Volunteer Arms Football Club » Team Updates

Happy Hannukah, Happy Christmas, Happy Birthday, Happy New Year

treestump89 — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:28:44 +0000

Here I am once again apologising for a pretty lax period in keeping you up to date. As we are pretty much on the estimated birthdate of VAFC I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone who’s ever helped in anyway, whether as players, kit washers, or just nutcases pretending to be managers (cheers wullie). I’d like to especially thank Nigel for generously paying for our excellent new kit which everyone loves, and I can assure you we’ll be in the pub more once we get back to playing at Fisherrow.

A wee housekeeping note, the vafc2008.com domain expires next month so i’ve bought a new one, volunteerarmsfc.com which will come in to use probably next week sometime, but expect some bother with the changeover.

The year ended on a bit of a sour note with a defeat by Sykes, who then proceeded to further prove their illigitemacy by refusing to pay for a cancelled pitch. All of us at VAFC wish Barrie Wilkins a less than successful 2010.

As of next week we will have a 5-a-side department too. I’ve entered a team into the Ideal Leisure 5-a-side set up at Napier University. Unfortunately the timing means only us layabouts will be able to play as its Wednesdays at 4:30pm. However im sure we will still taste sweet success and I might even nab the ever elusive goal and reveal one of the many superb celebrations ive been stockpiling.

Anyway expect more in depth coverage throughout 2010, and the next proper game is only around the corner as we are in negotiations with our pals at 1811 Witchery and Teuchters FC to sort something out very shortly.

Keep the faith

Summer Catch Up

treestump89 — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:51:21 +0000

Howdy, apologies for the lack of activity but i spent most of July in LA completely devoid of footballing action. It was a difficult time but was great to get a fantastic break somewhere totally different. Plenty action to comment on now though. Before I went away we managed to squeeze in an incredible encounter against Teuchters FC in the OCSL. A sweltering hot day that set the scene perfectly for this top of the table clash. A ding dong battle ensued with whistler Chris Muir keeping an eye on things. In a match that saw VAFC take a 2-1 lead from a tremendous Mark Valentine brace the smart money would have been on the Volleys but the relentless Teuchters made the best of a smash and grab job and snuck away with the 3 points in a bag marked swag. With Teuchters top of the league i felt apprehensive about leaving the team with such a crucial match against Sykes to get our campaign back on track, and thankfully the match was cancelled very late on and is scheduled to be played next week, possibly Tuesday. Roughly a month before I went on holiday I organised a particularly challenging match against Dunedin FC who play in the LEAFA Amateurs leage. I never envisaged how challenging it would turn out to be with 7 Staggs men on the pitch come kick off. Eventually we had to borrow 3 of their subs, one of which a goalkeeper which meant Mike Kinsella had to play outfield for the match. Despite how much of a difficult match we faced we held them for nigh on 40 minutes and were unfortunate to go into the break 1-0 down. It was an exciting match and a real challenge to fitness in the sweltering August heat. Dunedin walked out 5-2 winners but VAFC never lacked ambition and have nothing to be ashamed about, particularly considering Owen Kinsella’s characteristicly crisp finish for one of our goals. This match also turned out to be the debut of the new strips that finally arrived. Colin Campbell has done a fantastic job on these and we’ll get a team picture up after the Sykes game. Now the focus is on the remaining OCSL games and the competition has really opened up thanks to Dunbar beating Teuchters in Dunbar and now it really is anbody’s league. I’ll post a table as soon as i can figure it out.

Keep the faith

Apology Accepted

treestump89 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:23:43 +0000

I received a reply to my email to the Wester Hailes Baptist Church containing a full apology. In the words of the guy who replied to me, hopefully the two teams can move on from this and sporting behaviour will be the order of the day from now on.

Keep the faith

Quick Update 19/4/2009

treestump89 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 08:19:46 +0000

Thought I’d best kee you all up to date. I’m currently eating lots of chorizo and doing some wiring in my uncle’s house near Valencia. However VAFC is never far from my mind. Unfortunately there is no further progress on a fixture despite me spending about £3 on 6 texts to Amos and its getting frustrating because we cant seem to nail down a date. However he did inform me about a summer 7 a side league they are going to enter and I think it would be advantageous for us to join it. I’ll hear more about this when i get back to Edinburgh on Friday. Also on Friday Richie has asked some of us to help him out and turn out in the famous Black and Black of Teuchters FC in a match in Dunbar. Hopefully in my absence Owen has sorted this out.

Anyways, must dash i’m off to watch Valencia vs Seville in the flesh.

