Just after midday today a small group of happy Irishmen, all with beers in their hand, broke into song. To the tune of For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow they sang their version of a Liverpool football song that goes like this:
You’re never gonna believe us,
You’re never gonna believe us.
You’re never gonna believe us,
We’re gonna win the league.
And so it was that the Vic Park Soccer Club men’s team celebrated their second win in our inaugural season. We had beaten a team well above us on the ladder and we’d done it in a way that made every one of us proud. The team played hard, tough, disciplined football where the first thought was the success of the team, not personal glory.
There were players like Gabriel Silias, who sent me a text last night saying he was too sick to play but dragged himself out of bed this morning and then went on to kick all three of our goals.
Then there was Rhys McDonald who had only 15 minutes on the pitch despite being at every training session since we joined.
And then there was Ger O’keefe who started the season as a striker, who started today on the bench, then volunteered to go into defence to shut down the opposition’s best player. He did just that.
These are the sorts of self-sacrifice that make me proud and that motivate me to give more to this club and make it better and stronger.
There’s still much work to do – I know that – but I believe we can one day go on to win the league.