Yet another pic of that heinous kit…

…but at least there are also some Accies kits in this one.  Photo kindly taken by Courtney of last night's two teams following the entertaining 4-4 draw.  Effra were disappointed not to win having been 3-1 and 4-2 up (with Perre scoring our fourth goal on his last night before his Argentian adventure), but it was a good night on the whole.

Forget Football: Here's Floatball

If a match can 'happily' take place in these conditions, maybe some of our games earlier this year shouldn't have been cancelled due to flooding?

Flamin' Hell…

I've been searching for good things to say about the new kit worn by this week's oppo Southbank Cuaco.  All I can come up with is: at least it doesn't clash with our team's colours.

Hideous.

Not wild about this stat…

We've played 38 11-a-side games so far in 2014.  Only 12 players have played in more than half of those matches.

Effra On Radio 4

Effra gets a mention on this episode of The Museum Of Curiosity.  Sadly it's not our esteemed football team that's being discussed, but instead the underground London river which inspired the first part of our club's name.  Still worth a listen though.

There's an interesting piece about the River Effra here.  "In his book Thames: Sacred River, Peter Ackroyd writes that the Effra took its name from the Celtic word yfrid, meaning 'torrent'."

I suggest we score a torrent of goals this Thursday, to mark this fact.  I for one will yell "Yfrid!  Yfrid!  Yfrid!" when our 5th goal goes in.

Friend of the Accies…

Bregje!

Charlie Brooking?

Stanchion, best football word?

Accies In Spain 2015

In your email inboxes round about now, or possibly your Facebook message inboxes, you should find a message about next year's Spain trip.  The date for the trip is confirmed as:

FRIDAY 24 TO SUNDAY 26 APRIL 2015

As it says in the email, we're particularly pleased that Crystal Palace & Dulwich Super Veterans plan to join us for this trip, making a three- or four-team 11-a-side tournament on Saturday 25 April a probability.  It promises to be a great trip…

Please reply to the email ASAP!

Two Victories In Europe

More pics from our 2014 Spain and Holland trips can be found on our Facebook page, but here are the team photos from the European tours.  Wish you'd been there?  Watch this space for the announcement of the date for Spain 2015!

Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing

While rooting around for photos to bring with me next Saturday, I came across these two, taken by Luis in the pub after the 2012 end-of-year awards dinner.  Steve may be a terrier on the pitch, known for the occasional crunching tackle, but off the pitch he's a lover, not a fighter.   Here he is sharing tender moments with Luke and Thorny…

Hurrah! I've scored! Boo! I've fallen down a hole…

From an email sent almost 13 years ago…

Somewhere in my Accies archive I have a 'news report' from our old website entitled 'The Night We Won The Cup', all about the events of 8th November 2001.  At that time the club was divided into two 5-a-side squads, Dinamo Bar Pitch and Streatham North End.  While I search for that, here's an extract from an email sent by Streatham North End's gaffer (also Effra's gaffer, aka The Gaffer!) Ian Holmes about the evening:

"It was wonderful to be a part of it ... we scored SIX goals and every one of them was worth the admission money (although I would personally have paid well over the odds just to see the Patterson equaliser against Soma and the Rudd winner against Lard !!!!).  Add to that the best goalkeeper of the night and I reckon we deserved it.

Dinamo were encouraging in their support and sporting in their congratulations.  And let's not forget that they played no small part in our win ... their point against Conway ensured that the best team in the tournament were knocked out... their win against Exo was the biggest win of the night ... and Graham was (I reckon!!!) with four goals the leading individual goalscorer."

 There's a lot in those few words that shows why over the years it's been so brilliant to play for the Accies.  Oh, and here's the trophy:

Rotterdam 2014 - Your Club Captain's [B]Log!

Playing for The Accies is an extraordinary thing. 

Quite apart from the joy of Thursday night football in Crystal Palace, the club has been built around  regular club trips abroad – most recently Cantoria in Spain and Rotterdam in Holland.

I just wanted to take a few moments to write about these magnificent trips, as your Club Captain, friend and well…bloke.

