Clippers Win Northumberland Classic

Hard work paid off for the Clippers who went undefeated and only gave up 1 goal against in the entire tournament.


Marching towards the hardware.

The champs.

Congrats to Shauna, awarded MVP in the final.

Security

Where would the girls be without their parents taking care of business? Pictured is a Brenda handling "security" on a recent road trip. With such a good looking team, often parents have to step in and handle boy control. She's overheard here enforcing the drinking in halls rule.

Clippers do other sports too!

Not a totally football related blog post. But let's here it for the U17 Clippers athletes that find time for other stuff.




Stephanie competed in OFSAA: Cross Country(4th), the 1500(6th), and the 3000(7th). Awesome results. But that's nothing, I've seen her do the beep test! Do they have provincial beep test competitions?
























Kristin helps Bayside SS to a Silver at OFSAA Rugby, at the flyhalf position and as the team convert kicker. Shown here with her cousin Olivia.





















Jenica, Sydney & Carli lead Syndenham SS charge to OFSAA Soccer . Too shy to submit photos.

Shauna wins the Regis "Senior Athlete of the Year"... As a grade 11!

Meredith rows...very well.

Final words

To the followers of this blog. The intent was to provide a simple glimpse of each days events. There were hundreds more pictures taken, and many, many more stories to tell. I will leave that up to each individual story teller.

To the young ladies. You certainly aren't kids any more. The maturity and enthusiasm each of you showed throughout the trip is something your parents and grandparents should be very proud of.

To the parents who tagged along. You provided transportation, food, somewhat dry clothes (wink), security, and hugs for everyone. It's obvious that you've done your jobs well, both as supporting cast, and parents.

To the coaches & management. How lucky are the ladies to have this leadership group, along with their spouses that helped prove such a great opportunity. We applaud you.

From this blogger (Ivan) and his family (Tracy & Kristin) to all of you. Back in October you extended an invitation to join your group, on this wonderful trip. We knew this was an opportunity, not to be missed. We thoroughly enjoyed each and every football match, drive, forty winks, meal, conversation, ferris wheel, u-turn, parent meeting, song, and the many laughs & smiles. Thanks to all of you for including us, and making us feel like part of your football family.

Disclaimer: Clippers 1991 - Shall not be responsible for any scratches, dings, missing hubcaps on van exteriors. Or mud, drool, sweat, vomit on van interiors. Senior citizens from various countries taken out with slide tackles during airport footie, should rest assured that red cards have been issued. Any UK newspaper articles reporting dangerous Canadian drivers causing mayhem, should be taken as purely coincidental. Names in all stories told, are expected to be changed to protect the innocent and/or guilty. We apologize for any attempts to access hot water in the hotel. We had nothing to do with shutting down the entire London subway system... honestly. All lyrics sung during the trip have been changed due to "unusual factors", as to not infringe on the original pub versions.

THE END

Back to Football

Today it was ALL about Football. The pictures speak for themselves, as we visited Old Trafford and watched a match at James Hargreaves Stand. Burnley falls to Wolverhampton 3-1.






Jon: "I was looking at the blog and there was one great photo of most of you on the Manchester United players bench, and I wondered what you were all thinking?"


Sorry Lisa, Jenica took the last booster seat...

Fancy a trip to London

Smashing day. Took the train into London

Visited the London Tower.




Parliament



Meet the Bobbies



And dropped in at the Queen's house

Hunky-dory Shopping

Thursday was shopping in Chester... Let's just say they shopped their heels off.


Followed by a great dinner at the restaurant attached to the hotel, run by our new mate Kevin. Who also fixes shoes.



Some sat at the table, some just slide under the table.

A cracking good day

The highlight of the day is of course the football victory (see entry below). However the trip to Wales, and Conway Castle was ace.


The town inside the walls was fab.


It included a little house for little people. The smallest house in Great Britain.


Or little families (Tracy is representing average height)

CLIPPERS WIN! CLIPPERS WIN!

Clippers shutout Stockport County 2-0. Goals by Shauna & Alex. Another great game by Meredith, who earned the shutout. The game featured high winds, driving rain by times, and a brief period of hail.

