hi guys and gals from wayne and punky

still alive despite scorchio temperatures and close encounter with a snake

a mixed bag of cowfolk plus wonderful guests from around the european circuit saw the cowfolk enter the first alternative world cup in south america hosted by club che guevara of jesus maria .

the womens team played admirably in heat and with no little skill and remained unbeaten, in fact winning both ( or was it 3 ) games scoring some cracking goals despite their high alcohol intake – congratulations and did the club proud

we were the only team to enter a mixed team in the comp plus were the oldest and in the near 40 degree heat struggled against youthful , speedy , skilful opponents who play together every week. coming last in the group finally managed to hold Pelada de Esquerda from rio to a draw – alas despite the best efforts of wayne the cat kelly we lost on pens ( in spanish cat is el gato but in these parts it means prostitute – is there a new job in the offing for wayne)

i must thank everybody who represented the cowfolk and the world xi for playing and partying in true cowfolk style and many new freinds have been made ( infact wayne and i are off to chile soon) and much respct to danilo ( los autonomos) and monika and crew ( club el che ) for all the the hard work that was put in

incidentally los autonomos won so as northern champs cowboys must play them in japan to see who is world club champs.

Hope you all well in the cold and snow

Punky and Wayne – chilling

in the shade

Netball report thus:

The 1′s won on Saturday against ‘Optimum’. I think the score was 24-17 but I’m awaiting conformation and players votes.

The too’s battled a very good team with a player down and lost 10-64. Carly and Rene got player from them and Carly, Rene and Fran from us.

The Downs A lost to Sneyd  Park Res in the League Cup.

The Downs B drew 2-2 with Bengal Tigers.

29/01/2012

The Sundays got their revenge on Avon Plate and beat them 3-4. Don’t forget that the Sundays continue the deference of the GFA Cup with a semi final on 12/02/2012 at the BAWA.

Downs B’s win 3-0, against Sneyd Park A.

Downs A’s draw 1-1 against Hare-On-The_Hill on the windiest day in history.

Suburbans lost 2-1 to Stoke Gifford.

Downs B’s beat Greens Park Rangers 4-2

Downs A’s beat GreyhoundFC 2-1

Suburbans beat Southmead CS Athletic Res  2-1

15/01/2012

The Sundays lost to Avon Plate 3-5

The Ultras lost to Mathern Casuals 1-2

After their first scheduled game of the year fell victim to the weather last weekend, the A’s put in a great team performance on a typically Downs pitch to warm the cockles with a valuable 3 points on a chilly January afternoon.

Having been under pressure in the early minutes, Cowboys took control of the game and put together some great passing moves going forward – Carmine Notaro, Max Oliver and Ian Riddle all linking up well in the opponents’ half, but it took some fleet-footed wizardry from Brendan Tate to break the deadlock, as he weaved inside a couple of defenders and unleashed a pinpoint shot from the edge of the box, which went in off the post.

The lead was short-lived though, as a sudden bout of A.D.D saw Greyhound equalise within a couple of minutes. A less-than-vicious shot in the penalty box taking a deflection off Cowboys skipper Steve Williams and bobbling into the net like a bewildered pensioner getting on a coach. Ever-dependable though, Williams didn’t duck his responsibility for the goal, saying after the match – “Sanzo, that was your fucking man who managed to get the shot in anyway”.

Nonetheless, the Cowboys’ lead was restored before the break, Ian Riddle’s shot getting a deflection and looping into the corner. In this case though, the deflection was almost irrelevant. The shot was DEFINITELY already both on target, and unsaveable. If anything, the deflection only slowed it down, and stopped it breaking the net with it’s fierce velocity. Honest.

Also worthy of note from the first half – Will Sanzo made a late bid for Oscar fame, whilst on the receiving end of a (genuine) foul. However, his efforts would be more suited to the “best comedy” section, rather than “drama”.

After the break, Greyhound stepped it up and enjoyed the better of things, but didn’t create many clear chances. “Fingertips” Franck Wilks made one excellent save, and in front of him the defensive unit had a great 45 minutes – well organised and breaking things up well. Olly Black put in a man of the match performance as a one-man wrecking crew in the midfield.

It was tense towards the end, but the Cowboys held out to leapfrog their opponents in the league, with league leaders Hare on the Hill to come next weekend.

To round off a great afternoon, there were also very welcome returns for Jess Tate, Adam Birch and Paul Murray from the subs bench – all looking sharp and back to enjoying some Football after all three endured a pretty hellish first half of the season injuries-wise.

