Volunteer Arms Football Club

Fixture Announcement vs 1811 Witchery FC

treestump89 — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:02:38 +0000

Alright, finally managed to pin down a decent fixture against the Witchery this sunday up at St Daves. Unfortunately its on astro but should be a quality game. Keeping this post brief because I’m cripplingly exhausted.

Keep the faith

Presidents Select Campaign Off To a Flyer

treestump89 — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:34:20 +0000

Don’t believe everything you read, yesterdays result was a default 10-0 victory because the opposition cancelled very late on. Because of the late cancellation it meant we got the pitch for free, so grabbed a couple innocent bystanders and had a game anyway. A pretty useful exercise actually because it gave us all a chance to test our fitness. Some of us shone, some of us (particularly me) collapsed due to exhaustion. But thats part of what joining this fives league is about, getting fitness up to scratch from playing hard week in week out. I scored a beezer as well, but even better my enormous astro boots actually fit me as well which was a massive result. Anyway as far as the table goes we are now 12th out of 14, and i’m working on getting the 10-0 default loss we inherited from Indian Knights to be erased and we actually get a shot at winning that game.

Keep the faith

5 A Side League Debut Nears

treestump89 — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:17:12 +0000

Just changed a few things around on the site, there’s now a page for the 5 a side squad and stats, and ill find someway to set up a link to the league table later on. For now you can find it here . Don’t worry about the 10-0 loss that it shows, thats what the team we took over from got for not turning up for any of their games, I’m pretty sure we’ll be starting from scratch. Don’t forget to use the new web address either, the old www.vafc2008.com one will die out in a week.

www.volunteerarmsfc.com

Keep the faith

Happy Hannukah, Happy Christmas, Happy Birthday, Happy New Year

treestump89 — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:28:44 +0000

Here I am once again apologising for a pretty lax period in keeping you up to date. As we are pretty much on the estimated birthdate of VAFC I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone who’s ever helped in anyway, whether as players, kit washers, or just nutcases pretending to be managers (cheers wullie). I’d like to especially thank Nigel for generously paying for our excellent new kit which everyone loves, and I can assure you we’ll be in the pub more once we get back to playing at Fisherrow.

A wee housekeeping note, the vafc2008.com domain expires next month so i’ve bought a new one, volunteerarmsfc.com which will come in to use probably next week sometime, but expect some bother with the changeover.

The year ended on a bit of a sour note with a defeat by Sykes, who then proceeded to further prove their illigitemacy by refusing to pay for a cancelled pitch. All of us at VAFC wish Barrie Wilkins a less than successful 2010.

As of next week we will have a 5-a-side department too. I’ve entered a team into the Ideal Leisure 5-a-side set up at Napier University. Unfortunately the timing means only us layabouts will be able to play as its Wednesdays at 4:30pm. However im sure we will still taste sweet success and I might even nab the ever elusive goal and reveal one of the many superb celebrations ive been stockpiling.

Anyway expect more in depth coverage throughout 2010, and the next proper game is only around the corner as we are in negotiations with our pals at 1811 Witchery and Teuchters FC to sort something out very shortly.

Keep the faith

Apologies 27/10/2009

treestump89 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:55:06 +0000

Sorry for the extremely long break, summer came along, pitches dried up, and numerous other shenanigans. The Owen Coyle Super League title still lies undecided, but will come to a resolution shortly. One extremely outrageous development over this break was the decision by East Lothian Council to only allow one pitch at Fisherrow to be used each night. This was in response to feedback from users that the pitches got wrecked because of overuse. I don’t know what users, because they sure as hell didnt ask me. The problem last year was inclement weather, not overuse, and this situation has left us scrambling for pitches and having to use Monday nights for our next two games. However, at least we’ve got fixtures lined up now. The first of which a friendly against Owen Coyle Super League opponents Sykes FC. A match hotly awaited after Sykes extinguished our hopes of the title in their victory at the hallowed grounds of Fisherrow. Our second upcoming fixture is against longtime rivals 1811 witchery that promises goals galore as our first encounter saw a horsing at Fisherrow but a 30 yard goal for VAFC, and another outing resulting in a 4-4 draw. Hopefully everyone’s fired up for these games and haven’t developed any variety of belly in the long break between games.

