|
Arriving at Centraal Station in Amsterdam is fantastic. You arrive right in the centre of the city and the memories come flooding back.
We jumped straight onto a tram and checked into Velcro’s apartment. We called the man, and he directed us to a local pub to meet up. We arrived just as he did, along with Mo and everyone’s favourite Catalonian couple, John & Monste. We spent the evening catching up on the last few months and last week’s travels, and posing for the infamous cry of “Foto-foto!!”
Ian was explaining to Montse about our website and wanted to write down the (very complicated!) address for her, but lacked one essential tool – some paper to write it on. So what does one do when one doesn’t have any paper? Montse rolled up her sleeve and Lou proceeded to write the address on her arm. This prompted Laura to write down the Trench Crew address. When Niki arrived later, he also decided this was a good idea, so Monte went away with the Hell Of Shame address on the other arm! We don’t think Montse had intended to become a tattooed lady! Of course, The Leader was also in attendance, and seemed to enjoy himself, especially after looking inside Lou’s top (ask John to explain!).
Saturday began on The Globe’s canal-side terrace, as it was such a bright day. When we arrived, a large number of Rhein fans were already there. They were doing a crazy double header, as their game on Sunday was in Berlin. Let’s hope the bus had a toilet… Which leads nicely to the coining of a new phrase on Saturday. Lou break is now a term to describe going to in the loo before you leave to make a journey. Read last week’s report for a full explanation.
Mo’s father, Ed, joined us at The Globe, fresh off his plane from the US. We’re not sure if he knew what he was letting himself in for. Roy, The Mad Hatter (although Mad Roy is possibly a better nickname for a man attending so many games this season) arrived with his latest creation. Sadly, all the flying is limiting the amount of moving parts the hats can have this year. See Roy’s website for more of his expert creations. John, Montse and The Leader arrived, but Montse’s tattoos did not. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
The Triple A enjoy the sunshine on the Globe terrace. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
In the absense of the FTP, Roy decides to 'mind' Mo instead. |
|
|
|
|
Agent Velcro was unable to obtain a ‘Licence to Grill’ in Amsterdam, so a Triple A balcony barbie was organised instead. For some reason, Niki was the one holding the tongs, but there are no reported cases of food poisoning so far. And we think only one chicken leg escaped. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Triple A Balcony Barbie - who let Niki loose with the tongs? |
|
|
|
|
Onto the game, but only after a long wait to collect the tickets. The Admirals’ office had a great ‘introduce a friend’ idea for season ticket holders, but it took ages to queue up and collect the tickets. Oh how we love the Admirals’ office. We're sure the Trench Crew will point out to them once again what a fantastic job the front office is doing. Reminds us of a story… Once upon a time there was a GM named Alton Byrd… |
|
|
|
|
Once inside, we found our seats were on the opposite side of the ArenA to the Triple A. But they spotted Lou sporting her sexy lime green Triple A T-shirt. So they all stripped off their game shirts to reveal their sexy lime green Triple A T-shirts too. It was quite an amazing sight. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
...lime green shirts appeared. |
|
|
|
|
We didn’t think we could access their part of the stadium, but Jasper came to collect us and led us around the stadium back to the mayhem of Block 121. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
After the game, we headed into town and enjoyed a few beers in a very chilled bar. One by one, people left us. Roy and Velcro both had planes to Glasgow to catch on Sunday morning, Ed had had a long day so Mo took him home and by the end of the night only The Beerleaders and Sitges Sack remained. We had several “last one”s, and then headed for home.
On Sunday morning we had breakfast with Mo and Ed (but only after Lou’s Ravens were beating Ian’s Dolphins at Madden 2002, we didn’t get to finish the game), and then boarded the Thalys back to Brussels.
FINAL SCORE: Barcelona Dragons 10 - 7 Amsterdam Admirals
Next week… Scotland @ Rhein |
|
|
|
|
All photos are owned by Ian Mathias. Please seek permission if you wish to reproduce them. Email us at beerleaders@hotmail.com. |
|
|
|
|