The day after hard lines

After a hard day on Tuesday, we took off to Liverpool. I'll try to add details later, but for now I'll just post a few pics.Clippers lost to an extremely talented Everton team. Congrats to Shauna on the first international goal. Gotta run, off to Conway Castle in Wales....

Narked

Just found out yesterday that the Manchester City vs. Tottenham Hotspurs game has been moved back to Sunday, at about the same time that we are flying out. Jon, who was narked, has sussed out a plan B. Details to follow...

Manchester - The City of Ferris Wheels

Following the Mancat match we where off to a bodged tour of the Manchester Museum. Well, everyone except Marie's van.

But she got there eventually. At the museum there was mommies
....and mommies

Animals

And skeletons
Then off to Harry Ramsden's World Famous Fish and Chips. Which we eventually got to after an extended Ferris Wheel tour (inside joke).
Which took a tad longer than expected....
But at the end of the day, everyone was full and happy.

Manchester 4 - Canada 0

Overall, a decent game by the Clippers, as they played the first place Mancat College team. The Manchester side averaged 2 to 3 years older. And obviously had the football genetics. Especially #7-Emma, a highly ranked player, who had 3 for the home side. The game was closer than the score indicated. In this bloggers humble opinion, Meredith's brilliant saves where the highlight of the game for the Clippers. All played well. Looking forward to the next game tomorrow, now that the nerves out of the way.

A good nosh

Went out to dinner at the Print Works. A collection of restaurants in central Manchester. Some had time for a ferris wheel ride.
The team was up at 7Am for football practice.....in the mud. Let's just say there was a lot of cleat cleaning in the bath tubs. A quick shower. And off to Sunday lunch, roast and yorkshire pudding at The Didsbury. After lunch a trip to The Trafford Centre mall. The ladies seemed to enjoy, go figure! And finally Happy Birthday to Meredith! Birthday cake for everyone.

Bob's your uncle

When all was said and done, we arrived at 12:12PM local time. Picked up the vans, and drove to lunch at "The Cheshire Tavern". Rookie lefty drivers Scott & Dale did a great job considering the lack of sleep and the backwards driving. Current we are all checked in to the hotel. Cloudy, light rain and 10c. Which seems "chuffed" compared to the current Ontario forecast. Will post photos after a good nights sleep.

Flight Delayed time for airport footie

So, our 9:40 PM flight is delayed until 11:00PM. Hey lets play footie!!!

Toad in the hole

Chips are NOT French fries. Chips are thicker and with a lot less salt, they are made by rough chopping a potato in to thicker squares and were traditionally eaten with salt and vinegar.

Some regional foods the ladies will be asking for on return home are:

Black pudding - A large sausage made from pigs blood, suet and seasonings.

Ploughmans lunch - In the United Kingdom, ploughman's lunch is a cold snack or meal, comprising at a minimum a thick piece of cheese (usually Cheddar, Stilton, or other local cheese), pickle (often Branston Pickle, sometimes piccalilli and/or pickled onions), crusty bap or chunk of bread, and butter. It is often accompanied by a green salad; other common additions are half an apple, celery, pâté, sliced hard boiled egg or beetroot. It is a common menu item in English pubs, often shortened when ordering to 'a ploughman's.'

Spotted dick- is a traditional English steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit (usually currants), which is usually served either with custard or with butter and brown sugar.

Toad in the hole -is a traditional British dish comprising sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter, usually served with vegetables and gravy.

Bubble and squeek - Left overs from day before

Spend a Penny - Slang Lesson 2

Knackered - The morning after twenty pints and the curry, you'd probably feel knackered. Another way to describe it is to say you feel shagged. Basically worn out, good for nothing, tired out, knackered.

Love bite - You call them hickies - the things you do to yourself as a youngster with the vacuum cleaner attachment to make it look like someone fancies you!

Mate - Most chaps like to go to the pub with their mates. Mate means friend or chum.

Nosh - Food. You would refer to food as nosh or you might be going out for a good nosh up, or meal! Either way if someone has just cooked you some nosh you might want to call it something else as it is not the nicest word to describe it.

Off your trolley - If someone tells you that you're off your trolley, it means you have gone raving bonkers, crazy, mad!