Keep the faith

Match Report vs Dunbar FC 18/8/2009

treestump89 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:58:42 +0000

A long awaited return to league business beckoned for VAFC and an official debut for the new strips. A trip to Dunbar is always approached with a certain measure of trepidation, how do we get out there? How on earth do I rouse a squad of players to go straight from work to sunny Dunny? Will the sarnies in the bar afterwards be adequate or a disastrous failure? The most important question on this occasion was how do we beat these guys and keep the Owen Coyle Super League campaign in our own hands? The only way to find these answers was a 50 mile round trip and a very difficult 90 minutes on a clammy seaside day.

We did manage to get a squad together with the usual last minute troubles and turned up on the day with a rarely seen sight, a substitute. In goals we had the ever popular Sach, in defence (l-r) J.C Dick (captain, armband missing presumed dead!), Marcin Nowak, Coco Hall, Dex Kinsella. Playing in front of them in midfield were, Kaz, Tulloch, Sean Smith, Olsson, and up front were the inimitable partnership of Owen Kinsella and Mark Valentine, with Louie on the sidelines ready to play in spite of a cracked bone in his foot.

The match got underway pretty sharp as the 6.45 to North Berwick trundled by in stark contrast to the match that was about to be played out at Hallhill. In typical style the match started tight with pressure from both teams, and in even more typical Staggs style after half an hour we were the first of the sides to capitulate and went 1-0 down after a Dunbar attack burst through a high defensive line. However all was not lost and within a couple of minutes the Volleys were right back in the mix after a tremendous shot from Olsson from distance burst the back of the Dunbar net despite their keeper’s best efforts. Already having the psychological upper hand in coming back from a defeceit we set to kill things off before half time and did so through a great piece of work by the dynamic duo of Owen and Val that saw a Dunbar defence left dumbfounded and Val left to slot home past the stranded Dunbar keeper. Shortly after the half time whistle was blown and we went in at half time with a lead but in the knowledge that our defence was looking pretty fractious with a couple near costly errors across the board. To try and stimulate some change and bring in a bit of communication at the back we substituted Marcin for Louie, who despite his broken foot was more than willing to put in a shift.

The second half started with VAFC fast asleep at the back and we were lucky not to concede an equaliser when Dunbar were denied by a fantastic full stretch save from Sach. Constantly pushing and looking to extend the league we were continually leaving ourselves weak at the back and this was soon taken advantage of by a Dunbar counter attack bombing down the wing to score an equaliser. Given that the winner of this match would see themselves reach the heady summit of the Owen Coyle Super League both sides switched to an all out attacking style to nab the 3 points. VAFC were forced to make a change after a harsh tackle on Kaz that saw him replaced by Marcin shortly after half time, and the resultant free kick was taken superbly by Owen curling into the bottom right corner that was cruelly denied by a spectacular save. With both teams in full attack the pressure went back and forth continually and eventually Dunbar snuck back into the lead to really put the pressure on. In a desperate search for an equaliser Staggs picked up the pace with runs coming from everywhere, wings, and even Coco Hall taking a mazy run up the middle of the park. Owen eventually equalised with an effort from a tight angle and with around 20 minutes remaining the pace was frantic. The ensuing carnage saw Owen leather the post and jink past the keeper only to put the ball wide of the net. The most crushing blow came when in the last 2 minutes a Dunbar cross-come-shot went ghosting towards the top right corner and the ball went right over my head to make it 4-3 to Dunbar. The final whistle was blown and disappointment was rife.

A spectacular game that would please football purists all over but unfortunately the result went against us and we were left with the 20 mile trip home pondering all the what ifs and maybes after a round of quality sarnies and the second half of Celtic v Arsenal in the bar after the match. Despite the result it was a fantastic performance from both sides. Many candidates as usual for man of the match but Sach takes the honours after a spectacular performance that kept us in the game time after time.

