Playing abroad.

D

Davepick

Well-known member
Following the interesting thread on playing football, how many have actually played abroad?
I played in Germany, only for my Squadron, HQ.
Not many games, but enjoyed it.
Does it count as an International?😉
PS, must be competitive matches, no beach stuff etc.
 
seasideone said:
Played in Brazil on the beach.

Couldn't get near the little sods 😂
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Nearest I got was to kick a ball back to the lads playing on Copacabana, 😂loads of games being played by different age groups, noticed the footballs were a lot smaller, probably to hone their skills on.
 
Played both Rugby and Football for the RAF in Belize, RAF Gibraltar and played against the GIbraltar X1 and played for RAF Cyprus.
Whilst in Gibraltar I also played golf and was the Inaugural Combined Services Champion 1986.
Great times and miss it loads.
 
Levi501 said:
Nearest I got was to kick a ball back to the lads playing on Copacabana, 😂loads of games being played by different age groups, noticed the footballs were a lot smaller, probably to hone their skills on.
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We were a bit further down on Ipanema, and just asked if we could join in - great fun and a great city and country.
 
A group of my fellow students went to Poland in 1997 (one of our mates was on some form of Christian missionary work thing); on a coach.

Turned up thinking we were going to be playing the equivalent of pub teams etc; ended up playing against Wisla Krakow reserves (who had advertised the match and had paying spectators!) Polonia Warsaw youth team and a a couple of others a bit further down the pyramid; one called Gliwice Carbo, you could taste the air there a bit like Billingham, and the other one in Katowice.

Got battered by Krakow (although we did score two goals!) Got beat by Warsaw, but did ok against the other two.

Meant we got to see quite a Krakow, Warsaw and Auschwitz, Katowice and a reasonable amount of Poland.

Back then the zloty was 20:1; and even as a student, it was impossible to spend about £200.

I was crap, but it was quite the experience.
 
Levi501 said:
Nearest I got was to kick a ball back to the lads playing on Copacabana, 😂loads of games being played by different age groups, noticed the footballs were a lot smaller, probably to hone their skills on.
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Futsal. Smaller, heavier ball than the standard football.
 
seasideone said:
We were a bit further down on Ipanema, and just asked if we could join in - great fun and a great city and country.
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Loved Rio, a city of total contrasts between the urban poor up in the favelas and the mega rich in their coastal mansions, plus some great sights.
 
Played with the various Regimental teams during my service in Malta, Germany, Holland, Canada, Ireland (playing for Antrim Proddys at the time) Great fun, great standard, proper tracksuit soldier :)
 
In 1999 a played for an Army team against the Macedonian national team in Skopje. They were supposed to play the republic of Ireland in a qualifying match but it was cancelled due to the conflict in Kosovo and the overspill of refugees into Macedonia. as the national team was due to play somehow we ended up playing them in a friendly. We got beat 6-1 or 7-1, not bad for a bunch of guys who had never played together playing a national team!
 
Went on football tour back in the early 80's to Bottrop, with the Sunday league junior team.
Played 3 matches and won them all, however they were so far ahead technically and we could barely get the ball off them.
It was basically keep ball for them, however they weren't quite sure how to defend.
Had a brilliant time, and it was where I first discovered Schnapps (at the age of 14 !!)
 
Yes. I played in South Africa for SASOL.

I also played in Australia for an England v Rest of the World team.
(All from the same Aerospace company)
😁
 
I played competitively in Denmark and had the opportunity to play in Sweden once, Malmö. The standard then was very poor compared to today but managed to play at AZ67 stadium for 90 mins with a few thousand on. Got stuffed. Later in life played 7 times in Bavaria, beautiful place and great people, another Seasider friend played in those games. Played once in Peru for Trujillo Police. Sweated a lot. Loved every opportunity, football is an international language that brings people together.
 
Johnno said:
Ditto. Wasn’t Warbreck c.’82/83 was it by any chance?
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No it was Lytham St Annes High, early 90s if I recall correctly.

Us and Warbreck were the top school sides during my school years tho, seemed like every final we played for 5 years was against each other!! Some really good players on both teams.
 
When I played for the Burn Naze we went to play football in Cologne and in Schevingham in Holland where we actually fell off the coach we were that pissed. Great times
 
Hooked1964 said:
Played both Rugby and Football for the RAF in Belize, RAF Gibraltar and played against the GIbraltar X1 and played for RAF Cyprus.
Whilst in Gibraltar I also played golf and was the Inaugural Combined Services Champion 1986.
Great times and miss it loads.
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Congratulations
 
I played for Tarringa Rovers in Brisbane, Australia in 1989 while I was living there.
I played for FC Saulgau in Germany for seasons 1998/99 and 1999/2000, it was the town I lived in.
 
I've been abroad managing my amateur team three times to Germany, Italy and Spain, Italy was the first where we played three semi pro teams and beat them all, the best side we beat was RD Pordenone who were on Sky TV a couple of years ago playing Juventus in the Italian Cup,they were devastated that their senior side who play in Serie C lost 3-2 to a load of drunken Englishman albeit some good footballing drunks. We then drew 0-0 in Spain to a very good technically semi pro side and finally we went to Germany where we represented Blackpool in Bottrop's centenary competition against various twin towns from around Europe, after winning our group we lost narrowly 1-0 in the final to Bottrop's all star guest XI featuring a number of pro's and semi pro's. All were very memorable trips that he lads still talk about to this day.
 
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Raging_Bull said:
I've been abroad managing my amateur team three times to Germany, Italy and Spain, Italy was the first and we played three semi pro teams and beat them all, the best side we beat was RD Pordenone who were on Sky TV a couple of years ago playing Juventus in the Italian Cup,they were devastated that their senior side who play in Serie C lost 3-2 to a load of drunken Englishman albeit some good footballing drunks. We then drew 0-0 in Spain to a very good technically semi pro side and finally we did Germany trip where we represented Blackpool in Bottrop's centenary competition against various twin towns from around Europe, losing narrowly 1-0 in the final to Bottrop's all star guest XI featuring a number of pro's and semi pro's. All were very memorable trips that he lads still talk about to this day.
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They sound great experiences.
 
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