September 2002
News

University of Bradford Old Boys FC

Earlier this year, members of the University of Bradford alumni from the 1970s and 1980s came together for a rare invitation to the Hong Kong Masters' Sevens. News and Views asked Director of Physical Recreation, Steve Teasdale, to tell us about it.

"Old footballers never die, apparently, they end up, instead, in the Philips Hong Kong Football Club Masters' Sevens Tournament. The event was staged within the exotic and quite wonderful surroundings of the Happy Valley race course, on facilities about which we can only dream.

"A motley collection of University of Bradford alumni from the 1970s and 1980s came together for a rare invitation to the Masters' Sevens over the weekend of the 25th/26th May 2002. The event, entry to which is by invitation only, was graced by such star names as Jurgen Klinsmann, Chris Waddle, Alan Kennedy, Phil Neal, John Wark, Paul Walsh, Tony Morley, Pierre Littbarski, John Hendrie, Steve Pears, Chris Kamara, Gordon Cowans, Paul Allen, Steve Hodge, Danny McGrain, Bob Bolder and Barry Horne, to name but a few. Klinsmann, now retired, still moves like Nijinsky. Chris Waddle, still shambling about, is still capable of flashes of genius.

"The squads were composed of players over the age of 40, with three squad members between the ages of 35 and 40. The Bradford team, (we're still not sure how we got in!) flew in variously from Atlanta, Singapore, Bangkok and Heathrow and comprised Nigel Hopkinson, Martin Quinn, Digby Ingle, Peter Brooks, Eddie Kelly, Simon Boardman, Graeme Tamblyn-Jones and Brian McAughey, all ex-members of the University's football club and all now part of the newly formed Old Boys F.C. We enjoyed a guest appearance from Tony Bratsanos, a Liverpudlian and a leading light at the Hong Kong club. Steve Teasdale, Director of Physical Recreation, being too crippled to play, acted as coach, manager, kit boy and sponge & bucket man.

"Needless to say, Philip's All Stars, with Chris Waddle et al, won the Master's tournament. The youth teams of Arsenal, West Ham, Celtic, Aston Villa and several "local" sides contested the open tournament with Villa coming out on top with some quite exquisite football. The standard of the "local" sides was also very good, demonstrating the fantastic interest in the game in Asia and Oceania. Additionally, there were entries from Penang, Bondi, Auckland, Middlesbrough F.C., Taiwan, Knutsford and Isleworth, not to mention Bradford. We managed a little ambassadorial work with a small piece in the tournament programme and were, with others, featured in the local media. Channel 4 is reportedly going to carry a small piece on it.

"If New York is so good they named it twice, we've just been to Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong."

Steve Teasdale

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