It is always hard to put into words how fantastic these trips always are – but I thought now was a great time to try to do just that about the trip to Rotterdam .

Someone booked my train tickets for me. The club contributed £50 towards it. I’d increased my Accies subs by £10 a month many months ago so that accommodation was basically taken care of. I met my brother and Luke at King’s Cross at 11am on Friday, had a couple of beers before boarding the Eurostar with a few more train beers in hand. My accommodation was booked for me too. A bike was rented for me and several team-mates were always there to get us from A-B without getting lost.

On the Friday evening we met up with several other Accies already in Rotterdam and had a few beers near the accommodation by the harbour.

On Saturday, I had a lovely leisurely  breakfast with my friends and team-mates, a bike ride to a Pancake restaurant by a lake for a small lunch and then cycled as a team to the stadium where the big match was due to take place. We started the game with ten men and were losing 1-0 at half time. We went 2-0 down pretty quickly at the start of the second half, but the belief was still there with The Accies, you could tell.

Then we scored. Then our 11^th player arrived and the turnaround and comeback accelerated. 4-2 to The Accies, final score. Hat-trick for Graham Dietz, a cracking goal also from Scott Greenwell. An impeccable goalkeeping performance from Dave Rudd in goal – and a solid back four made up of myself, Stuart Dade, Luke Fallon and Simon Mesner. A fantastic return to playing action from Phil Caldwell. Superb play,  and communication from Perre. Goliath effort from Sam Herbert in midfield. Scott and Graham up front – a double left footed pain for the oppo. A much needed stellar performance from late-comer Chris.

Just writing the words doesn’t do it justice. WHAT a game – what a cracking bunch of lads the oppo continue to prove themselves to be!

Does it get any better than winning 4-2 after being 2-0 down, away – with 55 minutes with ten men?

Well, yes.

After the game – the generous Dutch provide several crates of lager. One of them, Dutch legend Nils then provides storage for bags and accompanies us to the Excelsior ground – having arranged for the entire Accies team to get tickets for just ten Euros each for their clash with Dordrecht (final score 1-1). Great atmosphere, more beers during the game – great company and yet more smiles all round.

Surely, the day couldn’t improve?

How about being on the guest list for an album launch gig with now Accies friend Bregje Lacourt? Thanks to the friendship between Simon Mesner and Bregje – which started some 7 years ago on a previous Accies Rotterdam trip, we found ourselves supping more beer whilst watching this fantastic gig.

Then on for more beers, in several bars etc. with some taking the opportunity to rest up at the accommodation, or hit the clubs – ultimately and basically just have a fantastic time, in the company of friends and team-mates.

I doubt I’ve even covered 10% of the magnificence of this latest Accies club trip – and my only regret is that more Accies weren’t there to experience it as well.

We have the 15^th Anniversary game and celebrations coming up on Saturday 4^th October and I look forward to enjoying that with you and your friends and family. Plans are already being made for Spain 2015 and Rotterdam 2015 – and my extra £10 a month into the club is definitely going to continue to ease the financial burden of these when they come around.

My advice is to do the same if you think you need to. Get the dates in your diary as soon as you know them, along with all the other social events – because these weekends and events are without question an integral part of the past, present and future of the Effra Academicals – and without question are some of the greatest weekends I’ve ever experienced – and will continue to do so for many years, hopefully in your company.

Up The Accies!

Andrew Dade

Effra Academicals Club Captain and Club Secretary.

Just updated the ALL-TIME ACCIES 11-A-SIDE STATS…

…I note with interest that Perre Heath, or DhaniDhanz to his army of YouTube subscribers, is on 99 goals, one short of becoming our second ever 11-a-side goalscoring centurion. He's scored in the last 3 consecutive matches.  Hope he doesn't read this, because that would surely jinx any chance he has of getting his 100th goal tomorrow night…

[Update, 12 September: the wait goes on!  He'll have to score it in Rotterdam now…)

If I had my way, all Accies players would be on the same money as this…

What Falcao earns

H and H brief match report.

