UEFA
Women’s Cup
Wednesday
20th August – Tuesday 26th August 2003
After all the waiting and preparation of the season it was time for Newtownabbey Strikers to put the UEFA Women’s Cup into reality. They were off to play in Sweden in the biggest competition of their football careers and what an emotional roller coaster ride it was. In their tournament group 3 they were accompanied by Umea of Sweden, Slavia of the Czech Republic and Clujana of Romania. The journey started in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the 20th August, when the team departed from the Valley Leisure Centre in Newtownabbey. They had to be down in Dublin Airport to check in at 9.00am to travel to Stockholm. It was going to be a long day with another flight from Stockholm to Umea to follow. The first flight took off in a small plane were the Strikers filled half of the seats! They arrived at Stockholm at around 2.45pm with a wait of four hours until the flight out to Umea. So as the team collected their luggage, they soon realised that Nikki Turkington’s had been left at Dublin Airport! That was only the beginning of the mishaps to come. To pass their time they visited the shops, ate food, played football in the airport and generally hung around waiting for the flight to Umea. Of course, Nikki had to sort out getting her luggage delivered to the hotel! Despite this setback the morale and overall mood of the team was good with Terri Harper and Michelle Doherty keeping the banter going all the way to Sweden. So they eventually arrivedin Umea and were greeted by Katarina, their personal courier for the week. Katarina used to play for Umea but is currently retired from football and now works behind the scenes.
The Strikers travelled to their accommodation at Vasterbackehn Hotel about 20 minutes from the airport. They were the last team to check in as the Czech Republic and the Romanian teams were also staying at the hotel. When they arrived at the accommodation Carol Bonnes was patiently waiting. She had travelled out from America especially to play with the girls in Sweden and had arrived a few hours earlier. She had her own story to tell with her luggage also being lost on her outbound journey! Things were about to get worse. As the rooms were allocated complaints were being voiced at the standard of the accommodation. The rooms were very small and the beds were wet with damp, the facilities were very basic, with many people sharing bathroom facilities and to top it all off the catering was un-appetising with cheese sandwiches being the main cuisine. Not satisfied with the whole situation the team and support staff reluctantly called it a night, with hope of sorting things out in the morning.
The next day (Thursday 21st August) Stephen Calvert, Newtownabbey Strikers’ manager, attended a meeting with the representatives of the other teams. He voiced his disappointment on the standard of accommodation and the Umea representatives offered to move one of the three teams to another hotel, deciding which team came down to the flip of a coin. In some lucky twist it was the Strikers team that came up trumps! The team was overjoyed at the prospect of moving to better accommodation and so spirits soon lifted when the news was shared to all concerned. To improve the situation even more Nikki Turkington and Carol Bonnes’ luggage eventually arrived later that day in a luxurious limousine! Spirits were high and stayed high when they arrived at their new accommodation, The Sweden Hotels Umea. The hotel was immaculate, with its welcoming atmosphere, clean environment and accommodating staff. The rooms were in great condition, each boasting a television, two beds and own bathroom facilities. The hotel also provided free Internet access, bicycles and the opportunity to use their rowing boat in the river situated just behind the hotel building for entertainment purposes, which many made use of. There was certainly nothing to complain about here! Later that day the Head Coach arrived and his luggage had also been lost! What a disaster this trip had been in terms of luggage! He eventually got it back later that night. Although the preparation, with the moving of hotels, was not ideal things were looking better as the pre-match meal was to die for. The catering was excellent and the team soon realised how lucky they had been to win that vital toss of the coin!
Thursday 21st August brought the first and most difficult match you could imagine. They were up against Umea, this years group hosts and last years tournament Champions. They are a professional outfit, training 15 times a week, with each player boasting their very own personalized cars! With all their seasons of preparation and success at last years tournament Umea were favourites to win and it was just a matter of Newtownabbey Strikers doing their best to keep the score-line down. The starting eleven were Michelle Doherty (GK), Terri Harper, Julie Nelson, Sara Booth, and Elaine Roden in defence, Rebecca Corish, Helen McKenna, Rosie Clarke, Roisin McFeely and Danielle McDowell in midfield and with Nadine Stewart up front. Substitutes used were Nikki Turkington, Jeanette McAlorum and Carol Bonnes. The match began at a very fast pace and continued that way throughout with Umea taking dominance as Newtownabbey Strikers played in a very defensive role. In the first half the Strikers battled well to keep the conceded goals down to four, with some brilliant goalkeeping from Michelle Doherty, but due to a big gap in fitness levels between the two teams the Strikers began to struggle in the second half. All they could do was to battle on until thefinalwhistle blewand know that when they came off the pitch they had done the best that they were equipped to do. It was obvious that Umea were in a different league and that showed both on and off the pitch as autograph hunters bombarded the main attraction, Hanna Ljungberg.