p.s apologies for the dreadful report, memory is abysmal

Summer Catch Up

treestump89 — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:51:21 +0000

Howdy, apologies for the lack of activity but i spent most of July in LA completely devoid of footballing action. It was a difficult time but was great to get a fantastic break somewhere totally different. Plenty action to comment on now though. Before I went away we managed to squeeze in an incredible encounter against Teuchters FC in the OCSL. A sweltering hot day that set the scene perfectly for this top of the table clash. A ding dong battle ensued with whistler Chris Muir keeping an eye on things. In a match that saw VAFC take a 2-1 lead from a tremendous Mark Valentine brace the smart money would have been on the Volleys but the relentless Teuchters made the best of a smash and grab job and snuck away with the 3 points in a bag marked swag. With Teuchters top of the league i felt apprehensive about leaving the team with such a crucial match against Sykes to get our campaign back on track, and thankfully the match was cancelled very late on and is scheduled to be played next week, possibly Tuesday. Roughly a month before I went on holiday I organised a particularly challenging match against Dunedin FC who play in the LEAFA Amateurs leage. I never envisaged how challenging it would turn out to be with 7 Staggs men on the pitch come kick off. Eventually we had to borrow 3 of their subs, one of which a goalkeeper which meant Mike Kinsella had to play outfield for the match. Despite how much of a difficult match we faced we held them for nigh on 40 minutes and were unfortunate to go into the break 1-0 down. It was an exciting match and a real challenge to fitness in the sweltering August heat. Dunedin walked out 5-2 winners but VAFC never lacked ambition and have nothing to be ashamed about, particularly considering Owen Kinsella’s characteristicly crisp finish for one of our goals. This match also turned out to be the debut of the new strips that finally arrived. Colin Campbell has done a fantastic job on these and we’ll get a team picture up after the Sykes game. Now the focus is on the remaining OCSL games and the competition has really opened up thanks to Dunbar beating Teuchters in Dunbar and now it really is anbody’s league. I’ll post a table as soon as i can figure it out.

Keep the faith

Match Report vs Dunbar FC 23/6/2009

treestump89 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:17:58 +0000

After Teuchters 2-0 victory over Sykes FC on Monday VAFC were left with plenty work to do to reclaim the summit of the Owen Coyle Super League sponsored by Joseph Perrier Champagne. Having played for Teuchters against Dunbar in a f riendly a couple months ago, Clarky, Owen and I had some idea of the task that lay ahead. A blazing hot June day in Edinburgh that plainly refused to cool was the backdrop for the second round of OCSL matches and after our friendly against New York Mellon Bank being cancelled due to widespread redundancies we were raring to get back in action.

Looking to retain the structure of the team we tried to keep a similar selection to recent matches. Sach in goals, in defence from left to right, J.C Dick, Louie, Israel, in midfield, Clarky, Michael McKenna, Ryan Mckenna, Diego Porras, and up front were Owen Kinsella and Val. On the bench were Dougie Todman and my Dad. Only one new start, Diego’s Spanish mate Israel brought in to fill the gap at the back. Playing on a pitch running East to West when I won the toss I chose for us to play towards the East so that in the Second half we might not have the sun right in our eyes. We started the match looking to maintain a solid start and keep things tight at the back. Unfortunately Dunbar had other plans for the start of the match looking to nab an early lead, which they got after catching our defence napping with a high line, Sach was left stranded and Dunbar went 1-0 up. A fairly typical start to a match, which is definintely something to be worked on. However heads didn’t drop and the workload on VAFC had just increased. In the searing heat the last thing required is to have to work harder but in true VAFC fashion we turned up the heat. The pressure was on with attacks raining down the wings and Diego causing chaos in his free midfield role. One such attack saw Diego belting down the right wing and crossing in leaving Owen Kinsella with a free header, which was sent careering straight into the back of peffermill playing fields, and not the net. A pretty promising sign of VAFC coming alive and causing problems for Dunbar. With consistent pressure the equaliser seemed fairly certain and it came from a foul on the edge of the Dunbar 18 yard box. Mikey McKenna was felled and stepped up to take the free kick sending it just over the wall and curling straight into the net on the mark of 40 minutes. A critical time to equalise, but another before half time would surely leave Dunbar fairly jiggered. This eventually did come from a rushing VAFC counter attack that saw Diego eventually hammer home inside the penalty box from Owen’s corner to nab the lead on the stroke of half time and make it 2-1.

