5 a side Tournament

ROAD TO BRAZIL

We have around 3 weeks until our 5 a side football tournament that will be hosted at Complete Football in Gosforth and we are really looking forward to it. We've had interest from a number of teams and it is great that we can do something fun that will benefit a wider audience. The money from the day goes straight to the Brazil project and will supply funds to provide education or sport.

Each team will get to play some football matches, watch the International friendly match and also there will be a buffet that we will provide as part of the team entry fee. The day will also be a bit more awareness about our project, but we hope to have a couple small games that could see people win some prizes.

You also get:

• Welcome introduction and 'Team Captains' brief
• CFTV - All goals recorded and shown in players lounge
• Synthetic rubber crumb turf pitches
• FA Qualified Referees
• Nike match balls and bibs 
• Private dressing room with shower and locker facilities
• Private car park facilities
• Fully licensed bar on site
• A winning team trophy, player of the tournament and top goal scorer award

If you are interested in entering a team please get in touch.

Alan Pardew - Manager of the Year to Relegation Favourite!

Newcastle United lost 0-6 against Liverpool and now sit 16th in the league, hovering over the relegation zone. This time last season we had just lost 0-4 away to Wigan, but were chasing Champion's League football in 4th place.

This season has been quite the disaster as injuries and European football have took its toll on a small playing squad. However when you take away the excuses about the team performance this season and look at the basics there are two glaring faults.

Firstly the defence are often left exposed against teams who are quick and can pass the ball. Newcastle set up yesterday with Perch and Tiote as two defensive midfielders and part of a five man midfield, but Coutinho still managed to find space to execute some excellent passes. Within the first 20 minutes Liverpool managed to expose the back four and there was countless attacks of either 4v4 or 5v4. Three of the back four playing yesterday arrived this season so it could be a lack of playing time together or lack of communication as some defenders were playing for offside, but others were slow to push up. It wasn't just yesterday the game against Everton at home the same problem occurred where the defence was left exposed as they played the ball out wide which created space in the centre of the pitch. Anichebe was able to come on and exploit this as the central defenders were forced to cover the full back position, but no midfielders tracked back to cover the space.

As an attacking side Newcastle offer little threat which means the other team can either have a high line or wait for a long ball to go aimlessly out of play or to their goalkeeper. Papiss Cisse has often been left isolated as the lone striker with no support play from wide players or midfield. It seems like a tactic this season has been for Cisse to be on the shoulder of the last defender which means he has been caught offside numerous time (38 times before yesterday). Moussa Sissoko who arrived in January looked extremely promising as he had strength, pace and could deliver a defence splitting pass. However now it seems that his main instruction is to run at people until he tires or loses possession. Jonas does well in supporting the full back, but offers little when attacking often going down under pressure to win a free kick. Yohan Cabaye has been a shadow of himself from last season, although depression has been talked about this season. Ultimately there has been little movement from attacking players and we have relied on Hatem Ben Arfa when he is fit to come up with another goal like Bolton or Blackburn last season. The "team" is split into position so nothing becomes interchangeable and they don't support each other. For example Debuchy and Haidara got forward a few times past the midfield yesterday with a couple of successful crosses delivered. There was not one time Cisse received the ball on the edge of the 18 yard line to feet that he was able to pass to an onrushing midfielder. There is no point in discussing set pieces as the delivery is either not good enough or the aim is to hit Taylor and hope he can get it on target. It must be over 300 corners since we last scored from a corner as it was back in October 2011 which is shockingly bad.

Last season Pardew kept to the basics which proved to be successful and this season Newcastle have looked anything like a team. He needs to address the issues quickly otherwise his future will be elsewhere because the owner backed him with funds in January and another relegation would mean missing out on the new TV money. Hopefully this seasons finishes with Newcastle still in the Premier League, however the summer will need some major issues sorted out between management and playing style.

Where do NUFC go from here?
Should Pardew be given a chance?

Poland Revisited

I've just arrived back from Warsaw, Poland after a short holiday as it was the base for the 2012 Lionsraw Legacy Tour. During the tour we were always busy delivering coaching sessions in schools that we didn't have a great deal of time to do any sightseeing. Thanks to Groupon I found a really good deal that included 4* accommodation at the grand hotel Mercure and return flights...can't argue with that!