Just wanted to register my appreciation and admiration with regards to last night's match. We really shook H and H out of their misplaced complacency with what I would say was the best TEAM performance for a while.
Although we lost, it was only really in the last 15 minutes when the oppo started to feel that they were going to win.
It would be disingenuous to pick out individuals as I thought we were excellent as a team however Perre looked hungry for the ball and linked up well with Scott and the midfield. Andy and Simon were solid there and I thought Dane caused lots if problems on the right.
Lee and Barry worked well together at the back and overall we chased and compressed them whilst also offering credible opportunities up front.
We were good value for the 2-2 score line at half time and they knew it.
Only near the end did H and H start to dominate but we always looked threatening, something that started to play on their confidence and really shook them, in the first half in particular.
Well done. You should be proud of yourselves. So let's take this on to the next game. Self- belief and a great team spirit will always be successful!!!

Now That's What I Call A Football Blog

Non-league dogs.

Tonight's game OFF due to heavy rain.

Hey guys, always remember when something seems too good to be true, it is. As you may recall Palace told us that the grass pitch would be available all summer except for the 3 dates in late June/July. However the pitch needs re-seeding (no surprise, as this is what has happened each of the last 10 years) and we can't use it during August. So we have booked the bar pitch astro for 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th August. Kick offs will be 8.30 pm, meet from 7.45 pm (the earlier kick offs planned will have to start in September). Sorry about this but it's the usual Palace poor organisation. See you on Thursday in astro boots.

If I scored an own goal this spectacular…

…I think I'd have to celebrate it.

Last week

Gents

Where do I start. Last week was the most embarrassed I've ever felt being the captain of the team and I don't make that statement lightly. I'm supposed to pick the squad based on form fitness and commitment, well we might need a few ringers after last week. By commitment I don't just mean the hard tackles and the occasional shout I mean the countless times we swung a lazy leg at a misplaced pass or the countless times we left one of our Own players surrounded with no one to pass the ball to. At the back especial the first half we where a shambles I don't remember a tackle on there striker he was allowed to turn again and again. The midfield offered no help to the back four or the forwards and we allowed them to just walk towards our goal with ball way to many times.Upfront we where flat footed and I asked for there defence to be pressurised which didn't happen. There was a slight improvement in the second half but the damage was done and when the oppo offers us there keeper so their star player can go in goal and give us a chance only shows how bad we really where. Some of you may think I'm going overboard but I think this needs to be said. We may aswell scrap the 3 touch rule as those who do stick to it we only seem to be able to play the ball backwards until we either get tackled or boot it out of play, but much worse there are still players who cannot get this rule and those who when asked to play in a certain position seem to think they know better than me and go where they like!! Well gents why not put your name in the hat for captain then you can put yourself wherever you want but until then if this happens again you will be immediately substituted and don't be surprised if you miss the next week. The only saving grace is that we play Monday night so not long to get this out of our systems.

I hope we can take this on board and get going again ASAP

Up the Accies

World Cup Final Preview

Thomas Muller's celebration if he scores the winner?  I look forward to replicating these moves on the dancefloors of Rotterdam and London this September and October…

Pretty sure he meant it

"Sweeper-keeper"

Here's Germany keeper Manuel Neuer's heat map for last night's game vs Algeria.  21 touches outside the box!  Incredible.

New Home Kits: Opinions Welcome!

Here are two options for our new home kit.  Is it time for a change of design to the diagonal version here, or should we stick to our traditional stripes?  I am slightly concerned that these colours don't perfectly match those on our existing kits - if anything these colours look closer to the kits we wore prior to our present ones - quite a while ago - and I was never wild about them because the red was nowhere near red enough - too maroon/claret for my liking.

**UPDATE** The company has assured me that the colours WILL match our existing kits.  So there's a straightforward decision to make: stick with stripes or go for the diagonal.

Let me know what you think – email me, or Comment here, or Tweet @TheAccies, or comment on our Facebook page.

