Penang Tour Report

 

Before we even started the weekend the Men were sorted from the boys with Chris Wren reneging on all previous agreements and withdrawing for supposedly ‘business’ reasons.  Deny was intimidated by the Penang lads who claimed that his youth (under 40 yo at least) was not the major concern of theirs, it was that he usually gets in the way when more accomplished performers are going to the bar or chasing women.  Similarly Flem, decided discretion was better than a hangover and quietly pulled the ‘work’ card from his sleeve.  With others flying in from all parts of the world this was a poor performance by those named/shamed.

 

Friday afternoon check-ins apparently turned ugly when it was learned that the ‘Copthorne’ was inappropriately named and that the building site next door would operate pretty much 24/7.  The number of stars attached to the Crapthorn’s tourism license had obviously been grossly overstated and Steve/Jean asked for a change of room.

 

Saturday morning duly arrived and Armo, a late inclusion to cover the losses, and designated courier of Ken’s hockey gear, SMS’d to say he had missed the flight from Jakarta and would be at the pitch by about lunch time !  Meanwhile Ken had arrived in time for the second game straight from a flight from New York and had to play with a borrowed stick, flip-flops for shin guards and in his brand new Asics runners (which are now a very dirty shade of white).  Denis had been busy preparing the ‘squad’ having recruited a 60 year old keeper 100 yo keeper and duly lead the team out to the cheers of the assembled crowd, all five of them (Etty, Jean, Andrea, Lynn, Mike !).

 

Games

 

Game 1  v  Top Guard 1-0 (Mitch : one touch, one goal)

This was the early morning game that most chose to miss.  The brave and committed turned up and duly delivered for the rest of the team.  The local contingent was press-ganged into action, and in what turned out to be the best part of the day, played some good hockey.

 

Game 2  v  Club 30-50 1-0 (Sabu)

Mitch pulled a calf muscle early, and with still no Armo all hands were on deck.  Ken quickly made an impact, not so much playing-wise, but he pulled Ichang back into the middle of the park to let others have a hit at the goals and a goal was duly delivered.  In drizzling rain, on a wet and muddy field Ken combined with Sabu for Sabu to push the goal past a sliding keeper after quite a few chances and a couple of short corners.

 

Game 3  v  PSC Eagles            0-1

A game against the home side with a wonderful backstick goal from a short corner that slotted into a very small gap.  Again muddy and wet with Ichang looking like a drowned rat after many good tackles and long slides along the ground.  Only Paul Q had the wisdom and foresight to pack his long-stopped boots and was sure footed, everyone else was on skates.  We had a few chances but the conditions made any good hockey an impossibility.

 

Game 4  v  Mugs          0-0

An even game and a few short corner chances but with everyone wringing wet and the game played at snails pace it was difficult to score in driving rain around a few large puddles.

 

Game 5  v  Royal Selangor       2-1 (Mitch 2)

A game we surprisingly dominated, with Ichang given heaps of space out right and Armo having at least turned up for the final pool game.  We snuck onto an unused field (much to the grounds keepers chagrin), and the surface was pretty good given the rain.  Our aged Keeper, Kora, pulled off at least one fantastic save pushing the ball around the post to his right, but an ill-advised ‘catch’ by Denis resulted in a penalty flick which gave the KL boys some hope and meant a mad scramble for the last 2-3 minutes.

 

Game 6, Semi final  v  Malaysian Police            0-2

Playing the team that topped the other group, and having had 3-4 beers, we were always going to struggle, and straggle we did.  A little bit of niggle in a quite physical game, a few choice words from Stevie Laux, but we did not impose ourselves and were flogged on the scoreboard.

 

Game 7 Playoff  v  Penang        0-1 (glass)

With little to prove between us, and the drizzle still falling, we decided on a boatrace to decide 3rd and 4th places.  This decision proved somewhat ill-judged when it was learned that in fact ISCI did not have 5 persons who drank beer to fill out a ‘team’.  Cap’n Cush bravely took the last position with a Gatorade hidden in his shorts for a quick replacement at an appropriate time however it wasn’t necessary as we lost by a glass and The Cush was not required to drink.

 

The Saturday night party in the Clubhouse was huge with some cultural performances, scantily clad dancers, beer skulls, and speeches.  Ken was invited to perform his world famous (well to those that were there at the time) pole dance, although Baljit remained fully clothed.  Mike Gray won a 1 gallon bottle of Scotch and proceeded to drink most of it himself under the pretense of ‘handing it ‘round’.  Mitch, Lynn and Ken skived off to a local den of ill-repute but found the going tough and Lynn was reduced to a shambling wreck most in tune with the ceramics in her room.  In Ken’s unannounced absence Jean Laux had to stand in the boatrace line and duly downed her beer in record time.  Andrea Cush had a great time dancing with all the boys and a 3am finish was de rigueur for the ISCI crew.

 

Sunday was a very slow affair with young Gray arising well after midday.  Those that were left gathered at the Golden Sands and watched Australia play Brazil until the early hours of the Monday morning.

 

Many thanks to Penang for the invite, the ongoing friendships and the great organisation.  Ta very big to all who played/attended and made it an enjoyable trip.

 

Team :  Denis Cush (Capt), Mohamad Ichsan, Steve Laux, Armunanto, Paul Quinlivan, Ken Allan, Andrew Mitchell, V. Sabu, Kora (keeper), Koh Jod Bee, Chin Sow Tin, Mike Gray (boat races), Jean Laux, Etty, Andrea Cush, Lynn Mitchell.