June saw the latest edition of the Total football tournament that takes place in Valencia, Spain. Our Redhill office was represented by Rowan Taylor, and Eloise Fadden playing for the GRP team ‘Low Carbon Olympics’, and also by Adil Aabala, who joined up with the Total US Convo team, representing Houston, Texas.
The tournament was 7-aside, with a high level of diversity among the 10 player squads. The GRP team was made up of nationalities including British, French, Dutch & American, while all corners of the globe were represented across the tournament. The GRP team finished 15th, and the US team 20th (but they were rewarded for their team spirit, which is definitely not a sympathy award).
The final was appropriately all African, given that the tournament was timed to run alongside the opening of the Total sponsored Africa Cup of Nations, with Angola retaining their title and defeating Algeria in the final. The champions were helped on their way to the title by their former professional Scottish goalkeeper, who now works out in Angola. Those of a certain age may find it hard to believe that a Scottish goalkeeper would be a help rather than a hindrance, I couldn’t possibly comment.
Through the years
The Total football tournament is an extremely long-running event, and in the old 11-a-side format, the UK team had some notable performances. Yes, if you’ll indulge me, here is a brief trip down memory lane.
True to form for teams containing majority English players, penalty heartache was never far away, indeed the 2012 vintage were denied in the final by spot-kicks, with Team Scandinavia taking home the trophy.
In 2009 and 2008, 4th and 3rd place finishes were earned with penalties deciding the semi-finals both years.
But if you’ll allow me to take you back to 2007, the year the first iPhone was released, twitter was just 12 months old, Roger Federer was winning his 5th Wimbledon title in a row, Sean Kingston was number 1 in the UK music charts with Beautiful Girls (ask your Dad about what music charts were), nobody had yet heard of Justin Bieber or the concept of Brexit, Friends was still on the TV (actually skip that one), and the Marvel Cinematic Universe had not yet begun.
Yes it was a simpler time, and the E&P UK team somehow emerged successfully from not one but two penalty shootouts – can only surmise that the presence of a talented Frenchman in our team broke the curse – as Angola and Spain were sent packing. They then went on to beat old rivals Argentina in the final. There should be a few familiar faces, well sort of, just think of the Oldify app in reverse.