After the match emotions were high, everyone was mentally and physically tired and team morale was being tested. The match was over, everyone had done their best and it was time to focus on the next game. So on Friday the 22nd August the squad participated in a light training session followed by a relaxing afternoon. They visited the local leisure centre, which boasted a swimming pool, a heated pool, a Jacuzzi, a sauna and a steam room. This was followed by a massage session back a the hotel later that night with Petrina Scullion, the team physiotherapist, working her magic on the tired bodies by treating the injured players along with the assistance of Lynn Baird, Laura Johnston and Carol Bonnes. This helped to boost team morale and improve their mental and physical well being in preparation for the match against the Czech Republic team on Saturday 23rd August. This day had been full of star treatment!
Saturdays match started with the same team line-up in a four-four-two formation and each player had great enthusiasm and spirit as they took control of the game with impressivepassing and a very positive attacking role to create many opportunities at penetrating the Czech Republic’s defence. However, the individual attacks up the wing and the through balls in the centre of the pitch, fell short of reaching the back of the Czech’s net. The second half changed slightly with the Strikers having to defend more and in the 86th minute the Czech Republic scored their first goal of the match shortly followed by another. They battled on matching the Czech team in terms of skill and ability, but it was down to their lack of stamina that became the Strikers downfall. It was due to this that the Czech team were able to bury another ball into the Strikers net. The final score was 3-0 in the Czech Republics favour. Substitutes used were Nikki Turkington, Carol Bonnes and Gemma Coulter. The game had been very physical throughout and many Strikers players came off the pitch covered in bruises from competitive kicks and nips with the Czech team trying their hardest to get Strikers players booked.
Later that night the Strikers party enjoyed a night out in the local town to relax after the match. The hotel staff were very accommodating and lent the team the hotel mini bus to transport them to and from the town centre. The locals didn’t know what hit them when twenty-three Northern Irish strangers hit the town. The Strikers soon found out how expensive the enjoyment side of Sweden would be with bar prices exceeding their expectations! This however did not deter them as they made the most of their night in Umea’s environment.
Sunday quickly came and involved two separate training sessions followed by another visit to the local leisure centre. Later that night the team photographer Stephen Hamilton arrived and soon fitted in with the great banter. Things were looking up and with only one match to go the Strikers had nothing to lose. Monday 25th August, the day of the last match, included a short shopping trip into the town centre. The mood of the Strikers camp was relaxed but also prepared for the final battle in the match to come. They knew what they had to do to ensure they went home with their heads held high and they were prepared to put all the effort they had left to make sure that happened. The team line-up was basically the same four-four-two formation with Roisin McFeely and Carol Bonnes up front. Obviously the previous two matches had taken their toll both physically and mentally and this match was to be no different with the Romanian team punishing the Strikers players with brute force and temper fraying antics. Fifteen minutes into the match the Romanians went a goal ahead. The battle was on and the Strikers dug deep to perform as best they could with many great individual battles and commendable performances. This was not quite enough as the Strikers were lacking that edge to penetrate the Romanians defence. In the half time interval the team manager and coach shared their views of the match so far, with themselves and players boosting each other’s confidence and motivating them for the second half. This encouragement successfully lifted everyone’s performance. The players possessed great passion and commitment to do their best with substitute Sarah Ritchie being introduced fifteen minutes into the second half to replace Carol Bonnes up front. This passion and fight for success finally paid off after twenty-three minutes of play. A cracking shot from Helen McKenna found the back of the Romanians net to equalize. They could now hold their heads high and be proud of this achievement. The remainder of the match saw the Strikers play out an amazing battle against physical barriers with other substitutes Heather Mearns and Clare Forsythe coming on to add their fresh legs to the dimension of the game. The game ended with a great performance from the hearts of all on the Strikers team. Special mention must go to the extraordinary talent of 18 year old Julie Nelson who was the great individual success story of the trip. She enjoyed receiving the Strikers player of the match in all three games of the campaign and now has three wooden spoons to add to her collection of sporting awards. Congratulations!
So the football experience came to an end and that night Newtownabbey Strikers and their support staff were able to take time to reflect and be proud of their achievements with Stephen Calvert taking centre stage by making an emotional speech to voice his pride in the success the club has accomplished over the ten years it has been established. This followed with a celebratory social night back at the hotel that carried on into the early hours of the morning.
As
the whole experience neared closer to being a memory, the Strikers
team met the UCD team from Ireland at Dublin Airport. They had been competing in their group of the UEFA Women’s Cup in
Norway. They had not performed as
well as they had hoped and ended their campaign with no points after losing
6-1 to France, 8-0 to Norway and 3-0 to Poland.
So that lifted the Strikers spirits a bit in the sense that they came
home with 1 point to their name. Fortunately
UCD will have the opportunity to redeem themselves when they compete in next
years competition. However, Newtownabbey
Strikers have a couple of games left in their league until they know if they
qualify for next years tournament. This experience has tested the team’s morale
to its limit but nothing could break down the bond of the Strikers tight knit
‘family’ and as the squad continues to grow and become stronger their chances
of further and continued success at this level is just around the corner.
Congratulations to them all and good luck in your next campaign.