Issue 4 – Wednesday 2 August
Pass for Peace: It’s all kicking off
Pass for Peace Team
The much hyped Global Village football tournament, Pass For Peace, has finally begun with several exciting first round ties and eye-catching performances.
The opening match of the tournament took place on Monday 31st July, and saw Village 26 of Green Turtle Town wrap up a convincing 7 - 4 victory over neighbours Village 22, with V26 leading by six goals to nil at one point. Their prize for this victory will be a second round tie with Village 23, whose Austrian and Danish stars helped secure a 4 - 1 win over Village 24.
The dreaded penalty shoot-out reared its ugly head in the clash between Green Turtle's Village 29 and Village 28 after a 1 - 1 stalemate after normal time, with Harry Byrne netting for V29. It would appear that V29 kept their cool better than V28 as they managed to win the shoot-out 3 - 1. The spirit of Pass for Peace was reflected in the match as V29 sportingly allowed V28 to have an extra two players.
The match of the day, however, was to be in the Yellow Parrot group where Village 19 took on Village 16 in a tense encounter. 16 took an early lead but were pegged back by 19 who equalised and then went on to take the lead thanks to an audacious flick from Lithuanian frontman Romualdas Urbonas. Urbonas almost added to his tally in the second half when a powerful header flew just over. Despite heavy pressure from V16, they were not able to make some promising moves count and were punished when man of the match Matthew Taylor scored with a fine solo effort to make sure of a 3 - 1 win for V19.
The field next to the Cornwallis Building witnessed two very intriguing games on Tuesday morning. In the match that kicked off first, the second round tie between Village 26 and Village 23 in the Green Turtle Group, V23 narrowly edged out V26 2 - 0 and will now play in their group final. Meanwhle in the Yellow Parrot Group, the true spirit of the 'Pass For Peace' tournament was there for all to see: hordes of supporters, enthusiasm and a match played in a fair manner between Villages 14 and 21 all made for an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately there had to be a winner and it was V14 that ran out eventual 4 - 3 winners. Particularly pleasing about this fixture was the way that both teams sent out their elfins and pioneers in the first half, followed by their venturers and district fellows in the second. This meant that everyone got a fair game and a chance to play. At one point, in this friendly encounter, two daring streakers ran onto the pitch. The crowd went wild.
Unfortunately 'Pass For Peace' reps cannot attend and write up all matches, but if you would like to see your village featured in the 'Global Voice', feel free to drop in a short summary of your match to the media centre and we will endeavour to include them in the paper. Keep in mind all first round matches should have been played by now and results and future fixtures are available to view in your town marquee. We will also be visiting villages to keep you informed.
Already some teams are through to the third round, perhaps this should act as a wake-up call to those who haven't yet played their second (or even their first!) match. Remember, it is not difficult to "Pass for Peace", just meet up with the Village you are scheduled to play and have a kick around. In every town marquee you will find fixtures and don't forget to post your results.
An exciting twist has been added to the Global Village tournament to encourage more friendly games: There is a possibility of making the finals merely on fair-play co-operation and general good sportsmanship, not forgetting the fair-play award which has been in place from the start of the tournament.
Remember to read the Global Voice for more exciting updates.