Re-Lax Silver Band Fund Raiser

Home  Aug '03

On Saturday the 24th of August '02, There will be a 5-a-side tournament at the Hazelwood Centre to raise money for the Silver Band (John Robertson's Band).  The rules are as follows:

The Tournament will consist of 8 teams, two groups of four

Each game will be 12 minutes long

Players are not allowed inside the semi circle

No sex between players on or off the pitch allowed

D-Lax's B Team have been entered into this tournament.  I hope Re-Lax will be represented by;

Al Dunion,     Owen Davis,     Gaz Dunion,     Ben Walkerdine,     and     Chris Madden.

Well, Well, Well What a day.  It all started with a bad message from Gaz saying not only would  be unable to make the start of the tournament - due to shopping, but he'd also forgotten to give me his top.  Call in Favour 1.  Anthony Luk, Tony, Ant, chico, filled in for the SHOPPING Gary.  But we were still 1 top short, Call in favour 2.  After a few phone calls, Sean kindly lent his top, (although he was unaware at the time, due to being at Reading).

So Re-Lax became;

At 1:00 Re-Lax kicked off the tournament against 'The Phoenix' with an impressive 5-2 victory.  Chris reacted quickly to a rebounded save from a shot from Ben, to score the tournaments first goal.  It was 2-0 after only a few more minutes when Ben struck a lower shot across the keeper, But Re-Lax lived up to their name and found themselves at 2-2 by half time.  In the second half Re-Lax stepped up a gear and scored 3 more times including the slowest, long-range goal in history

What felt like a week later, but closer to a hour, Re-Lax kicked off their second game against eventual finalists 'The Rangers Club Loyalists'. After going 1-0 down to a long range effort, Re-Lax found themselves in a bit of a rough one.  Elbows, kicks and late challenges were generously applied from the 'home' team.  But Re-Lax fought back with goals from Owen, Ben and a brace from Chris to take the game 4-1.  Needles to say Dunion made a handful of saves to make the score line look all the more impressive.

Almost immediately after, Re-Lax took on 'The Rangers Club' in the final group game.  The Rangers club had started the group  narrowly losing to The Loyalists' 6-5 therefore seemed strong opposition.  However, a mere 11 minutes later they found themselves 11-0 down.  Ben helped himself to 5,  Chris secured Another hat trick, Owen scored 2 and Ant scored his first for Re-Lax but there was still time for more drama.  After becoming very bored Dunion attempted an audacious shot from goal, which  sailed high wide and hansom.  Yet still it was not over, after receiving a barrage of insults for stopping a youngster, Owen kindly gave him the ball back, to slot passed an overly generous Dunion.

With the group stage out of the way, and the Phoenix leaving early to wash their kit, on came the semi-finals which saw 'Corby Purple Star' versus 'The Loyalists' and 'Re-Lax' versus 'The Rangers Club Bar Staff '  Once again a relatively easy game was made hard by going 1-0 down early on.  However Re-Lax fought back with three quick goals before half time.  The equaliser a low drive from Ben from relative distance, only to be out-shone when twinkle toes Davis danced merrily through the defence to take the lead.  Then a debatable goal from Ant gave Re-Lax some breathing space.  The second half saw chance after chance blown, mostly by Chris, until Ant got his second. It should have been 5 when the referee Wrongly disallowed Chris' goal for being inside the area.

The final saw Re-Lax take on old friends 'The Loyalists' in game that had everything from fat dudes falling over, to water bombs.  For a change, Re-Lax decided go 1-0 down early on, but recovered quickly thanks largely to a double from Ant.  However it all went pear shaped when The Loyalists clawed their way back, then took a 3-2 lead.  The Loyalists sensing victory, and with a large majority of the crowd behind them, resorted to rough tackles and almost bullying, but a great save from Dunion inspired Ant to complete his hat trick and to take the game to extra time.  Extra time saw the best of Re-Lax and the worst of The Loyalists with tackles becoming harder, higher, later and more feet were being left in as the crowd were almost whipped into a frenzy urging the Rangers Club side on.   However Dunion continued to frustrate the opposition, with save after save whilst Ben grabbed his 11th of the day to make it 4-3 before Ant helped himself to Another, to claim the trophy.