Big day for soccer 11s

By Volunteer James Irwin

My final day of volunteering at these fantastic Games brought me back to the soccer 11s tournament at The Dub, Queen’s Sport Upper Malone, and I was pleased to have the chance to link up with some of the teams and volunteers I met last week. The football did not disappoint either, with a bounty of goals and plenty of controversy, just exactly what one would expect from a top class tournament.

While for many the top game of the day was the keenly-anticipated match-up between the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service men’s teams, it was the ladies who took centre stage for the morning session on the main arena and number one pitch beside the pavilion.

On the showcase arena pitch, the ebullient and popular New South Wales Police mercilessly thumped competition whipping girls the Royal Canadian Mounted Police by 17 goals to one. Another sound beating for RCMP but a second goal of the competition to cherish and they kept their smiles at the end.  It was a similar story for the local ladies, their Northern Ireland Combined services side going down 12-0 to tournament favourites Mexico Police. That sets up an intriguing showdown tomorrow between the Mexicans and the Australians to decide the gold medal – one to watch if you can make it to the grounds.

On the outer pitches the men’s division 1 games saw the previously mentioned all-Northern Ireland affair in one and the Mexico Police take on the Gardanne Fire service in the other. A very healthy crowd of family, friends and service colleagues turned up to show their support for both PSNI and NIFRS and they were rewarded with one of the games of the tournament. Both teams started brightly but it was the PSNI who took the upper hand and capitalised on patchy NIFRS defending, heading into half time 3-0 up thanks to goals from Adamzcyk, Lawson and Holden.

As was to be expected, tackles were full-blooded and the pace relentless. NIFRS needed to get a goal back early in the second half and it was they who pinned PSNI back in their own half in the face of the firefighters’ onslaught. NIFRS looked likely to gain a foothold in the game until the police won what was at best a “soft” free kick after the referee deemed a routine collision between the fire service right back and a PSNI striker to be a foul. The resulting free kick was launched into a congested NIFRS penalty box and in the pandemonium an unfortunate firefighter put the ball through his own net. 4-0 to the PSNI and the match all but over as a contest. Or so it seemed.

The fire service team continued with the same strategy as before, pushing forward and forcing the police into some fine defending. The pressure paid off eventually, though, with Alistair notching two goals for the NIFRS to give them a genuine chance of pulling off a remarkable comeback. But the NIFRS team’s belief was cut short when they had a player rather harshly sent off, a fairly innocuous challenge deemed worthy of a second yellow.

Despite a spirited effort by the fire service, they were caught short in defence while desperately seeking a third goal and a PSNI forward was able to take advantage, slotting home their fifth. Final score 5-2 and the PSNI boys now in contention for gold, a game to come with Mexico Police, who beat Gardanne Fire 3-0 and are now aiming for double male and female soccer gold for their force, to decide the winner.

The afternoon session saw the well-supported PSNI over-35s side take on Marbella Police in another superb match that was stopped early by the referee. The Spaniards had taken a very early hold of the game, 2-0 ahead within 10 minutes, before the local boys fought back to level at 2-2 before half time. With the match finely poised, Marbella then pulled out one of the moments of the tournament when their midfielder spied the PSNI keeper at the edge of the penalty area and launched a David Beckham-style lob from the centre circle that unerringly looped down over the despairing police goalie. A spectacular and memorable way to go 3-2 up.

Inexplicably, though, the Spanish side, despite being in a winning position, then completely lost their discipline as their desire to win boiled over into a sequence of behaviour that ultimately cost them the game. First, one player, without apparent provocation, shoved a PSNI player off his feet to the ground: a straightforward red card decision for the referee. The Marbella players, however, took exception to this decision to the point where one earned his team another red in quick succession.

Down to nine men, but still winning, the Spaniards remained unhappy about the match officials and continued to harangue both the referee and the assistant on the side near their bench. After he issued several unheeded warnings to the team to calm down and desist, the referee took the brave and, to my mind, correct decision to call the game to an end with 15 minutes remaining. The matter was the subject of a meeting of officials at the end of the afternoon but in the absence of official confirmation it was a safe assumption that a win by default was to be awarded to the PSNI lads. This would put them top of the tournament with two matches remaining and well in the hunt for gold.

The other over-35s games in the afternoon delivered double success for Brazil – the Brasilia State Police beating North California Fire 5-0 and the same region’s Military Police turning over HM Prison Service 6-0. And their compatriots rampaged in the men’s 2nd division tournament too. Sao Paolo Police beating their Singapore counterparts 2-0 and the Brasilia State force edging past Mexico Corrections 3-2. There must be something in the water in Brazil.

