For others it would be a day at work wondering what would be possible over the weekend and then onto the city of Leeds. Was little old Rotherham good enough to win a tournament against Europe’s 64 finest supporter’s team?

A room with a view

From 3pm onwards people started driving up the M1 and into the heart of Leeds. Navigating the streets with a few sketchy directions the army started to arrive in our hotel, Old Trafford and Budapest, in the district of Headingley. Quite a strange name for a hotel but with it backing onto the cricket ground, a bar that opens at 5pm and a reputation for a hearty breakfast every one was pleased with the choice.

The early comers had started to settle in with Malcolm and Christine enjoying the sunshine on their room balcony. Kim and Joe were marveling over their wonderful view right into the centre of the cricket ground, with Yorkshire due to play on the Saturday it was a free ticket for the game!

Natural Instincts

As more people started to turn up there was a few murmurs of confusion as to what room each person should be in. With hotel organizer, Mr. Burns, no more than 10 minutes away it was soon to be resolved but not before a barrage of phone calls to his Nokia. At one stage it got rather heated between a certain Denti and Steve Burns but upon his arrival it was all quickly put to one side and organised.

It was drawing close to 5pm which signaled the opening of the bar. It’s almost a natural instinct for the majority of the squad to seek out a beer at around this time on a Friday due to the hard work (aka internet browsing) in their offices throughout the week. However, a little time had to pass so Symon and his girlfriend Fliss forced us to watch some insane cartoon of strange looking men with black lines around them. Thankfully this didn’t last too long and 5pm came around and the troops moved across to the bar.

The Grolsch looked tempting and the majority of the players tucked in. That satisfying “pop” that the Grolsch bottles make upon opening was sent ringing around the hotel. While chilling in the bar more squad members, family and friends started to arrive at the hotel.

Subway Tradition

The IFA cup final was due to kick off at 6:30pm and we certainly wanted to watch at least some of this match. It gives you a good indication as to the standard required over 90 minutes if we want to win this competition in years to come.

However, it was imperative to get some food inside our system and for the past two Worldnet’s we all took a walk over to subway in the middle of Headingley and grabbed a foot long sandwich. This year was no different but some players decided to give it a miss and go watch the start of the final.

After a few cautious words from Mr Burns of which food outlets to avoid on our way back from the nightly drinking sessions all those who chose to go to Subway happily scoffed down a tasty sandwich and as much pop as you fancied. A few hours later Duds would get a sandwich from one of the places Burnsy told us all to avoid, he was very hungry though!

IFA Cup Final – Cottage Delight

Everyone met back up down at Bodington where the game had already kicked off. A few local friendly faces were around from Scunthorpe and Stockport and the players mingled in and had a little banter. The Scunny lads had a similar outlook to the Millers in that they were to be having one or two beers at night which could make for an “interesting” 9am kick off game between the two!

The cup final itself was interesting to say the least. It was end to end stuff but Fulham dominating the majority of play. However, on the counter Ayr kept popping up with a goal and at the end of the first half it was an exciting 3-3 scoreline on a very large hard and bobbly pitch.

With time getting on the majority of the IMFC contingent decided it was best to head back to the hotel at half time to get ready for a few beers around Headingley. We heard that Fulham took the final 5-3 which on the first half showing was a fair result but Ayr put up a strong challenge. With Millwall taking the IFA league and Fulham taking the cup it was looking a strong year for the “cockney” lads. There was still Worldnet up for grabs and the northern, Scottish and euro boys would be gunning for it to avoid a cockney whitewash!


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