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Frances Goble, Monday, 23 August 2010
Report from Australian Canoe Polo Teams mascot Spike
Australian Canoe Polo Tour
Milan 2010
Spike’s Report 23rdth August 2010 (London to DePaddle Belgium)
Finally we are on the road away from the Welling scout hall and out in the Kent countryside,
lush, green and only a little bit of rain. Ahh… the joys of an English summer. Due to a small
oversight CJ’s vehicle was not booked on the ferry at the same time as the others so one group
of U21’s were on the road at 08:00 to catch an earlier ferry. The remaining vehicles hit the road at
10:00 to arrive at Dover in plenty of time for a brief look at Dover Castle, only from the outside.
Lunch in the queue to the ferry and then we are on the way to France.
Despite some stiff competition from Siobhan, Sarah won the award for the most likely to get
sea sick on a mill pond. Only staring at the horizon and the timely arrival of Calais docks saved us all
from the inevitable regurgitation of breakfast. Admittedly the channel did have a bit of a swell
running.
Departure from the ferry saw the remaining U21 vehicle head to Dikkebus and the Women
and Men to St Omer, guess what it is raining again. 20 minutes down the toll way it was time to
turn off to St Omer. Note to Matt Heard.. Wait till the boom gate allowing exit from the motorway
to open before driving through! Clearly this has happened before as the boom gate is covered with
foam and breaks away from its mounts.
St Omer: I am in polo heaven. (well would be if there were some leaves I could eat) Two
permanent fields with filtered water from the canal, lights for night games, a clubhouse with hot
showers and a boat shed. After drooling at the facilities I organised the unloading of the boats we
were escorted to the sleeping arrangements and it got better. We have been placed in the new
accommodation block of the local school, one to two per room, hot showers and beds. The whole
building is in our hands. At 20:00 our hosts from the St Omer club escorted us to ‘le Zinc’ restaurant
for dinner. It doesn’t get any better. Early to bed as there is I have to get the teams up and on the
water for training.
I was wrong, it does get better. Breakfast 60 seconds walk away, cereal, baguettes, cold
meat, butter, jam, fruit and coffee. Lunch? a sit down affair of three courses at the Station
restaurant. Are the French trying to fatten us up so we can’t play as well?
Wednesday afternoon it was time to meet the dignitaries that made it all possible. We
stood around while speeches were made and translated with. With my help, being fluent in French,
Ailsa responded in French much to the delight of all assembled. It was then time for the interviews
with the local newspapers and radio station. The managers and captains tried to steal the lime light
but the photographers were wise to their plan and my picture ended up in the local paper on Friday
morning. Dinner once again at ‘le Zinc’ went well into the evening for some. There is a story going
around that one manager, in the interest of international relations, did not return to the
accommodation till after midnight. This is yet to be confirmed.
Friday morning saw me, with great reluctance, supervising the packing of the vehicles for the
drive to Depaddle, 60 minutes up the road. It was difficult to leave such great facilities and
hospitality. A quick calculation shows that the organisations in and around St Omer that made it all
possible sponsored the teams to the value of Euro 4000 making them the single largest sponsor of
the Australian teams.
On to DePaddle.. A quick conference with the U21 Manager and Coach revealed they had
been enjoying the rain, mud, sleeping in a tent and cooking for themselves so much they were not
the least bit jealous of what we had had to endure. Secretly I think they are lying.
De’ Paddle - Belgium 21/22nd August
I felt rather nostalgic as I lay down in my army tent, so similar to those used 4 years ago. The teams
were pumped, the lake set up – the comp had started.
The women (finally playing in a womens division) had 4 games the first day, starting with the Danish
National team, beating them 5-1. Next up was France, currently 2nd in the world, but the girls played
hard and won 2-1, a great win. Next was Canada under 21, whom the girls beat 7-0.
Finally was Game On, made up mostly of the National GB team plus some extra players, and again
the girls came through and beat them 3-0.
There was a dinner that night, with lots of salads to keep the vegetarian men happy and ribs to keep
all the other boys happy. There was also a band and drinks available, and I was very ready to
mingling, talk to some international teams and scope out potential mascots. However, after the
band was still playing past midnight when I was trying to sleep, I did get a bit tired of them. The
finally stopped playing and fell asleep straight away.
Unfortunately, the music played up with the fields started from 6:30am, waking me from my dreams
of eucalyptus pizza, and the next day started.
The girls had their first game against New Zealand, beating them in a penalty shootout. Their next
game was against the Italian National Team. The girls won – the only goal scored was a 6m penalty
received with 4 seconds to go. Nice under pressure Sarah!
This put them through to the grand-final, against New Zealand. Nerves were high, but the girls
pushed hard and played their game the whole time, winning 2-0. A very exciting game.
The under 21s started off great, with a 5-1 win to GB team Nomad, and a 14-0 win against Belgium
club team IRWV. To cap it off, they then won 7-0 against French team ‘Suce Beach’ and 7-2 against
Netherlands team Viking Veno. Good work lads!
Finishing top of their group, they played a team called Willems, only just losing 2-3. They still had a
chance at the grand final but they had to win the rest of their games. They played Netherlands team
Trekvogels, winning 3-1 and then Willems again. This time they played harder and faster, and won
1-0.
They got into the grand-final, and although they played well they were beaten by the GB under 21
team 10-2. 2nd place, awesome work boys!
The men had a hard game to start off the competition, and lost 4-0 to the French Under 21 team.
They got the fire back though, beating French team St Nazare 1 6-0, and beating French team Thury
Harcourt 2-0. They fought hard and drew with Netherlands team Michiel de Ruyter, 4 all, and ended
with a win against Wales team Dragon 5-2.
The next day started with a great win against St Omer, 8-1, and another great win against France
under 21 5-3. Their next game, to get into the grand-final, was against the French National team.
They fought hard and got so close, but lost 2-1, putting them in 4th place. Top 4! Well done lads!
After such an exciting weekend I am ready to have a eucalyptus beer, put on my iPod and relax. I
don’t know how these guys do it! What champions!
Australian Canoeing Canoe Polo would like to thank our major sponsors for their assistance.
Australian Canoe Polo Tour
Milan 2010
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