A brilliant day of action to finish my volunteering experience. Huge credit goes to all those involved in keeping the venues ticking over – the army of volunteers once again doing themselves proud. From the school-aged helpers like Harriet Appleyard of Antrim Grammar and Cara Stewart of Lagan College, who have both embraced the opportunity to give of themselves as volunteers and vowed to keep in touch after the Games, to the seasoned and super-resourceful team leaders like Lee Campbell, an inspiration volunteering veteran of two Special Olympics and the Boccia World Cup and who will be at the Dub for the duration of the Games – every red-shirted assistant can hold their heads high and know they have been part of something very special.

A big thank-you to everyone and my very best wishes to all for the rest of the Games. I’ll be sure to get to some events as a spectator before the festivities end!

Day one at the football / soccer 11s

By Volunteer, James Irwin

Arriving at Queen’s Sport Upper Malone, more commonly known in local sporting circles as ‘The Dub’, I was not sure what to expect. Not being sporty at school, and this characteristic continuing languidly into adulthood, I have never been involved with any of the many soccer, Gaelic football, hockey and other teams that use its facilities. These are worlds of wonder which I do not normally inhabit, despite being a voracious armchair sports fan. My soccer viewing tends to be through television, at arm’s length, where I can watch (and comment/rant/sulk/celebrate as appropriate) in comfort and isolation.

The opportunity, then, to watch some top class competitive soccer from the inside at the world’s third largest international sports event was not to be missed. And it was, in short, fun, inspiring and uplifting.

After I gawped in awe at the facilities – Queen’s University has truly developed a world-class sports venue for Northern Ireland – I headed into the pavilion. A trickle of arriving competitors and volunteers became a rush, and with them came a kaleidoscope of kit colours and a fascinating soundtrack of accents and languages.

There were many laughs and smiles among the sportspeople, but there were also a lot of business-like, straight looks. Many players were clearly donning their game-faces. This was serious sport. For while it is the experience of coming to the Games and taking part that is paramount to many, for just as many others the primary objective is winning. These amateur players hunger for victory just as much as any professional. The matches were going to be good.

Despite weather that could aptly be described as Northern Irish, coupled with the fact that the Games were not yet officially open, a healthy contingent of spectators had come along. Many were family and friends of competitors and coaches, but many others were local people curious to find out about the Games and see some real sport close up. They were not to be disappointed.

The morning session saw six games played out, two in each of the two divisions of the men’s tournament and two in the ladies’ competition. An intra-national match-up between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Toronto Police looked on paper like an intriguing battle, but in reality was a cake walk for the Toronto ladies, who were 6-0 up after only 35 minutes. The goals included a quick-fire hat trick from star striker Natalie Urbas, who had been kind enough to record a short conversation with me before kick-off. The game ended 15-0, a demoralising loss for the RCMP women, who were playing together for the first time. The Toronto policewomen, in contrast, play frequently in a local league and the chasm in class was evident.

There were mixed results for the local sides. The two men’s teams were rampant, scoring ten goals each – NI Fire and Rescue Service scoring theirs unanswered past Hong Kong Police, while Police Service NI allowed their opponents, Gardanne Fire of France, a charitable two goals. The Northern Ireland Combined ladies’ team, however, were less successful, going down 4-1 to New South Wales Police.

The local fire and police teams will meet each other in a keenly-anticipated match that could decide the medals. That takes place on Monday at 11am and a sizeable crowd is expected.

The other two games in the men’s division 2 were hotly contested, with Policia Sao Paolo edging Florida Fire 4-3 and Singapore Police pulling off a fantastic and unexpected 2-0 win over Brasilia State Police, leaving that group wide open.

Matches were played in the appropriate spirit: committed attacking, full-blooded defending, sportsmanship, respect. The round-robin nature of the tournament format also means that even those teams that took heavy defeats have much still to play for, a good move by the organisers.

Such a pulsating start augured well for the afternoon session, when the over-35s tournament got underway. The two games played attracted even more spectators and the weather obliged, the clouds breaking to reveal warm sun and make for a perfect football environment.

PSNI have two teams in this section: the ‘official’ over-35s team and the ‘Mercuries’, a team of officers who decided at the last minute to enter a team themselves alongside the other team. They fully merited their place, pushing a high class HM Prison side all the way only losing 3-2 to a late winner. Their colleagues, meanwhile, came from behind to beat North California Fire 2-1 in a fiercely contested match. The North Cali goalkeeper kept his team in the game with a sequence of agile saves, and they could have snatched a equaliser had their strikers capitalised on the late pressure they forced. Without doubt the ‘older’ tournament is one to watch and the sides could, I am sure, give the ‘main’ teams a run.

As players, coaches, families and friends trickled, then flowed, away from the grounds afterwards, some informed me they planned to sample some Belfast hospitality and, perhaps not in keeping with their normal training regimen, recover and rehydrate ‘the Irish way’ before their next game.

For me, the strange mystique of The Dub has been dispelled in the most positive possible way. The 2013 World Police and Fire Games are now very much open and will only get even better.

The soccer 11s tournaments continue through to Wednesday 7 August at Queen’s Upper Malone.

listen to ‘World Police & Fire Games, Belfast 2013 ’ on Audioboo