News – Page 18 – Merton Football Club

As we near the start of the new Premier League Season, why not pick your fantasy team and join our Fantasy Football League using code 677482-169904
https://fantasy.premierleague.com/

Good luck

Merton FC AGM meeting will be held at the clubhouse on 19.07.17 at 8.30pm. This will be straight after training so those around who wish to attend and see what the club will be offering next season please feel free to attend.

Pre Season training for adults will start on 12th July 2017 at the home ground (Joseph Hood Recreation Ground). Training will start promptly at 7pm, please aim to get to ground 15 minute before start time. Training will be a mixture of fitness and football please bring both appropriate footwear for the sessions. More information can be found on the Training Page.

This is a great opportunity to bring friends, colleagues, family along to join the club, so please spread the word. If you aren’t going to listen to us, then at least listen to Dele Alli. See you all at training on Wednesday

https://www.facebook.com/mertonfc/videos/10155671595830312/

With the conclusion of yet another fine season at Merton FC, everyone’s favourite occasion of the year

rolled into town: awards night. The brains trust made the brave decision to host it on the same night as

the FA Cup final, given the success of doing so the year before. Their reward was two London teams mak

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ing it to the final, which unfortunately meant the loss of a few good men to Wembley on the night.

But it hardly put a dampener on things, as scores and scores began to filter into the bar in the early

evening. The final was a terrific affair, although the first goalscorer (and minute) were wrapped up disap

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pointingly quickly – Matt Haswell the beneficiary after some dispute over the timing of the goal.

In typical fashion, Arsenal were flagrant and nearly cost themselves what should have been a straightfor

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ward win over a lacklustre Chelsea. But, to the delight of a smattering of Gooners in our ranks, they just

about fell over the line.

With that, it was onto the awards, and the hum of expectation as Max took the mic. There were some

lovely acknowledgements made to all those who put so much into the club, not least Pete Kemp and

Mark Chappell, who are leaving their respective roles and have been worthily inducted as Vice Presidents.

We also remembered Nick Papanastasiou, who sadly passed away at the end of last year.

But onto the awards it was then, with Clappers taking centre stage. The full list of winners can be seen

below, but it was great to see such a blend of new and old players among those being recognised. Some

really popular winners among them too, with the likes of Siraj Durrani winning both the Golden Gloves

award and the 1s Player of the Year. Paul Pearce was the emphatic winner of the 2s award, while there

were big cheers reserved for young George Brobbey, who claimed the Golden Boot in his first season at

Merton.

But the most deserving on the night was surely Chris Outred, who won the Club Player of the Year award.

A Merton man through and through, who has always been willing to travel far and wide to play for any

team donning the mighty Yellow. Incidentally, he and brother Dan also became the first brothers to win

the award.

Wonderful scenes. But with the awards all done and dusted, it was back to the bar. Despite a snafu with

the beer tap, the lads weren’t to be denied, and their thirsts were never going to go unquenched. The last

few drops were literally drank dry over a sensational game of categories – the highlight of which was Joe

Grew repeating the same answer in the category of his own choice.

Massive, massive thanks to Matt Haswell for putting up with it all, and gamely staying to the bitter end

to serve us all. For a brave few, the evening was then ended in the general Earlsfield area. As closing time

approached, there could not have been a more appropriate conclusion to the season than Vanny getting

(double) golf balled. What a way to end 2016/17. Looking forward to what 2017/18 has in store already.

1s Top scorer:

Charlie Hockless

1s Player of the year:

Siraj Durrani

2s Top scorer:

David Quainton/Dan Kelly

2s Player of the year:

Paul Pearce

3s Top scorer:

Glenn Pitman

3s Player of the year:

Dan Bridgeman

4s Top scorer:

Dom Plumridge

4s Player of the year:

Dom Plumridge

5s Top scorer:

Dulanie Richards

5s Player of the year:

Delman Babaker

6s Top scorer:

George Brobbey

6s Player of the year:

Callum Fisher

7s Top scorer:

Malcolm Kandulu

7s Player of the year:

Tom Roberts

Golden Gloves:

Siraj Durrani

Golden Boot:

George Brobbey

Match Report Writer of the Year:

Dan Kelly

Club Player of the Year:

Chris Outred

Club Person of the Year:

Mike Todt

[Show slideshow]

THE MERTON GOLF DAY – RETURNS!
Friday 28th July, MIDDAY START, The Oaks Carshalton.
£30 entry ( £10 towards prizes)
Prizes for 1st, 2nd , 3rd + nearest the pin & longest drive!
If you WOULD LIKE TO PLAY and have not already done so – please email [email protected] to confirm your place & or reply on the Facebook feed.

