Eels Blogs

If Parramatta goes from wooden spooners to Premiers in 2014 it will rate as one of the great fairy tale sporting stories of all time. Well, just to prove that fairy tales can come true, here’s how I spent my Sunday.

Late on Friday, I got a call from the club secretary of Wenty, saying that a spot had opened up in the Under 7 knockout competition for Sunday and would my team (I coach 7/2s) like to play. I spent Friday night contacting the parents to see if we could pull together a team and it looked like we’d have seven or eight (eight play at a time in mini-football) so we decided to enter.

We get to Richie Benaud Oval on Sunday morning and I’ve got texts from two parents of sick/unavailable kids and suddenly I’m down to five. I ask the organisers if we can still play with five because I wanted the boys to at least get a run after showing up and they tell me that’s fine. They then do the draw and we get a “pool of death”. We’ve drawn last year’s winning Knock-out team and last-year’s Semi-Final side. Obviously, it’s not such a big deal because with five players we’re hardly there competing for trophies but I was kind of hoping for them to get games they would at least be competitive in.

So we run out for our first game against last-year’s semi-finalists with our five players, and the referee informs us that we can’t play without six. I’m not sure what to do at this stage, so I ask the ref to hang on and I run across to the sideline to tell the parents. And that’s when I see a little guy fully kitted out in his Wenty gear watching our game. I ask him if he’s a registered Under Six player and he says he is, so I ask him to take me to his parents. After a quick conversation there, I’ve signed him up on the spot and we’ve got our six players and can get a game.

We put up a credible effort, scoring three tries but obviously we get pretty convincingly beaten. However, prior to the next match, I spot another Wenty Under 6 boy who we also ask to play. He’s not kitted up, though, he’s got dress shorts and shirts and no boots but we give him a jersey and we’re now up to seven. We play our next game and we win, however, the referee says he won’t let our latest recruit play again unless he has proper gear next time.

We get some shorts and socks imported in for him, but can’t find any fitting boots. So we begin a post-match ritual of him swapping boots after every game with one of the boys from our first division team. We play the tournament favourites and get massacred but that puts us into the consolation Knock-Out.

One of the parents goes and buys each of the boy’s a Maccas Happy Meal for their efforts, which my boys proceed to chow down on during the lunch break, while most of the other teams keep training. In the draw we get a winnable first game, before we likely have to face a Division One team in the semi. Oh well, if we get five games in when we almost weren't allowed to play at all, its a bit of a bonus I tell myself. We comfortably win that first game, and my little original Under 6 ring-in gets two tries and is having an absolutely ball.

Then a minute before the semi-final, one of my U7 boys, who is one of our best defenders shows up. He had a commitment in the morning but came down just in case he might get a game and we throw a jersey on him and tell him to get out onto the park and finally we’re able to field a full-team for the first time during the day.

My boys absolutely tackle the house down, and we record a massive upset against the Division One side and win three tries to one. Through to the consolation Grand Final!

In the Grand Final, we’re up against the Junior Eels, who hosted the Knockout. They have one very quick boy who constantly causes us trouble and they score first. However, we keep pegging them back and after a nerve-wracking 30 minutes we end the match locked at 18 all. My boys have scored four tries to three, but we’re not great goal kickers and so we go into extra time. One more period of five minutes. We’re told if the scores are still tied, it goes to the team who won the first penalty, which was the Eels.

Their quick boy scores first and we’re down again with just a couple of minutes on the clock. Both sides almost score, but neither can land a late telling blow. Then with literally seconds to go, our dummy half performs a miraculous contortion to get the ball down in a three-man tackle on the last and the scores are again tied! The referee blows full-time and we have a kick that will decide the match. If we kick it, we win, if not, the opposition wins on the penalty count back.

In mini-football, you have to share the kicking around. We’ve already used all of our best kickers and I’ve only got one boy left who has ever kicked a goal. He lines it up, with the world on his shoulders. Steps in, kicks. It’s got plenty of air, but it's headed right. It hits the upright. And bounces back in over the cross-bar! Wenty wins :-)

I’ve watched a lot of football in my life, but I can honestly say that match was the most exciting, tense and dramatic game I’ve ever seen. And it just goes to prove, sporting miracles do happen!