2. TFC/OSM Event 2016
It was the turn of Thamesview this year to host OSM 75 for the 2016 Easter Tournament, the 30th Anniversary Edition. This was the biggest event yet as 115 people including 3 squads of players, parents & officials on 2 coaches made their way to Gillingham from Utrecht.
In all, 6 TFC squads were involved this year, with 2 each in the U12's, U13's & U14's making arrangements to Host the Dutch players and try their best in the Tournament!
The 'Meet 'n' Greet' saw the OSM party arrive mid-afternoon at the Star Meadow Club where the boys got to play some football, grab a bite to eat and meet the host families whilst the parents could relax for a while. In addition, our Dutch friends brought over some wonderful gifts from Holland as a thank you to the hosting parents, as is the tradition.
By the time everyone had settled in, all the OSM players went back with their hosts for the evening, whilst the Dutch parents and officials went to the King Charles Hotel with everyone looking forward to the next few days of fun.
Saturday saw all the players and many adults off to Mayhem South-East to play Paintball, hosted by former Thamesview Manager & OSM Cup Winner, Tommy Davey. After everyone got kitted out, locked & loaded, it was out onto the battlefield where the paintball warriors tried to get the best scores in battles for their team - who would win; Red, Blue, Black or Green?!
After a fun packed day, the Paintball finished where the Red team came out on top with a victory in the last game. Everyone was tired and sore in some cases but could look back enjoying a fantastic day playing war-games on the paintball field. After returning to the Hotel, all the players went back with their hosts to spend an evening relaxing and preparing for the tournament on the next day.
The weather on the Sunday for the tournament was not ideal with high winds, rain & hailstones but as proven the day before, these players were Warriors so they ensured a competitive day of football was played. With Playfootball.net hosting the BBQ and being the main centre of things, the games were played up on the Howard School pitches with 3 groups of 4:-
Under 12
Thamesview Youth
Thamesview United
OSM 75
Pegasus 81
Under 13
Thamesview Youth
Thamesview United
OSM 75
Pegasus 81
Under 14
Thamesview Youth
Thamesview Rangers
OSM 75
Hempstead Valley
With the weather making life difficult for all the players, the games continued through the day with each age group culminating with the Cup games. This year, the 3 games of TFC Youth v OSM were to decide the Cup. The Under 12's Youth set things up nicely with a narrow 1-0 win over OSM before the Dutch gained a game back with a 4-0 win over the Under 13's Youth meaning it fell to the last game of the day to decide the 2016 TFC/OSM trophy. This year fortunately, the Under 14's managed to put in a great performance to get a 4-0 victory over OSM thus giving the Trophy to Thamesview for the first time in 6 years!
Despite the weather, all the teams played well, especially ALL our Thamesview teams who gained some credible results, whilst OSM and our guest teams performed well in dreadful footballing conditions. After the tournament is was time to refresh and go to the evening Disco and presentation at the St George Hotel.
The evening Party gave everyone a chance to get together one last time with lots of dancing, singing and togetherness as the Presentations led to some big cheers while the Cups and medals were presented and Thamesview finally got their hands back on the Cup! At the end it was time for one last sleep as everyone, now very tired and exhausted from a packed weekend, made their way back home or to the hotel.
The Monday is always hard for everyone and this year was no exception as the goodbyes and farewells from both parties took centre stage before the Dutch departed for Home. This was the time for everyone to start reflecting on a weekend that means so much more than just football and the memories built up by everyone will always we there on the making of new and continued relationships between our two special clubs....
Huge thanks must go to all our host families, all the players & officials - especially some of our Thamesview people, our venues and service providers plus last but not least Erwin, Jacques and Rick with their OSM Management team arranging the visit to us - Bravo!
Thamesview will be going OSM next Easter in the 31st Tournament, Year 30 - let's make it another year to remember in 2017 and see if we can keep the Cup!
Links to pictures and the TFC/OSM Microsite:-
Rob McCormick's Pictures:-