15th Anniversary Kit: First Look

This isn't the final design - I'm not wild about the font or the wording used on the left, and there are a couple of other tweaks.  I'm also hoping they can be short-sleeved.  But here's the shirt so far:

Next two games

Accies, the next match is now on Monday 30th June, kick off 1930 v AECOM on the bar pitch astro - bring the correct boots. The following match is back on the grass on Thursday 10th July, kick off as usual at 2015. There are two more fixtures that will be on the bar pitch astro - Monday 14th and Monday 28th July, watch this blog for more details.

From this week onwards

Gents

As most of you have been involved in the emails going back and forth myself and the selection panel have decided that each week we will now all take part in a warm up to be lead by Simon. Those who choose not to claiming injuries etc will not be considered for the game and those who are late etc don't expect to start or even play the week after. This warm up will 100% benefit with our slow starts of late!

I will ask one of the substitutes to help Ronnie with his warm up aswell

Don't get me wrong gents I'm a main culprit in the ‘have a pop shot at Ronnie but whack a runner instead’ club but it's affecting our game which has to stop now.

Remember the game plan only really consists of 3 touch and move and I always prefer the corners to be taken by players who can swing it under the bar and myself and Scott will take the free kicks around the box etc unless there's a killer pass on from a quick free kick and trust you all in that judgement

Come on boys we are a more than decent team that is a match for any team and we just need to be much more consistent.

Up the Accies

Greg

Six Accies on a Thursday? Are we a 5-a-side squad now?

Maybe that's it!  Maybe to mark our 15th anniversary, in tribute to when we started back in 1999 as a 5-a-side team, we've shrunk back down to a 5-a-side squad again?

Two Thursdays in a row.  Thursdays: Accies football night since 1999.  £250 of club money set aside for the members to get together and not play football, but instead enjoy each other's company, drink, eat and enjoy world-class football*.

Six members turned up last week.  Five members and an ex-member turned up last night.  In total, SEVEN out of TWENTY-ONE current members attended across the two weeks.

I shall have to resist the urge to rant.  I'm sure the other FOURTEEN members had perfectly legitimate reasons for not attending either event.  Maybe you weren't actually able to watch the England game at all?  (Seems reasonably unlikely.)

Suffice it to say, in 15 years I've rarely felt less in love with the club.  Good luck looking me in the eye next time you see me.  I wasn't surprised to see so few of you there last week and this week.

Some of you who weren't there are magnificent gentlemen and lifelong friends who have certainly made my life better over the past years and this post is not aimed at you.  Some of you have certainly done a LOT to make the club better and help it thrive.

But some of you just can't be bothered, can you?

See you next Thursday for a 5-a-side?

Cheers,

Stuart

*Aside from some of the England defending.

World Cup Fever!

With the tournament in Brazil just over 24 hours away, here's a nice antidote to 'fantasy football league' tedium:

Click here to play Fantasy Twatball!

A game of two halves

Deep joy. I now have Access to the blog. I just wanted to say to all who played tonight that I appreciated the endeavour and skill that was displayed for the majority of the game by all the team. I would also like to thank Andy Judd for turning up at short notice.
I'm sure all who played tonight will agree that we took a bit of time to warm up but once we did I thought it was one of our best performances this year. We need to believe in ourselves and trust in each other's abilities.
We have a bit of a break now but I'm sure we will be eager to play in three weeks time!!
Any thoughts or comments on the game you can drop me a text or send an email.
Well done again.
Tremayne

Are you Jason Rodgers* in disguise?

*Former Accie, not particularly fondly remembered, and tried this 'score straight from kick-off' NONSENSE so often that we had to have a club ban on it!

Excellent result

Finally we got this season started. It seems to me and to some others that after the stop start beginning of the year we then had a run of teams which where either way to good for us or teams who had 7 players and we thrashed them !!! Although we also let ourselves down in some performances against the likes of Atkins and the Friends 11 and also the loss to Southbank .