Keep the faith

Strip and Opposition Update 5/4/2009

treestump89 — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:33:48 +0000

Just time for a bit of an update. First and foremost as I mentioned in the Wester Hailes match report there has been major progress on the strips. Nigel has initially agreed to cover the costs 100%, but wanted to take a week or so to consider the decision. I will be trying to speak to him this Wednesday to find out what the story is and if he gives us the green light I’ll have them ordered on Thursday morning. They will be the design I’ve already posted up about a month or so ago, but with one wee difference. After hearing from Gordon Mackenzie that he had a contact in the strip making business I checked him out, but there isn’t much price difference, so due to the brilliant service I’m going to stick with soccerdirect for the strips themselves and the sponsorship printing. But I’ll be making use of Gordon’s contact Colin Campbell Sports because he does embroidered badges at a small increase in cost (£3 for soccerdirectfc.co.uk to print the badges, and £6 for Colin Campbell to embroider). Essentially this just means the strips will last a lot longer and the badges wont wash off as this kind of printed stuff generally tends to do.

Secondly, I’m really really struggling to try and get some opposition for the coming week. I’ve tried Musselburgh Baptist FC but they are in an injury crisis and wouldn’t be able to pull a team together. I also tried Arthur’s Feet FC from the intra mural league, but their man in charge is in Shetland this week and promisingly they are up for a game the week after. The Witchery haven’t got back to me yet, and after their recent success in the Plockton Super Cup it would be very quality to bring them back down to earth with a bump at Fisherrow. Unfortunately I don’t think Teuchter’s will be up for a 4th game on the bounce against us, but if push comes to shove I will ask Richie tomorrow. Its too soon to play Wester Hailes again, and even if they wanted to they would probably want to bring us to Wester Hailes, which would be dreadful. The final avenue I’m exploring is The Meadows Bar, who don’t officially really have a team but last year they were down at the meadows twice weekly with a pair of nets pulling in a brilliant summer kickabout every time from a random pool of players roughly 100 strong. They haven’t got back to me yet, and hopefully they will return my text tomorrow. Big Gordon is currently in negotiations with the Napier University captain to pull together a bit of squad to play us, which currently seems the most likely team to give us a game, but still very uncertain. As you can see i’m pretty desperate so anybody with any other contacts, please do not hold back on asking/bullying them into playing us next week.

Keep the faith

Latest News 9/3/2009

treestump89 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:58:33 +0000

Alright, not really much to report but felt a wee update was necessary. Feedback from the Witchery game is 100% positive. Everybody was wholly able to walk away from the game with head held high and the progress from the last match is truly massive. Consensus is that we are building up a good head of steam and I’m trying to pick up a couple more fixtures against intra mural sides. I’ve been in touch with the people at Edinburgh Uni and they have kindly sent an email out on my behalf telling all the teams that we’re looking for games. In particular i’m chasing up teams from the same division as the Witchery and Jerry West Ham FC are the only team I’ve managed to directly e-mail thanks to one of the Witchery boys giving me the captain’s email.

Another small piece of business is the ongoing saga of the strips. After our game last week I left the sample top in the care of the staff at the pub for Nigel to peruse after his holiday and hopefully a meeting can take place shortly after his return. One brilliant thing is that we’ve now got June Cassidy on our side and we’re now pretty much guaranteed success. On top of this progress I’ve planted a thought in Chris Hoban of edinburghwhiskyblog.com‘s head. As they are a newly started enterprise seeking advertising I’ve approached him about making them our short sponsors for a small fee. Progress report on this to follow soon.

Bit more interest is building up in the team now and we’ve just today broken the 2000 hits mark, which I reckon is pretty quality for a couple months. Attendances are on the up too and it’s only a matter of time until we merit our own 50 seater stadium.

Keep the faith

Team Update 1/3/2009

treestump89 — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:05:46 +0000

Alright, just a quick shout. Firstly to say that instead of going to the arctic wastes of Craigmillar to watch the Witchery I stayed in bed, both yesterday and today. In my defense I was working till about 3am on Saturday morning, and as for this morning I had to get stuck into some of the 800 pages of 19th century literature I have to read for tomorrow.

Bit of a shame I didn’t go and watch yesterday because they were on their absolute peak form and they thrashed Tigerhawks FC 6-0 with a performance that saw Amos scoring what seems to be a quality overhead kick. Not entirely sure how they got on today against the cleverly named Michael Jackson’s Under 9s but if they kept up the form they were on yesterday victory can all but be assumed. Some good squad news for the big rematch on Tuesday, apparently Owen has found a ‘Massive Polish Guy’ to play in goals (possibly Grzegorz Szamotulski) and a couple other new additions to cover for injuries and unavailability. One player finally making a triumphant return to the squad since his debut is Ken Dick looking to come on in the last 10 minutes and nab a sly goal like last time.

Anyways all is going well, no dropouts, the witchery are getting knackered, and the strips have been washed. All we need now is for Tuesday to come round.

Keep the faith

Team Update 26/2/2009

treestump89 — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:17:08 +0000

Alright, some quality news this morning. The sample strip I had ordered arrived, very promptly I might add. I’m absolutely delighted with the result, Ian at soccerdirectfc.co.uk has done a brilliant job on touching up the badge and the sponsor for me for no extra charge. So here’s the grand unveiling.