At half time the chat was pretty simple, more of the same but tighten things up at the back. Unfortunately the sun hadn’t gone down at all and neither had the temperature so we were going to be playing with the sun in our eyes despite my choice of half. Despite the new rolling substitutes rule no changes were required and due to Dunbar ringing in the changes constantly they were never short of fresh legs. After half time they looked a little rejuvinated and came out of the traps well with a couple of decent attacks and looked to threaten but never capitalised on this despite getting in behind the defence and facing an open goal a couple times the score remained at 2-1. In spite of this second wind VAFC turned things up again and got things moving with some excellent passing between Diego and everybody and Ryan Mckenna distributing well between the wings. Dunbar were beginning to flag a little and this taken full advantage of with numerous counter attacks from all angles. VAFC decided to change things a little bringing Val off for Dougie Todman to try and extend the lead with a fresh pair of legs up front. This turned out to be a tremendous decision with Ryan Mckenna releasing the ball to Dougie down the right wing who switched the ball over to Owen on the opposite wing, who then sent in a delicate cross the Mikey Mckenna converted with a bullet header to make it 3-1 to VAFC. By this stage VAFC’s brand of football was beginning to work its magic and Diego’s free role was really causing chaos for Dunbar. Another Staggs attack burst forward with Declan Kinsella linking up excellently with the midfield to create a change for Mikey Mckenna to dispatch a shot into the back of the Dunbar net taking the lead to 4-1. Dunbar’s heads never dropped at all despite this lead and they began to turn things up with some brilliant seeking balls, one of which should have been easily dispatched into orbit by me but for some bizarre reason I decided to try and perform a backheel nutmeg, unsurprisngly the ball was lost and the Dunbar attacker was through to stick home their second goal on the hour mark and make it 4-2. In the extreme heat I was beginning to flag, so I decided to substitute myself off for my Dad after a fairly mixed performance. VAFC were keen to restore the sheen to a tremendous performance and the attacks rained in again and again with Diego unlucky not to score from a half volley inside the box and Owen Kinsella finishing off a hat trick of missed opportunities with 2 gilt edged chances going begging. In this case I think Eric Cantona’s words are particularly pertinent here when he says “Those who are afraid to roll the dice, will never roll a six”. With the match drawing to a close it seemed as 4-2 was going to be the result but a low cross from Owen looking for Dougie on the goal line was deflected into the net by the Dunbar centre half to make it 5-2 with only a couple of minutes to go. Staggs continued to threaten but with only a couple of minutes to go and a 3 goal lead the pressure was off and the full time whistle was blown on an enthralling encounter to send VAFC back to the top of the table on goal difference.

A brilliant performanced that saw us maintain our 100% record in the Owen Coyle Super League sponsored by Joseph Perrier Champagne. This would not have been possible without Sach’s unforgettable performance between the sticks that saw him command his area with style picking the ball out of the air on numerous occasions. Declan Kinsella proved unmissable also due to his incredible workrate and doing well going forward to link up with midfield players. New signing Israel played particularly well and we will be glad to see him back again. Louie followed up his man of the match performance against Sykes FC with another solid showing and was a definite contender for man of the match. My dad did superbly going forward when he came on and did well to cut out play down the wing on a few occasions. Clarky put in a trademark shift with marseilles carousels and pin point accurate crossing. Mikey McKenna played superb football from start to finish and brought our equaliser through a gold standard free kick that any player would be extremely proud of. His brother Ryan had a sterling game as well releasing the ball down the wings for the forwards and worked superbly with Diego to frustrate the Dunbar midfield and defence. Owen Kinsella put in a brilliant showing and should be extremely proud of his work in setting up other goals. Val showed his usual workmanship and was always in prime positions for scoring and setting up opportunities. Val’s replacement Dougie Todman performed well also, being part of a great combination that lead to Mikey’s header. However the referee’s man of the match and recipient of the wee Joseph Perrier bottle was Diego Porras the Puma King for the work put in his free midfield role. In a fashion typical of Johan Cruyff Diego went from wing to wing distributing the ball with effortless brilliance and threatened every time he went forward. All in all a top level performance that has set up a brilliant encounter against Teuchters FC that could prove decisive in where the title race goes.

Keep the faith

League Table 23/6/2009

treestump89 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:35:17 +0000

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Pts
VAFC	2	2	0	0	8	3	+5	6
Teuchters FC	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3	6
Sykes FC	2	0	0	2	1	5	-4	0
Dunbar FC	2	0	0	2	3	7	-4	0

VAFC top the table after a stunning 5-2 win over Dunbar FC and Teuchters 2-0 win against Sykes FC on Monday puts them 2nd on goal difference to provide a very spicy set up for the upcoming game between VAFC and Teuchters. Match report to follow tomorrow.

Credit Crunch Hits Community Football

treestump89 — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:03:25 +0000

Bit of a crisis, new york mellon bank let go of several members of the football team and made them redundant. Unsurprisingly they are not up for representing the very institution that has shamelessly cast them aside. However all is not lost, I am working hard to find another team at outrageously short notice and will keep everyone up to date with the situation.

Keep the faith