Well the past two/three weeks we have really got going. A well deserved win last week and I'm especially happy with the past Thursdays performance. This was against Southbank again who had brought the core of their Saturday first team.We could and maybe should of won that game after being 2-0 up then missing a few chances in the 2nd half but that aside we kept calm under some pressure at the start and after my goal of the season and Scott's scuffed lob we dictated play but we got sloppy but we got our heads out of arses and didn't stop coming forward and defending brilliantly.Its my belief that it was our best defensive performance this season.

We have to take these last few weeks forward into the summer period with the spell on the Astro looming. Let's keep the high pressure tempo and I'm liking the 3 touch stuff we have been attempting. I still think we need to work harder on that especial when the fullbacks get possession as a few times we left them in deep water with the only option to lump it off the pitch. There's no point playing it around for 7-8 passes then kicking it 40 yards to no mans land.Also a few times we had the ball out wide with no one in the box as both centre forwards where involved in the build up.I would like at least one forward and two midfielders in the box on these occasions . Another thing is that when the ball is being held up by a forward it's important that the wingers go past him there was an example when Perre went past Simon creating loads of space which is what we want.

Keep it going boys

Up the Accies

Congrats

Accies

Just a quick well done to all those involved in our last two wins.How nice was it to come off with back to back wins !!!!

I thought everyone played out of there skins last night every single player put everything on the line

Quick mention to Luis and Simon scoring last night well done lads

Also thanks to the Andy and Dean for helping us out after some last minute drop outs and thanks to Andy Judd for again helping us out like last week

Let's keep the performances over the next few weeks as good as last night and the results will surely follow

Up the Accies

Victory in Spain!

Just a quick post in advance of tonight's game to say a HUGE congratulations and well done to the mighty Accies who battled their way to victory in Spain last weekend.

It was my absolute pleasure and honour to play 90 mins and captain the side to victory - in a game that was played in near 30 degree heat against very good opposition.

As MOTM Scott pointed out in the second half drinks break - we were always leading the game. 2 up. 3-2 up. 4-3 up. 4-4 full time and on to victory in a penalty shoot-out!

Lifting the trophy for The Accies was undoubtedly an Accies career highlight me - something I have waited to do for a long time...

Let's make that victory mean even more - by keeping the team spirit, effort, flair, determination and commitment going tonight, next week and every week after that!

Up The Accies!!!

Andrew.

Luis' Thoughts...worth a read..!

Gents I would just like to comment and put across a brief analysis of the game against the last minute make up team, as seen from  an Accies player playing for the oppo. So for all it's worth here  goes.

I always thought that you can get a much better perspective and understanding  about your team when you find yourself in a position of playing against it.

I played for the oppo but I will convey my analysis from an Accies point.

Although the oppo was made up of a last minute make up team, it had a  mixture of average(myself included!) and  good skilful players, coupled with quick and fast footed youngsters. However, we the Accies are an established team, we play on a weekly basis and  many of us have been playing together for a number of years.We know our strength and weakness.

We should not be losing to  make up teams by such a margin of a score(5-0).

I don't think they had far more better players than us or were vastly more superior but my view is that there are some more fundamental issues to this.

From my perspective I felt inclusive playing with these guys even though I have never played with them before, let alone know their names.

What I mean by inclusive is that most of them would just simply pass the ball straight away if you were  in close proximity.If I was next to a player I would shout for a pass and I would receive it. Simple.

We the Accies don't seem to have that level of consistency and understanding with each other when it comes to simple passing.On many occasions I have found myself next to or in close proximity to a fellow Accie and I have to admit that the majority of the time I have no confidence on whether I am going to get that simple pass, even  though I may be calling for it.It pains me to say that I did not experience this while playing with these  fellas .

I sometimes find that my fellow Accie  will either run with the ball and attempt to take on a few players or look ahead and go for the long ball pass, rather than just give a simple pass.I may have been guilty of this myself.

In this game I had  plenty of time and space because -  well, I was given plenty of time and space! On a few occasions I found that no one was challenging me quickly enough or putting me under pressure.It seemed as though there was an element of lethargy in the Accies game.