ATTENTION ALL YOUTH FOOTBALLERS…
The 2016/17 Awards ceremony is now booked in for Sunday 25th June. The schedule of events is as follows:

Training 10am – 11.30am
Awards 12pm – 1pm…
Player registration 1pm – 4pm

The bar/clubhouse will be open all day where food & drink can be purchased.
Please get in touch with Steve Dewsbury if you have any queries, and/or to let him know if you can make it. Look forward to seeing you all there!

MATCH REPORT – MERTON WORLD CUP

After a build-up which included a live draw, vast over-catering for a barbecue, an almighty palaver setting up goals, and a frantic search around London for an air horn, the inaugural Merton 6-a-side World Cup finally dawned under some rather dull skies.

A mixture of excitement, curiosity and tardiness was in the air, as the players just about assembled on time for the mandatory briefing. There were precious few no shows on the day in fact, although the few that did all seemed to be from the unfortunate Team Italy, which led to a last-minute transfer for Mick Elgar to assist the Azzurri. Martin Quinlan too was a late substitute, filling in for Team Spain, who were rather lacking in (fit) goalkeepers.

Nevertheless, following an inspiring rules briefing from Clappers, and the sound of said elusive air horn (or Klaxon – a word I’d never heard of – as it became known for the rest of the day) sounded, and play began.

Team Brazil were the early movers and shakers in Group 1, with Chaz Martin pummelling four goals past an unfortunate England in a 6-2 win. On the other pitch in Group 2, Spain snuck home 4-3 against Cameroon, despite a Clappers thunderbolt.

The games came thick and fast thereafter, with the 6-strong squad of Team Italy beating France 4-2, and Germany and Argentina playing out a tense 1-1 draw next door. The next round saw the Germans topple the Spaniards 2-0, Cameroon pick up their first win over Argentina (4-1), Italy thrash England (5-1) and France pull off a 2-1 victory against Brazil, thanks to a last-minute, stonewall/controversial penalty.

Cameroon then booked their place in the semis, as they pipped Germany by the odd goal in their final group game. It wasn’t without controversy though, with Anam cruelly being denied a would-be equaliser at the death. Dwayne was the unfortunate whistleblower, and copped his share of stick afterwards for the misjudgement.

Back in Group 1, Brazil simultaneously pulled off what seemed like a vital victory in a 5-4 thriller with Italy. Chaz banked another four-fer, including an audacious, breathtaking overhead bicycle kick. Chappell in goal also made an extraordinary save at the death. But their heroics proved to be in vain, as Team France, needing to win by five clear goals, marched into the playoffs with a resounding 8-2 win over England in the final group game.

The drama was far from over in Group 2 though, as Argentina looked well on course for the semi finals as they led 3-0 over Spain. But the (very belated) introduction of U/15 star Jamie Esteban turned the game on its head, as he smashed a hat trick to seal a remarkable 4-3 win for the men in red.

And so to the semi finals then, with Italy taking on Spain, and Cameroon squaring off against France. The latter was a somewhat comfortable affair for the Africans, as they romped home 4-1 – Ed Plaistow scoring a brace at long odds.

The other semi was a tenser affair, but Spain proved too good in the end, eventually trouncing a spirited Italian outfit 5-3.

And then there were two – Spain and Cameroon. The crowd watched on as a tense game of few chances appeared to be heading for a stalemate. Darren Fitz ignited things though, with a well-taken goal to put Spain on the cusp of glory.

But they missed clear chances to put the game beyond doubt, while Kieran made some barnstorming saves. It prompted Rat on the sideline to declare that the stage was set for Clappers to turn things around. Not one minute later, the 52-year old stepped up and thumped the equaliser into the corner from the halfway line. Cue wild celebrations, and concern for Neal Davison, who was now contemplating having to pay Chappell out for his bet on Cameroon.