Great team effort, and great spirit from everyone (same thing goes for the opponents as well, to be fair). Looking forward to big things for 2012.

10/12/2012

Downs A beat Lions FC 5-1 with Ian getting a hat-trick.

Downs B lost to Corinthians 1-0.

The Suburbans beat Ridings High 3-0.

Netball reports thus:

Well i have to say that saturdays game was a pretty poor show from the Too’s…as they could only russle up 4 players!!! Their captain did her very best to get a team out for the 10am game but ended up having to forfeit the game and possible points. It seemed a waste of everyones time to not have some sort of game tho, so instead she organised abit of a friendly! She even suggested doing it in fancy dress at one point!!
Calling on the Div 6′s to come forward at 8am on a saturday when they don’t have a match planned, it was a tall order!!! Well done to Lin Heal, Emma Whitaker, and our one more Mare( Mary Coohill) for getting out of bed (or at least postponing getting INto bed!) and coming over to The Grange to play a game of our beloved Netball!! ….and in case you were wondering…..we made a unanomous desision not to mention the score……

11/12/2012

The Casuals drew with Bryan Munich 1-1.

The Ultra Casuals drew 2-2 with Real Qualita Qualita.

The Sundays lost to Portishead Elite 2-4.

Skipper Steve Williams decided to make the match slightly more competitive, by making the Cowboys play into the sun in the first half. A tactical move as dazzling as the sun itself, which bore down on every Cowboys attack.

Easton came out of the blocks sharply and enjoyed the better of the posession and chances from the first whistle, and Ian Riddle put them ahead early on, capitalising on some woeful defending from a corner to poke the ball home from all of 3 yards.

The Cowboys pressured but were kept at bay for some time to follow, but Max headed home superbly at the near post from film-guru come tough-tackling midfielder Dave Owen’s pinpoint cross to make it 2-0 at the break.

Refreshed, and playing for ‘pride’ (see what I did there?), Lion came out strongly in the second half, and pulled a goal back, despite the offside flag being waved furiously by Olly Black on the far side of the pitch. The referee decided to over-rule his well positioned assistant though, to allow the visitors back into the game.

Their challenge was to be short-lived though, as fitness, work-rate and a bit of quality made the difference for the Cowboys, and Ian restored their 2 goal lead with a finish from close range.

Max scored a superb fourth, his second of the game, from long-range, before Ian concluded the scoring with a good finish to nail his hat-trick.

An excellent performance all-round – the back 4 will have more taxing days at the office, but were well-organised, and coped admirably with the oppositions ‘sorties’ into Easton territory – Kev Davis put in an excellent shift for the full 90, Ali Dale and Steve took control and dealt with everything thrown at them, and Will Sanzo impressed in the first half at left-back, clearly aware of the salivating Paul Murray watching on from the sidelines.

In the middle, the guys linked up well and interchanged between positions expertly to keep Lion guessing, and with five goals between them Ian and Max were (somewhat evidently) a constant goal threat going forward.

There were no fouls, or incidents of flared tempers, worthy of note in the game. Not one. Honest.

Intriguingly the SoccerWorld website says the following about the Suburban’s GFA Cup match:

Bitton Res PP Easton Cowboys Suburbia (P.Porter)

Downs A got beaten by Torpedo Res. 2-1

Downs B got beaten by Clifton Rockets Res. 4-2

04/12/2011

The Sundays inch closer to defending their GFA title beating 3 Lion Vets 3-7

The Ultra Casulas lost to Redstar Redland 2-0

Also, don’t forget that the Palestine Film Festival starts tomorrow with a couple of films and Ken Loach at the Watershed from 6pm. Jesse Tate’s film about the Cowboys in the West Bank, “Over The Wall“,  is on Thursday 8th at the Cube.

Also, also don’t forget that Hydra Books, Bristol band new radical bookshop is now open at 34 Old Market.

26/11/2011

Netball reports thus:

Too,s lost this sat 6-30 against Skylarks who are currently unbeaten this season. An unfortunate accident in the first quarter sent our Kerry Collins to Frenchey A&E with a dislocated little finger, ouch! Cat Furness stepped in. We defended well for the first 3 quarters with our Emma Whitaker in GD awarded player of the match by us, but the oppositions defence was also excellent and we struggled to get any goals in. The last quarter we made a swap in order to try and increase our goal score, which worked, however it also meant our defence weakened and the opposition more than doubled their goal score in this quarter. Kim Tilbrook was awarded player of the match by them.

The Suburbans beat Glensides Old Boys 3-1.

