“Does the Universe really revolve around me?”

These SIFL-less weeks pass most Raiders by unnoticed. And they may seem of less importance. However miracles make no distinction between Santiago Bernabeu and Chu Van An, and friendlies against All Stars or cup finals against Saints.

The day started off promising already, as Mr Hung brought slightly more flattering kits to the field (but really only slightly more). Sausage Raiders are now Saigon Raiders again and especially for the Challenge Team, we can finally move around freely again without feeling like a French bride in Napoleon’s age

Mr Wong was responsible for the first 2 pieces of art. Miracle 1 was almost identical to number 2 – both were an Air Guitar interpretation. The player pretends the ball has bounced just in front of him and is giving it a kick to the moon. The miracle also involves running panically after the real ball and fumbling it over the backline via the post. Miracle 3 was a moment that left medical experts puzzled. After a 5 metre sprint from the left post to the right post, Mr Wong was struck by cramp.

All Raiders goals were miracles too. Thijs’ goal was a purposely executed masterpiece, Danny’s goal was the baffling end of a 2 minute hotstreak, Emma is every week on the score board and Chris rounded off a beautiful team effort in the bottom left corner of the goal. By the way, all goals of All Star FC were all the result of sudden wind, bad luck or a grass poll on the field. Bollocks!

My weekend consisted of my birthday on Thursday, my birthday party on Friday, becoming captain and claiming all the nominations on Saturday. “Does the Universe really revolve around me?” I asked myself on Sunday morning. Perhaps, yet probably not, but the fact of the matter is that I was able get a hand, finger or toe to about 5 shots that were fired in that last 30 minutes when Mr Wong needed a replacement. The ±3000 people on the sidelines had something to talk about after the game. I still don’t understand why I got the Turkey nomination as well though…

Some homework for asking the relevant questions to the assistant referee, who again had no understanding whatsoever about offside.