The 47th Harry Brittain Fellowship
6 June to 14 July
The Hummingbirds vs the Kookaburras
By Mapula Sibanda (South Africa)
The 2005 Harry Brittain fellows ushered in Week Six of the programme with a lot of drama and trepidation after the London 7/7 bombings. I'm sure for previous fellows this is the week they had the best uninhibited fun, as by then we have worked through the hectic program and are left with only one week in London before we fly to our homes, but it was not so with us this year.
Julie, John and Lee on the platform of Russell Square Station |
Week six was more of an emotional reunion of this year's fellows as we were all relieved and grateful that we had escaped the mayhem that threw London into a frenzy, especially as the two stations, Kings Cross and Euston, situated next to London House where we were accommodated, were bombed.
Two weeks before we set out to serve our attachments at various newspapers, what I would call our self-elected entertainment committee that included Australian Lee McDougall and Trinidadian Curtis Rampersad introduced the inaugural HB Football Challenge by sending out self-scripted invitations for all to participate in this team-building game.
The date and place was set and we all looked forward to the game. When the hot Sunday dawned however, doubting my soccer skills I was one of those who had reservations about participating in the match. Would it be right to cancel the game in commemoration of the London bombing victims? Surely that should be a good excuse?
When the time came to meet outside London House, the turnout of the fellows dictated that the HB Football Challenge has adopted the spirit of the resilient Londoners after the bomb. Lee was hip-hopping outside with her new Manchester United t-shirt, eager for the game. Matching her in gear was football fanatic, Curtis.
A park, two blocks away from London House was our venue and the two teams were ready for battle. Team 1, The Hummingbirds (a name Rachna Rawat and I initially objected to for lacking the jugular killer instinct to scare the pants off our opponents) was led by Curtis and comprised of myself, Rachna, Lee, our captain Curtis. Our Nigerian connection, who had promised to perfom the Jay-Jay Okocha magic for us, Funsho Aina had gone awol. Some speculated he may have gone to a Nigerian party serving good Nigerian food, in which case, a football game would not begin to compete.
Team 2, was made of Kenyan Otsieno Namwaya, PNG's Alexandra Rheeney, Pakistani's Farhat Anis and Julie Middleton from New Zealand captained by John Rolfe from Australia. They called themselves the Kookaburra's (after an Australian bird), and I suspect it was a psychological game to scare the hell out of us and it worked.
The teams were evened out when Otsieno's friends, John Stevens and John Kamau joined us. John Stevens filled in for Funsho as he almost matched him with his impressive tall frame. John Kamau was the referee for the first half until something unconventional was introduced to the game, which I'll expand on later.
Kick-off introduced a competitive game as unlikely heroes began to emerge from the game. No one could fathom how Otsieno's gazelle-like legs would snake into an opponent and deftly take possession of the ball. Coupled with his speed, it was clear Otsieno shared the same gene pool as greatest footballer Pele as he left all of us panting. John and Alex played a tactic game and never let a ball passed the slid wall they created whilst Julie cheered on. Their goal keeper, Farhat had the most relaxing job. The ball was only moving in one direction and the Hummingbirds were not doing any humming at all, we were panting.
We were saved by an unlikely source, a virgin on the soccer pitch in the form of Rachna who made the best goal keeping saves of the match. Lee kept on mistakenly passing the ball to the opposition, I ran around the pitch like a headless chicken clueless what to do with a ball until my lungs felt like exploding in my chest. Poor John Stevens and Curtis did all the hard work and played both defenders and strikers.
It was soon a 2-0 lead and Curtis was yelling for some action. He was beginning to take this more seriously than the friendly game it was intended. Half-time necessitated a game of wit and less of brawn as we had expended our energies without any positive result. There was no goal in sight and the Kookaburra's led us 2-0. Then the unconventional happened when we made another first by inviting the referee, John Kamau to become a player. Coming from the country that is hosting the next World Cup in 2010, he was a natural at this and took on the reign of referee as I exchanged places with John Kamau. It also gave me the much needed break from running after the round hide and a chance to rest my wheezing chest.
Pirrrr!!!, pirrrr!!!, the wolf whistle for the second half unleashed more action. The tactic had worked. John Kamau was our saviour, he neutralised his fellow Kenyan, Otsieno and the ball started to move in two directions for once.
The Hummingbirds soared and before long we scored and drew 2 all.
When the last whistle was blown, there was dispute on what the final score was. Some claimed Hummingbirds only managed to knock on the goal posts twice and categorised our win as a clever calculation of mathematics.
The official records, to be declared into the CPU books stands at a 2-all draw despite the dispute. That is what we all agreed on when we were having some cold beers at our favourite drinking hole after the game, Freddie's Bar. The plan was to autograph the ball and leave it at the CPU offices as a keepsake for the inaugural game. We wanted to challenge other fellows to continue with this tradition, but unfortunately the ball is now an appreciated treasure for Curtis - who sacrificed his allowance by buying it in the first place. To the next fellows, may the football tournament continue.