Downs A beat Jersey 2-0. The match report is here.

Downs B lost to Torpedo 1-2

27/11/2011

The Sundays beat Portishead Elite 5-3

The Casuals lost to Stroud 2-3. PC reports thus: “we were rubbish”.

And finally our friends from Leicester, FC Kolektivo Victoria, won their first ever competitive game, they reported thus on Facebook:

FC KOLEKTIVO VICTORIA 8-2 THE ABBEY Beyond the wildest expectations of even the most optimistic soul, the mighty FCKV won their first ever league game, with an epic display of total football. With only six players, and a new, spongy 3G pitch, the team apprehensively took to the field. James was elected captain mainly because he has the nicest hair and set the modest target of scoring at least one goal, and Lee in goal was hoping not to damage his back by picking the ball out of the net so often. Captain James (as he will be known forever) picked up the ball (not literally, although he likes to handle it during the Sunday kickabout at least three times), beat two players, before playing Simon in. Simon, angered by playing against a team in sky blue, rifled the ball into the bottom corner. FCKV had scored! The game was energetic, and despite some excellent saves from Lee, The Abbey equalised. The bald eagle in goal was on the receiving end of some barracking from The Abbey’s fan club, who were outsinging the FCKV contingent (one), until he launched the ball forward, misty eyed nostalgia of Wimbledon ’88 fresh in his mind. Nilz chased the ball down, and with a majestic touch rolled the ball into the corner to make it 3-1. After that, FCKV took all the best bits from the Sunday kickabout, and achieved great success. Nilz completed his hat-trick, including a wonderful goal from 20 yards. Simon scored his second, Captain James scored an excellent curling shot, before going on another mazy run. Hair falling into his eyes, he had the chance to score his second of the evening, or lay it to Nilz to score his fourth. As he went for ther pass, imagine the sheer horror as it was not the clinical finisher running onto the ball but defensive rock, colossus, superman Neil Skinner. As the birds in the sky braced themselves, Skinner delicately side footed the ball into the net. Reevesie, whose excellent tackles and bursting runs from defence had created many an attack, scored a deserved goal at the end to ensure that all five outfield players scored. With the score at 8-1 FCKV unfortunately conceded a deflected effort, which was in no way an own goal by Skinner. It was a deflection. Definitely. After eighteen months of the friendly football kickabout, two tournaments in the height of summer, and the friendly games against the FIFA teams, this victory was beyond our expectations. Every player played to their strengths, and it was a wonderful reward for the fun that has been generated on Sundays. We look forward to next week’s contest. Special thanks to Habib, who came to support the team, and who we hope to see playing very soon. FORZA FCKV! Wonderful performances all round. Team: Lee, Skinner, Reevesie, James, Nilz, Simon Goals: Nilz (3), Simon (2), James, Skinner, Reevesie Own Goals: Definitely not Skinner

Riddle’s ‘cultured’ left foot hit both the goals in a 2-0 win, the second one a particularly spectacular volleyed lob from 20 yards.

Both teams were given a pre-match boost, with the news that there was no ref, and that the dashing Mr G. Boulton would be taking to the pitch to fill the void – strutting around the turf like an authoritarian Peacock on a poorly-maintained giant catwalk.

The Cowboys were quickest out of the blocks and Senor Riddle opened the scoring with a low shot into the corner. Ally Dale went close with a salmon-esque leap and header from a corner as well before the break, and the midfield were passing it round magnificently at times.

Having started the game like a man possessed, the Cowboys lost Striker Nathan Stokes though halfway through the first period to a foot injury, which would later prove to be a broken Metatarsal. Very nasty. Naturally everyone’s keeping everything crossed for a quick recovery. His departure did though, pave the way for wily veteran Ash Sands’ return to the side after more than a month out. Wicked to see the big man back.

The only other thing that really sticks out from the first half was County League-exile Goalkeeper Franck “Judas” Wilks absolutely clattering skipper Steve Williams. Somehow there was a breakdown in communication at the back between defender and keeper which left Williams a crumpled heap on the floor – a breakdown in communication made all the more confusing given Franck’s usual repertoire of calls. Somehow, either “AWAY”, or “FRANCK” didn’t make sense to messers Williams and Wilks. Either way – it was funny.

After the break, Ian deftly finished his second of the game after some good work by Ash, and Dave Owen put in a “noteworthy” challenge at the other end to ensure the score remained 2-0.

Solid performances front to back though, and some good Football played at times.

Win our two games in hand, and we’re just three points off the top.

Look out.