Guest blog by David.
A little over a month ago, the second annual football match between Hughes staff took place, each team hoping to get their hands on the “Jon Foley Memorial Trophy”. We arranged the match in memory of work colleague Jon, who sadly passed away 2 years ago. Funds were being raised for Marie Curie Cancer Care as he was a keen supporter.
This year we had a joint team from shops and depots, the Kings Lynn area including staff from Wisbech, Swaffham and Newmarket playing versus a team from our Lowestoft area. I would like to thank all the players who travelled a great distance, especially to Leverington Sports and Social Club who allowed us to use their facilities for the day, along with all the other people who visited throughout the day to help raise funds for this great cause.
We ordered the sunshine and also arranged a family theme which consisted of a bouncy castle, bungee run, guess how many balloons in a car, guess how many sweets in a car, guess how much Custard the Burmese Python weighs, and to finish it all off… a raffle and an open bar.
The game kicked off and this year I had to referee as I could not risk getting injured due to the Charity Bike Ride that was organised for June. The Lowestoft boys had arrived with only 10 men and Kings Lynn had 12, we kindly tried to equal it up but they did not fall for our plan. It soon became apparent that the heat would take its toll on both teams but affecting one team more than the other, after 10 minutes the King’s Lynn boys were getting fed up of chasing the orange shirts of the opposition, with the only rest stops being at every kick off after conceding a goal. It was soon discovered that the fitness of the Lowestoft boys and their average age was very close to the average weight of the team from King’s Lynn. At half time the score stood at 4-1 to Lowestoft, the referee decided to make use of the ice cream van that arrived just in time.
Second half began and the King’s Lynn boys half time refreshments of 4 ciders, 5 lagers and a couple of energy drinks were kicking in and were soon amazing the opposition with their one-two passing. The game was intense end to end stuff and there was only going to be one winner, unless it was a draw of course. It was closing to the end when the King’s Lynn boys had a corner, and it was the moment after delivery when a Lowestoft defender scythed down an attacker in the box resulting in a penalty, which was smoothly converted leaving the final result at 8-4 to Lowestoft.
On behalf of Jon’s daughters Sian and Laurette, I would like to thank everyone who supported the day, both sets of players, friends and family who attended the day and helped raise £600 for this great cause.
I will now dust off my boots for next year’s game and sit patiently by the phone for a call from the F.A for the vacant England job.
