors, who have now had to return to named storms!
A special thank you must also go to the visiting referees who managed the games both mornings.
