Danes Staff take on Local Parents' Team in Charity Game

The following article was written by Mr Birkett, Head of PE Faculty at St Clement Danes School:

Saturday afternoon saw the inaugural Danes Staff v Sausage FC football match, which helped raise money for a very worthy cause.

As part of my fundraising for CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) for which I am running the London Marathon for on the 3^rd October, both sides agreed to meet in an eagerly anticipated match up.

The group of Chorleywood parents - Sausage FC, led by our own Mr Warner, play regularly against local friendly sides, and provided formidable opponents for a staff side who haven't played much together in the past 2 years! We were delighted to welcome back Mr Garden, Mr Cumming, Mr Williams, Mr Botschin and Mr Harris to bolster the Staff squad.

The level of cohesion in each team was clearly evident within 20 minutes as Sausage FC went 4 - 0 up without the staff having a single opportunity! Goals for Gez, Rich, Gary got the ball rolling & the pain was compounded for Mr O'Dowd with a fine own goal!

However, a goal from the increasingly influential Mr Watkinson gave the staff team hope before half time. It would've been even closer if Mr Garden had not blazed his penalty over into Stubbs Farm land!

Thankfully the second half saw improvements from the staff team with a change of personnel & a man of the match performance from Mr Cumming, which changed the game for Danes staff. Goals from Mr Botschin and Mr Reid made the game increasingly interesting going into the final quarter as Danes staff pushed hard for the equaliser, despite Gez & Steve adding two more for Sausage FC. Hope of the ultimate comeback was on as Mr Reid completed a fine hatrick, but it wasn't to be as Steve added 2 more to seal a 7 - 6 win for the Chorleywood side.

A fantastic game, played in a great spirit, was appreciated by the watching supporters and players alike. There are now plans for this to become an annual game and could even be the catalyst to bring back a Staff v Parents Cricket match!