It felt written in the stars by now though, and 0.5 seconds before the final whistle – er, Klaxon – sounded, Dom Plumridge stroked home the winner to crown Cameroon the world champions in dramatic fashion.

Full credit to their experienced combination for pulling off the win, and hats off to Spain for their brave effort too. Many thanks to all those who helped organise a very enjoyable day, with bigger thanks to Darren Avey and assistant Joe Squire for producing an endless conveyor belt of treats from the BBQ. Look forward to doing it all again next year, and knocking Cameroon off their perch!

Winners: Cameroon
Runner Up: Spain
Golden Boot: Chaz with 9, Jamie second with 7
Top-scoring team: Italy (16)
Golden Gloves: Lenners, who conceded just 2 goals
Player of the Tournament: Kieran

[Show slideshow]

The end of season player/team stats are in,

As promised, the final draw for the Fitness First six-a-side Merton World Cup. Owing to some pressure from the masses regarding global representation, Holland have been bumped and Cameroon are in!
(Would have bumped England, but as the host nation they hang in by virtue of automatic entry)

Epsom Falcon’s 5 aside under 8’s Tournament

Merton FC is investing in the future massively these days with a very strong youth team set up. The youngest of the new breed had the opportunity to claim a permanent place playing for Merton’s oldest armature club by representing the newly formed side in this 5 a side competition hosted in beautiful Kingswood.

Epsom Falcons had an impressive set up for this 20 team tournament with some very big names entering such as Corinthian Casuals, Metropolitan Police and of course Epsom themselves with 5 teams.

After only one training session 8 boys were selected to represent Merton at this group format tournament.

Merton found their selves in a very tough group drawn against Epsom falcon’s first team, Roundshaw, Esher and Epsom Falcons Reserves.

We were drawn to play the opening game on pitch two against Epsom Facon’s first team(Blues). The game started off against us due to having to shoot uphill but the boys were happy to just be playing. Epsom were by far the stronger of the two sides and taught us a hard lesson in ball possession and quality on the ball. They confidently knocked the ball around the pitch making our newbies work really hard for every kick. Work hard they did and put an impressive performance in against the team which lost marginally in the grand final. Epsom could only create half chances and needed a wind and hill assisted long shot and bounce over our goalkeeper to get the points in the dying minutes. An impressive first ever game for the boys who really worked hard. Looking back at the fact Epsom only won by one lucky goal, this first ever outing was incredibly impressive.

Game two was against a familiar side for some of the boys having to play against Roundshaw which included a number of players which had played on the same team this past season. The boys were really looking forward to this game as a friendly ‘grudge’ match and luckily got the rub of the green in shooting downhill for this one. The game was a very even affair with very few chances and in fairness Roundshaw did not deserve to lose. The goal came courtesy of a pre-worked corner routine which bounced around the box and big Joey Taffurelli (JT) finished solidly. Merton held out confidently and could have added another towards the end to seal the game. The boys were excited and proud of their efforts and their first ever win.

Game three was against an Esher side who looked very sharp but had been unable to find the net in their games thus far. We once again were shooting uphill so were up against it and an unfortunate slip left an open net for them to go 1 – 0 up. However the boys continued to try and play football and the absolute endless running of Lewis paid off with a fantastic solo effort of beating a few men and finishing with a cracking strike into the top corner.

The final group game was against the less experienced Epsom side but still very well drilled. Shooting downhill we had some half chances. We were caught high up the pitch and were punished on the break with a clinical finish which the goalkeeper could do nothing about.

With the group games finished we ended with a very respectable 4 points nipping into third place due to the head to head rules. This meant a 3^rd position play off final on pitch one.

Final

The final set up was slightly different with teams playing 7 minutes each way. This gave us the opportunity to play all the boys in two separate bursts. It was a great game against a really well drilled side who tried to play football. A dubious penalty was given in our favour and a future Merton legend Archie Baker-Haswell followed his Grandfather, dad and uncles footsteps and confidently stepped up and converted to bring home the silverware.

An impressive first outing for these budding footballers who despite the big gaps between games and coming up against some real quality players represented the club in professional fashion. An immensely enjoyable occasion which I am sure made the parents very proud.

An excellent start to what I am sure will be the future of Merton FC.