My Sporting Life....(2)

....Well - apart from the girlie thing, I have played all of these sports, and then some. Some I played really well, and others.....well - we won't talk about them!
Ice skating for example turned out to be NOT my cup of tea, I put so much effort into it and finally I was quicker just WALKING on the ice than skating!
Basically my sports were those concerning a ball. I never had any interest in running or athletics, unless it was to chase a ball, or hit a ball with something..As a kid, I found that I had particularly two advantages when playing soccer, I was naturally left-footed, and I could kick a ball rather hard for my size and age.
This meant that the other little kids, particularly the goalkeepers, weren't up to stopping the ball kicked by myself, particularly directly from corner kicks. I could "bend 'em like Beckham" and kick them nice and high...obviously the goalkeepers - who were kids like myself - were too small to jump high enough....sort of cheating really.....!
My dizzy heights on the football (soccer) field got as far as The London Schoolboys selection, where we played in the Arsenal Stadium generally against other big City selections, but we never really knew WHO we were playing against - we weren't told! The good thing about it was a couple of days away from School, one for "training"  the other for "playing"!
This was before the days of $$$$$, "players" and "Gentlemen" still existed, and it was even before the days when Johnny Haynes of England and Fulham fame became the first footballer to earn 100 Pounds Sterling....every week, and then the advertising started!
Laughable nowadays of course, but a small fortune at the time.
At the time, although pro's existed, the Scouting system wasn't developed to the same extent. I always thought I would have made a good Pro footballer, but it wasn't the right period! Later successes came in the Army, when I managed to play for the Regiment, The Corps and even the selection from the BAOR (British Army of the Rhine). I've played football (soccer) in some outlandish and unexpected places, from the old Berlin Olympic Stadium of Olympic Games 1936 fame (Hitler and the others were NOT present) to the Gardens of Versailles in France (the right Royal Sun King wasn't present either) and in general, sport has always opened doors to other Societies whilst being enjoyable.
Although soccer was one of my favourite sports, my absolute number one was Cricket, strange for a Scotsman, but came from my earlier childhood times, and I'll tell ya all about my adventures in that sport in a later article....here's a taster.....
https://sites.google.com/site/ianwmitchellswebsite/a-biography-part-1/berlin-tales

iwmpop(mr le marquis)      -      Vauvert, France    -      Aout 2011

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