I popped along to Craven Cottage to watch the Socceroos take on the Reggae Boyz yesterday. (Australia vs. Jamaica in soccer for those of you who are not sportsminded.)
I’d never been to Craven Cottage before. It’s in Fulham, right next to the Thames, and looks like something out of a quaint old movie from the 1960′s. The sun was shining, I was right behind the goal at the Hammersmith End, and the Socceroos won 5-0. You can’t ask for much more than that.
The best part of the day wasn’t the soccer though. It was the Jerk Chicken I bought off some enterprising Jamaicans who had set up a makeshift barbeque in the front yard of a house opposite the ground. (I had spotted the smoke a couple of blocks away.) One bite and I was back in Negril eating streetside Jerk Chicken every night because it was all I could afford.
Just like then, the Jerk Chicken was absolutely delicious. Much better than the Jamaican team, the Reggae Boyz. To be frank, they were crap. I suspect they may have been indulging in a bit of the reggae lifestyle before the match, if you know what I mean.
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Hi Peter
Will you be off to Uruguay to see the Soceroos clinch a place in the World Cup? No offence to Uruguay but here’s hoping you guys make it as us Scots need someone to follow in the tournament (it would be a peverse irony that having lost the Ashes to England, you go and duff them up in their other national sport!)
All the best
Matt
Hi Matt,
Haven’t ever been to Uruguay before so it would be cool. Not sure if I can swing it though.
Re: Scots. You guys ruined our World Cup dream back in 1985 on a cold and wet night in Glasgow.
Re: Duffing the Poms in soccer. Already did that in a friendly a couple of years ago. It would be nice to do it again in Germany – maybe at the quarter finals stage!
Hi Peter
Re: 1985 qualifier. Look at the positives of that loss – your guys were spared a kicking against Uruguay in the finals itself (Everton striker Graeme Sharp says his marker kept trying to shove a digit or two up where the sun doesn’t shine!!!) and the 2-0 defeat you suffered made Frank McAvennie a babe magnet and gave us some hillarious tabloid headlines over the next decade!!!
What became of your coach that night, Frank Arok – I remember he had a gob as wide as the Clyde tunnel with some of the stuff he was saying.