Strip - back

Strip – front

Total cost of the top is roughly 20 odd quid. The first thing I need to do is go show this to Nigel and depending on what kind of sponsorship he can give us I’ll be able to work out a price for an entire squad of them, with socks as well. An incentive to raise more of the money from the boys themselves will be to get the boys to pay the full price of a top if they want it printed like the one I’ve just bought, I reckon it’s a small price to pay for a quality product with a good personal touch.

Another important piece of news is that everything has been confirmed for our game against the Witchery on Tuesday. We’ve got a pretty strong squad together and the fact that the game will be Witchery’s 3rd in 4 days makes me think they may be a wee bit tired and injury stricken come Tuesday. I got a call from good old Chris Muir the other night as well, pretty much asking to referee the game so naturally I’ve booked him for what will hopefully prove to be a firey affair. I’m also planning on catching the Witchery’s next two intra mural league games to pick up some kind of tactical knowledge, true dedication to the team as both matches are 10am kick offs at the windswept wasteland that is the Jack Kane centre.

Anyways, I’ve got a busy couple days ahead compiling a dossier on opposition and going cap in hand to Nigel for a bit of sponsorship and hopefully it will all culminate in good news.

Keep the faith

Update 23/2/2009

treestump89 — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:35:52 +0000

Alright guys, some major steps forward today. Firstly during a massively entertaining 19th Century Literature and Culture lecture I text Gordon Mackenzie for a check up on his progress and also to pick up the number for Ewen Amos from 1811 Witchery FC. His reply contained good news, and bad news. In customary fashion I’ll give you the bad news first, his knee is still pretty mashed and he’s out for another few weeks minimum. The good news is that the Witchery boys are well up for a rematch and he dropped me Amos’ number. So I set about negotiations with Amos and it’s game on for Tuesday the 3rd of March at good old Fisherraw with a 7.30pm kick off. Surely a glorious fixture to herald the return of pitch 1 at Fisherrow.

The next major item of business that occurred today is that I ordered a sample strip from soccerdirectfc.co.uk . I decided to ring them after falling out of touch with Jaz and his colleague Ian was incredibly helpful in setting things up for me and is actually sorting out the sponsor’s logo and also the curvature of the motto on the badge. This guy is a genius if he can do it as after 6 hours of trying I had to admit defeat. Anyway, I ordered a Bilbao style top in emerald with Dicky number 5 on the back and of course our badge and sponsor. I’m counting down the hours until it arrives and I’ll fire a picture up as soon as it does.

Hopefully once this arrives we’ll be able to meet with Nigel and come to some sort of agreement that sees us order a full set and get some punters showing up to support the boys on the pitch. With all this quality news I remain hopeful the boys can turn this into success on the pitch and we really need to step up our game against The Witchery to avenge the defeat at St Daves.

Keep the faith

Psychological Psychology 20/2/2009

treestump89 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:32:10 +0000

It has suddenly become evident to me just how important psychology is in sport. When there is a massive collision between the faeces and the fan and everyone is losing their head around you its pretty difficult to pick 10 other people up off the floor, both physically and mentally. I’ve been pretty pensive since our game on Tuesday and trying to find a solution to the challenges that we are facing. In this context I’m not on about any tactical problems or positional issues as have been highlighted by the Mulgrew family. I’m talking about galvanising the squad now that we have a regular bank of players we call on and now have an idea of the perfect squad. It’s critical at this stage to develop the group from 14 or 15 individuals into a footballing machine with 14 or 15 independent parts that work together and can rely on each other as back up when an issue does crop up.

Since we have overcome the first problem of establishing a solid group of players that are able to dedicate themselves to the club the next logical step is to collect them all under a single banner. I’m talking about having the pride of playing for your badge and your colours. As generous as Gordon Mackenzie was in donating a set of old Plockton FC strips its pretty evident that to build any credibility and unify the team we need our own real strip. Regular readers will know that I was in communications with Jaz from soccerdirectfc.co.uk and actually was at the stage where I was going to order a sample strip to show the boys and Nigel from Staggs. Unfortunately the communication broke down, but with recent developments and some pretty atrrcative offers on their site I’m trying to chase up Jaz again next week and will hopefully have something solid by the end of next week.

As is evident from my approach to the match report it is instrumental to the team’s mentality to pick out positives from such a game, but I have now realised I need to carry this from the realms of cyberspace to on the pitch during games. Its a definite learning curve and personally I feel that I’m picking up leadership wise from game to game and I now need to focus on the entire team, rather than just my own realm of defence.

Something important I’m workin on is to avenge our recent run of poor results with a rematch against the Witchery. I reckon with the squad we played against The God Squad we could certainly give the Witchery a better run for their money and on the sacred ground at Fisherrow we will be able to do the job. If we can manage to do this it would be such a huge boost to the boys psychologically and we’ll soon be back in business.

Keep the faith