Leotards and segregated labour markets. San Frediano 1-2 IUE!

Monday, 3rd March, 2008, La Trave. Scorer: Manolo (2 pens)

Now, as everyone knows, the processes and phenomena collectively and loosely known by the loaded term globalisation are multifarious. However, one of the effects of deregulated trade, the lack of trade barriers and liberalised inward investment rules is the emergence of nationality- and region-based labour market segregation. Now, as everyone has clearly guessed, I am a firm believer in the ameliorative social impact and general contribution to welfare and social justice of rampant, corporation-driven capitalism, in particular when it produces such wonders as the divison of labour along lines of nationality and ethnicity, making peoples chances and welfare dependent on a fantastic combination of the whims of multinational corporations, variables of the international economy, and most of all, where they come from.

To prove that I'm only joking when I say that I'm a communist, I displayed my support for this brilliant outcome of the the neo-liberalism constellation by putting installing ethnic divisions of labour in practice on the huge dust bowl of a pitch at La Trave last night vs San Fredano. An Spanish goalkeeper, an English defence (with pseudo-Englishman Mate), a Spanish midfield (with their mediterranean cousin Leo), and an Irish strikeforce. Now, just because I am writing a PhD on the inability of labour to see beyond its constitutive pre-work-based identities in order to pursue their collective interests and extract more profit from capital does not mean I actually believe it - My thesis was proved gloriously wrong last night as we fought like Spartans for each other to pull of a heroic, and much deserved victory.

Okay, sorry, long introduction. More importantly, we learned someone interesting about David Baez - that he has a penchant for wearing leotards. Obviously, in the amazing world of the web 2.0 wikipedia has some kind of constitutive ontological quality, so what it says goes. Therefore this link will tell you what a leotard is if you don't know. Honestly, that's what he was wearing under his classy and sexy black goalie kit. He apparently hopes to be the first Spanish WWF wrestler.

Right, the match. With Simon deciding Celtic are more important than IUE Calcio and fucking off to Barcelona Dave M came in at the back to fret about how to play in a sweeper system, and Dave H came in up front. Leo started on the right in place of Francesco, who got stuck on a train. Ernesto started the match as captain, but didn't finish it as captain, or indeed finish it at all... This was always going to a be a tough game, with S Frediano easily the best side in our league, and this was made tougher by the match being played on a pitch that looks like it has been in the middle of some scorched earth retreat. We started excellently, but looked nervous and rushed on the ball, perhaps worried about the impact of the pitch on the ability to pass the thing around, as we have been doing so well recently. Still, we got in behind a fair few times, and when we turned it on we shifted to ball quickly and with purpose, with Irial doing a great job as a pivot, flicking, passing and blocking the ball into the path of oncoming teammates. A little more belief and conviction would have seen us get in more times than we actually did. Eventually we won a penalty, which Manolo buried in an eerily Jones-like fashion. 1-0 up and playing well. They had a lot of joy exploiting the wings as the doubled up on our full backs, as their strikers engaged in intelligent and selfless running that we rarely see in this league. We got ourselves into trouble when we played a loose ball from midfield and they got into our left-back channel, Their boy twisted his ankle on the bumpy surface and fell over in a heap. Unfortunately the ref thought I had fouled him (even though I was a metre and a half away), and gave a free kick. After making a brilliant save a couple of minutes earlier from a freekick of theirs, David was unable to keep this one out, and we went in at half time at 1-1, playing well on a difficult pitch against an excellent opposition who were beginning to lose their cool, knowing that they were being outplayed. We had had a series of great attacks, and went close on a few occasions, and could easily have been winning by a couple of goals.

The second half ended up being a titanic effort of determination, teamwork and old fashioned backs to the wall defending, in which we could have scored a fair few goals on the break, and they failed to really make any clear chances, although they attacked for the last 20 minutes. This all came from the fact that we had gone 2-1 up with a brilliant second penalty from Manolo, after Irial was assaulted several times in their box as he ran clean through. They made such a racket about the penalty and the red card for their boy, but there's not much they could really argue about. Perez's effort was sheer class. His reward was to immediately come off for Nate who went up front to try and exploit the spaces in behind the S Frediano defence off Irial's flicks. We played very well for the next half an hour or so, defending resolutely, and keeping our cool against an opposition who were, to put it mildly, a bunch a cheating, violent, moaning bastards. The ref absolutely bottled it at one point as he sent off their number 1o for assaulting Luis, and then retracted it after the guy looked like he was going to hit the ref. Crazy. We missed some good chances to put the game beyond doubt on the counter attack. As our defenders kept their cool, our attack lacked the composure that they have displayed so brilliantly in recent weeks. Then, unbeliavably, the ref awarded S Frediano a penalty for no-one knows what, as there was no tackle or challenge, the boy just knocking the ball forward in our box and falling over. Crazy. The ref couldn't even say who had committed a foul. They missed it anyway. The leotard put them off. For the next 10 minutes or so, plus FIVE minutes of stoppage time, we failed miserably to keep the ball, and the ref went mental awarding them free kick after free kick in our half. Ernesto was sent off ridiculously for a second yellow, and we were backs to the wall. This was a gargantuan performance lads - the defending for that quarter of an hour was exceptional. Sorry for all the shouting. 2-1 final score!

The buzz after the game in Finnegan's was tangible - more than after any other game. This was the most satisfying victory I've been involved in at the EUI, more than any 8-1s or 5-0s or similar goleadas. This was a victory won by teamwork, sweat, determination and sacrifice against a quality opposition who knew they had been outplayed. Congratulations everyone! We also had about 20 fans at an away game in the middle of nowhere. Brilliant.

Team: (1-3-4-1-1) David - Luke - Mate, Dave M, Dom - Manolo (Nate), Luis, Ernesto, Leo (Johnny) - Dave H (Norberto)- Irial.