Our flight out was 6.45am Monday morning and we arrived into Warsaw about 10.30am to be greeted by sunshine. The temperature was fairly low, but it made a change from snow in Newcastle. We got settled in and set off on a walk around the centrum and Old Town taking some pictures along the way. The sunshine was very deceiving as it was actually freezing! So we decided to stop off in the Old Town and get some food before meeting Mark from Lionsraw Polska to revisit the youth detention centre after spending a lot of time working there during Euro 2012.

We got the tram there, which turned out to be an easy alternative to the taxi and met with Andrzej to listen to his plans for the Lionsraw Cup 2013 which sounds very interesting. It is also pleasing to see the showers are still in excellent condition and that the young people enjoyed working with the English coaches so much that they can't wait for April when a group will be returning.

We headed back on the tram to the centrum and got some food before meeting some of the girls from the hostel we stayed in back in June last year. They took us to a couple of bars to try to Polish beer again and told us about their ingenious idea to sell Wifi cables! We did revisit the Irish Bar just past where ITV were based, but unfortunately only had time for one beer as a group of University students in England began chanting and the Police were called...sounded familiar!


The next day we got up and headed for the Stadion Narodowy for a tour. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get to it during the Euro's but the fan zone was an excellent alternative. However we had a tour and it was one of my favourite stadiums. We were joined on the players tour by a girl called Sofia from Ukraine who was hoping they would beat Poland in the fixture today. We also had a family of Porto fans from Lisbon who wished us good luck as Newcastle Utd face their rivals Benfica in the Europa League. I'm always interested to see parts of a stadium that on a match day you might normally not see so the changing rooms, referee area, chapel and underground highway were all interesting. The roof was closed ahead of the International match, but it is expected to be open so hopefully there is no rain!

In the afternoon we met again with Magda who took us around the Palace on the Water, Chopin monument and the Labyrinth of Light. All sights we wouldn't have seen without local knowledge so we were extremely grateful for her time! I also featured on Polish TV as tvn ambushed us once they heard us speaking English.  We headed back to the centrum an got ready for a night at a local club which was highly entertaining. The Polish dance moves are unique!

Our final day in Warsaw and again it was snowing plus around 5 degrees. It didn't feel that cold, but we had done a fair bit of walking. We did some shopping for souvenirs, visited the tourist office to get some information before heading the see the Old Town one last time. We successfully negotiated the bus to the airport before our flight back to London. The less said about the drive from Stansted to Newcastle the better.

On reflection Warsaw was my Lionsraw debut, but going back brought back memories which reminded me why Brazil in 2014 should be amazing. I was lucky enough to visit again and see a bit more of Warsaw as the city has lots to offer. If you are after a little city break I can't recommend it highly enough. Will it be the last time I visit?

Ben Nevis

Since deciding Brazil was going to be how we spent 2014 we came up with some fundraising ideas to help us reach our target. Michael decided that Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the British Isles) would be ideal because "we might as well try the hardest" and we set a date of 9 February 2013. Now we do not go mountain walking that often despite living close to the Lake District, never mind attempting Ben Nevis, so to decide to tackle it during the winter was quite possibly the worst thing we could have done. A quick search and temperatures would be around -5 degrees, 90% chance of snow and wind chill could mean temperatures plummeting to around -20 degrees. We decided we could not do this alone so we got some friends involved in our personal challenge for support and also they could help by fundraising for us.

We ended up with a team of 5 who ranged from did a bit of mountain walking to complete novice who did not own walking boots. One of the group would be raising money towards her own project through University so it became a joint challenge. We left Newcastle on the Friday with all the kit we would require and after 5 1/2 hours we reached our hostel in Glen Nevis (just outside of Fort William). We got settled in, visited the only pub within walking distance and had our last supper. Prior to leaving we had both had a couple of jokes or comments along the lines of 'are you stupid?' and 'do you know how dangerous it is?' so we thought it might lighten the mood. Throughout the meal it reminded us of a scene from the film 'Wrong Turn' as the menu seemed to be expanding the longer we remained with a late addition of minute steaks. Perhaps that was the last group ho attempted the challenge?!