Pear shaped - If something has gone pear shaped it means it has become a disaster. It might be preparing a dinner party or arranging a meeting, any of these things can go completely pear shaped.

Quid - A pound in money is called a quid. It is the equivalent to the buck or clam in America. A five pound note is called a fiver and a ten pound note is called a tenner.

Rubbish - The stuff we put in the bin. Trash or garbage to you. You might also accuse someone of talking rubbish.

Spend a penny - To spend a penny is to go to the bathroom. It is a very old fashioned expression that still exists today. It comes from the fact that in ladies loos you used to operate the door by inserting an old penny.

Talent - Talent is the same as totty. Checking out the talent means looking for the sexy young girls (or boys I suppose).

Well - Well can be used to accentuate other words. for example someone might be "well hard" to mean he is a real man, as opposed to just "hard". Something really good might be "well good". Or if you were really really pleased with something you might be "well chuffed". Grammatically it's appalling but people say it anyway.

Yonks - "Blimey, I haven't heard from you for yonks". If you heard someone say that it would mean that they had not seen you for ages!

Zonked - If someone is zonked or "zonked out" it means they are totally knackered or you might say exhausted. When a baby has drunk so much milk, his eyes roll into the back of his head, it would be fair to say he was zonked!

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. Manchester has had city status since 1853, and a population of 452,000. Manchester lies at the centre of the wider Greater Manchester Urban Area which has a population of 2,240,230, the United Kingdom's third largest conurbation. It is also the second largest urban zone in the UK and the fourteenth most populated in Europe.

Forming part of the English Core Cities Group, and often described as the "Capital of the North", Manchester today is a centre of the arts, the media, higher education and commerce. In a poll of British business leaders published in 2006, Manchester was regarded as the best place in the UK to locate a business. A report commissioned by Manchester Partnership, published in 2007, showed Manchester to be the "fastest-growing city" economically. It is the third most visited city in the United Kingdom by foreign visitors and is now often considered to be the second city of the UK. Manchester was the host of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and among its other sporting connections are its two Premier League football teams, Manchester United and Manchester City.

Historically, most of the city was a part of Lancashire, with areas south of the River Mersey being in Cheshire. Manchester was the world's first industrialised city and played a central role during the Industrial Revolution. It was the dominant international centre of textile manufacture and cotton spinning. During the 19th century it acquired the nickname Cottonopolis, suggesting it was a metropolis of cotton mills. Manchester City Centre is now on a tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, mainly due to the network of canals and mills constructed during its 19th-century development.

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester

Bite your arm off

You know you're Canadian when you're looking forward to traveling to temperatures hovering around 9c with no snow. Better yet, we get to watch football. I'm as excited to watch the ladies play, as I am for the pro fixture. I will purposely refrain from using the term "soccer" in this blog to stay true to the roots of the game. So tomorrow we leave, should be an ace of a trip!

A little "Airport Footie" anyone

Best of British

Tomorrow we leave for Manchester. Time to brush up on your British slang!

Ace - If something is ace it is brilliant. I used to hear it a lot in Liverpool. Kids thought all cool stuff was ace, or brill.

Bite your arm off - This is not aggressive behaviour that a football fan might engage in. In fact it just means that someone is over excited to get something. For instance you might say that kids would bite your arm off for an ice cream on a sunny day.

Cheerio - Not a breakfast cereal. Just a friendly way of saying goodbye. Or in the north "tara" which is pronounced sort of like "churar".

Dishy - If someone is a bit of a dish or a bit dishy it means they are attractive or good looking.

Easy Peasy - A childish term for something very easy. You might say it's a snap.

Fancy - If you fancy something then it means you desire it. There are two basic forms in common use - food and people. If you fancy a cake for example it means you like the look of it and you want to eat it. If you see someone of (hopefully) the opposite sex then you might fancy them if you liked the look of them and wanted to get to know them a little better!!!

Gander - When I was a kid, my Dad often used to go off for a gander when we were visiting a new town or village. It means to look around.

Her Majesty's pleasure - When visiting England, try to avoid being detained at Her Majesty's pleasure. This means being put in prison with no release date!

Jammy - If you are really lucky or flukey, you are also very jammy. It would be quite acceptable to call your friend a jammy b****rd if they won the lottery.