Calling Time with the Captain

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Australians

It may have occurred to you (as it has to one whingeing old git who will not be named here) that the Blog has been a little quiet lately. Guilty. And it's not as if there has been nothing to write about: Club have wrapped up their season with a magnificent win over HKCC to win the Cup as well as the league, and Drags replicated that performance with an utterly defiant showing against Kowloon's Division One team. I will post Murray "Inimitable" Sargant's comments on Dragons' finest hour shortly. My only excuse is that I have been busier than Stobart lately, and we all know he is the world's busiest man.

El Capitano, Tony George has kindly contributed some reflections on this season of marvels for HKFC, below. Hope you enjoy them. After posting Murray's write-up (a mere fortnight late), I will be sending the Blog into hibernation for the summer. May I say that it has been a pleasure to be your Blogger this season and that I have really appreciated not only the compliments that you have favoured the Blog with, but also the complaints. When you are summoned to Sequins corner on matchday to debate the heaviest ever Club front row, you know you're making an impact...

Bring on victory in 2008-09!

Have a great summer.
Harps


From Tony George, Club Captain

So, Harps has asked me to indulge his fabulous blog with some personal reflections on the season. I’ll endeavour to oblige, so long as you’ll forgive the slightly scattergun approach…

The Captain’s Dinner. I have to admit to having been slightly nervous about this, my first as skipper. I also really, really don’t like public speaking. I shouldn’t have worried – not only were the audience very kind, they weren’t listening, so it was all OK. In all seriousness, this was a top night and it was great to see players from throughout the Club mixing and chundering together. And, even if I say so myself, my heave over the VIP table was a special moment.

Atmosphere. I dunno about you, but I found this year to be much more welcoming and inclusive. I still don’t think we’re quite where I’d like us to be, but that just makes next year even more exciting.

Guangzhou. On a personal note, this season was my first trip up to take on the PLA. Ok, so the pitch is awful, the facilities are, well, there are no facilities bar the Golden Arches, but the train trip back makes up for everything. In time honoured fashion, the streakers shall remain nameless; suffice to say that man bags will always make me think of rice wine…

Winning. Which we seem to have managed a lot of. I’ll spare you the list. Actually, no I bloody well won’t: Bulls won the Kowloon X’s, Club and Drags both did the double, Select won the third, the GAIce won everything and the U14s were bloody fabulous.

Fine sessions. See above. The one before Miss Kowloon may have been a little over the top. Some may even say that it contributed to the eventual fate of poor old Miss Conversion. I don’t know, as I can’t remember – yet another get home at 6am clutching three Sausage & Egg McMuffins and a Fillet O Fish kind of a night.

Q smiling. Well, he had to in the end. Didn’t you see Hobler’s attempted chip in the Final?

Dodgeball. Same again next year?

Drop goals. They became a fixation for a while, Stobart nailing one from dead in front of the posts with a 13 man overlap outside him. And then the Firsts caught the bug, with some just silly ones in the last few games. I suppose, when you’re winning, even Scots think they’re Jonny…

Beating Valley. We managed that a lot this year, and the three times in Div 1 were fun. Apparently they think we’re Scum. Bless. We just think they’re not all that good. Better luck next year.

The really personal. I turned 30 (yes it was a tough paper round) got married and started as Section skipper in the space of a month. Must learn to spread things out more in future.

The highlight. Had to really struggle to come up with one defining moment of a season that contained so many special moments, but the display the Drags put on in the Knockout Final against Kowloon was truly exceptional. They swarmed everything, ran everywhere and really put bodies on the line. Superb win.

And with that, just a few thanks for the season. Big thanks to the committee (you know who you are), ably led by the little Irish fella, who do much more behind the scenes than anybody realises. The Coaches and Managers have also been tireless in generally getting stuff done, and the Season’s triumphs wouldn’t have happened without them. finally, of course, the players – it’s all about you, after all.