We got back to the hostel and one of the team members set his alarm for 6am so he could have a look early on as he would be the group leader. Now we probably could have done with checking when the sun would rise because when 6am came around it was pitch black...great start. This also after a 2.30am wake up by someone smashing the windows closed because it was freezing. We got up around 7am, got ready and then made our way to get some breakfast. We explained to the lady at the pub what we were doing and then she looked like we had told her one of Michael's jokes. She wished us look because we would need it as visibility was poor just 100m up. We started the challenge at 9am after some debate about our #NewcastletoBrazil banner before delegating who would carry it on the way up.

Ben Nevis took us 7 and 1/2 hours to complete, however the truth is there were a couple of points were I thought the risk might be too great. Would it be worthwhile to risk people injuring themselves for £2? The main risk was at the half way point as we attempted to cross a waterfall which had frozen over and if one of the team was to slip or fall they would fall about 200m (probably to their death). We had a discussion about safety just as the only girl in our group tried to make her way over the waterfall. It was quite interesting as when she nearly made it to the edge she slipped, but managed to grip to the snow instead of sliding down the mountain. We all managed to scramble across and then we reached the zig zags where the climb began to get steep which caused issues for the calf muscles. As we got to about 900m the problems with visibility began as we could only see about 20m around us and then had to follow the stones and the bearings we got off a random German man called Herzig.

The summit was freezing, probably because we had stopped walking, but also we were 4409ft above sea level. We were joined by another group of about 10 before getting a couple of photographs we needed as evidence and some food. We also had a chat about the 'toilet' which one of the group thought was quite a cool addition after a hard incline, but in actual fact this was the observatory so when we explained she felt a little embarrassed and thankfully did not use it as a toilet. There was also a moment of brilliance as one of the other group rang someone to explain he was the highest man in the British Isles, only for one of the Polish guys from our hostel to jump above him mid conversation #FURIOUS. We followed the other group down which saved a little time as we literally slid down the mountain to reach the last zig zag before struggling to climb down the other 700m. Everytime we had a little break our legs would continue to shake as the wear and tear on our knees began to take its toll. We reached the bottom and went straight to the hostel to tell Jeremy that we had completed the challenge. We then got into our room before collapsing to the floor although the smell was quite appalling.

The evening was spent in Fort William for some food and then a couple of beers in the hostel to celebrate our achievement. We even managed to get hold of a new alarm system that woke the group up wth 82 text messages and a phone call about kebabs. It all makes the trip! All equipment was packed up and then set off back to Newcastle the next morning. Thankfully I had brought a pillow which meant it was a bit easier to drive back as my legs were still aching from the climb. A selection of photographs are below, but we have more on our Facebook page. Our final amount once all the money is collected will be £1500 which is a good start with more events coming up soon. A huge thank you to those that have supported us so far and those who made the effort to complete the challenge with us. Everything is appreciated! If you would like to donate you can at www.justgiving.com/projectcuritiba

Fashionable

Here are our new tshirts courtesy of Just Sport which can be found in Newcastle city centre home of le Toon. Ben Nevis coming along nicely. Potentially some really big news to come soon!!

Our New Banner

Check out our new banner. It will appear in the local media this weekend. See if you can spot it!

Ben Nevis

We hope everyone had a brilliant NYE. On Saturday 9th February we will be climbing Ben Nevis to raise money towards Brazil. The money will be to provide disadvantaged young people from the favelas education and sport. In Brazil they only attend school for half a day or in some cases not at all which can lead to problems with crime. Ben Nevis will be tough as it is the highest mountain in the British Isles and it is likely to be -5 degrees when we are going. So if you would like to sponsor us you can via http://www.justgiving.com/projectcuritiba or telling your friends about it will be a big help. Just to give you an idea £2.50 will provide an hour of activity and £18.50 will provide a full day. If you are a business or company and sponsor us £100 for our corporate package you are providing a full week of either sport or English lessons for disadvantaged young people in Curitiba!