Game 44: Varanasi, India

Well I never . Directly across the Ganges from the site of the ghats and religious fervour , Varanasi has its own Blackpool. Me and Dan caught a row boat across there today and found a sandy beach , kite fliers , families frolicking in the water and camel rides instead of donkeys .

We wondered on and, noticing our ball, two young chaps followed us and asked for a pass ..a few seconds later we had a 4 v 4 with some young fellas chilling on their bums near by . Great game that emerged out of nowt . The magic of footy again.

So proud of my Dan today ( He is my son and I am extremely biased ) He was brilliant with all the lads and it was great to see how he interacted in such a natural and free way . Good man .

The game itself was full of wild shots and mad hoofs from these cricket mad energy balls. Amar was running about like a mad wasp until he ran out of steam after 2 minutes. He was on Dan’s team, as was Shaijesh, and Abuj.

Dan and Amar scored two quick goals past a freckly bloke from Stacksteads . That’s when Suman stepped up for us .. clever Zola like player ..great technique to lob our Dan for 2-1 . Aviaitpul , smelling blood , pushed on a between him and Suman , took us to a 5-3 lead at the break .

Amar played too incredibly energetic cameos and scored a couple before collapsing . Ankit for us was a proper actor and more interested in being photographed than playing footy .

We ran out 8-5 winners then had a penalty shoot out . Great game with the children of pilgrims from all over India 🇮🇳