There was also a spell where I heard some disgruntled voices with some arguments developing amongst fellow Accies. Gents I don't have to tell you that this isn't good but when this happens it boosts the oppos' confidence.

There was a moment in the last 20 minutes of the second half when the Accies raised their game and that was when as an oppo player I felt the pressure. There was some good football from the Accies then.

Well, these are my views and you may or may not share them but I thought I would just put them across.

Finally, just to say that I think we are good enough as a team but we can be better.

Up The Accies!

Luis.  

Lost for words....not quite

Accies

I've always tried not to put negative comments on the blog, but after our performance yesterday I think my hand was forced. We haven't plays as bad as a team for long time , maybe I've not seen a performance like that since I've been captain. All over the pitch we just didn't perform and not only that some players looked like they weren't even trying. There where certain players who were obviously trying to get the team going and kickstart a performance but it didn't happen.I really can't put my finger on the reason behind last night , maybe we thought that because they were a scratch team put together by various people that we wouldn't have to run as hard but we certainly got caught with our pants down!!!! I don't want to harp on gents but I feel this has to be addressed. We didn't close down our players like I'd like us too , I like it when we close the oppo from the strikers backwards trying to get the defenders to lose the ball in dangerous areas which didn't happen. We didn't support our fullbacks countless times Stuart was 2 against 1 against 2 decent players and that's where most of there goals came from. I don't remember myself and the other midfielders winning a header and we allowed them to pass the ball around us with no real pressure.Even after all this we had the chances to get back into the game which we didn't take.We appeared to have 2 or 3 players always willing to give advice to other Accies without actually carrying out there own jobs in there positions. Also the communication was non existent there was a time when Dave had the ball in our 6 yard box with no oppo within 15 yards giving him time to clear up the pitch and he had 3 Accies around him and no one told him he had time causing him to do the safe thing and put the ball out for a corner.

That's enough of the negative comments boys from next week I want us to go back to the high pressure high tempo play with the set plays inswinging under the bar which was so successful last season.

Lets get back on track next week boys

None of that "showing respect when you score against your former club" nonsense here!

Graham Dietz, after scoring vs the Dutch in Rotterdam last year (screen grabs from Simon's YouTube video).  Love it!

Videos

At last are the videos from autumn last year including the much anticipated game v Flacas and Fatboys including a goal from Phill Arnold, one he is very keen to watch on a loop whilst at work. Enjoy them on my youtube site as usual - sammesner

A game at last !!!!

Accies
At last we got back to playing on our hallowed turf last week after week after week of downpours etc....and what a display to come back with.

7-0 against Grafton is nothing to be sniffed at and to be honest it should/could of been double that. From front to back we dominated a team slightly weaker than usual but still they employed a ringer who has before shone and dominated against us. On Thursday the centre half pairing of Simon and Lee didn't give him a kick and he was left trying 50 yard efforts. I thought Andy Dade was awesome especially when we changed to a 3-5-2 . The midfield dominated with Joe keeping the ball really well and Steve back to snapping at ankles again. Don't wanna blow my own trumpet so I won't mention my 3 assists. Luis looked fit again was always a good option and put some good balls in. In matches like this in the past we have sometimes forgotten to pass upfront and looked for personal glory and this week this didn't happen at all. The interchanging between Scott Sam and Perre was extremely good and really good to see.

All in all a brilliant return to winning ways on the grass, BUT my only complaint was the
Lack of volunteers when the oppo needed some help. It seems to be the same old faced lately and I understand last week after missing so much football why not many stood up but we all wanna competitive game so doing a stint for the oppo now and again benefits everyone plus goes towards showing your commitment when numbers are high and missing out could be an option.

Gents let's keep up last weeks awesome display

Up the Accies

Winter Essential!

Full respect to Dave Rudd for this genius 40th birthday gift for Andrew Dade!

I want one…!

I imagine if this week's match ISN'T called off, there will be scenes like these:

16/1/14 Match CANCELLED

Tonight's match (16/1/14) has just been cancelled due to a flooded pitch. Apparently a lot of rain has fallen in the last hour making it unplayable.