Saturday 8th April 2017

Follow here for updates from this year's Holland Tour - the annual highlight of the youth section calendar - provided by Steve Garlick.

Day One

Well this year's annual pilgrimage to Holland got off to a good, early start with a 6am departure.

The first stage of the journey was pretty much uneventful until we reached the French security border patrol in Dover where it was looking likely that they would not let us leave British soil… we weren't sure if it had anything to do with Brexit or if they had heard that Shane was on board and attempting to enter French territory!

After a little negotiation with Nigel, Pete and the Border Patrol, they eventually let us board the ferry.

We had a good onward trip making good time and reached our destination at 5.15pm local time.

The teams looked a little weary upon leaving the coach but were in good spirits and ready for dinner.

There was a moment of "headless" chicken panic as one of the players realised that he could not find his case with all of his clothes in for the week. His dad (one of the coaches) was distraught as he was shouldering the blame for leaving it in the car back at the club house. That was until they realised that the clothes were in a completely different bag to the one that they were looking for… Phew!!

Dinner was had at 7pm and this was followed by a briefing from Pete explaining the dos & don'ts and the high expectations of the managers, officials and club whilst on tour.

This was duly followed by Shane's hydration lecture ("treacle pee") and the importance of drinking water before, during and after the matches.

We have a busy schedule tomorrow with an early match then onto to watch an Eredivisie game.

Day Two

The day started early with all of the boys being in the dining room for 7am having breakfast then on the coach for 8am to start the journey to SC Monster. Today will be the first of three days of football, and a long day is planned.

We arrived at SC Monster's ground an hour before the scheduled kick off time at 10am. The teams grouped together in their changing rooms for the pre-match tactical talks and then it was time for the action to start.

The Under 12s kicked off and found the opposition to be tough and very skilful, showing great moves in the midfield. Our boys attacked well but just lacked that killer punch in front of goal and the first half finished with us trailing 4-1.

The Under 13s fared much better in a close fought game where chances at both ends went begging and both goalkeepers were kept busy and, as the half time whistle blew, it was all square at 0-0.

Shane's formidable Under 14 squad had high hopes and after the pre-match chat from Shane and Simon they were ready to take on the world…

We came out with all guns blazing and quickly built an emphatic 3-0 lead after only 15 minutes. Our goalie Dave hardly touched the ball, and this was to continue right up to half time where we went in 5-0 up.

After the restart the Under 12s were unlucky in a couple of attacks, again not capitalising on their pressing and this half mirrored the first with us missing chances and the final whistle blew with Joey Warren scoring two great goals in an 8-2 defeat. The whole team played well but were unlucky not to score more.

The Under 13s started the second half and found themselves very quickly 2-0 down to some very skilful play in front of goal and the pressure that they applied paid off! The team battled well and were awarded a penalty which Lewis Bexon-Shaw converted to make it 2-1. It wasn't long before we made it 2-2 with Otis Lewis scoring following some good play from the team. We were confident now and pressing for the win which left us open and SC Monster hit back and won the game 3-2.

Back to the U14s, and the second half followed the same pattern as the first with constant attacks and great football from all of the players. SC Monster hardly got the ball out of their half and the pressure applied by our boys resulted in the game finishing 10-0 with goals from Nat Bell (4), Sam Singha (3), Billy Saunders, James Young and Dan Warre.

Results vs SC Monster

Under 12s - L 2-8
Under 13s - L 2-3
Under 14s - W 10-0

After the boys showered and changed we were invited into the club house for food and drinks and the presentations of the Smedley Shield to winners SC Monster. It was then back on the coach and a one hour journey to Utrecht for the Eredivisie clash FC Utrecht and FC Twente.

The match did not quite live up to our expectations of Dutch top tier football, and Nigel Deane looked as though he was catching up on his beauty sleep during the match (photos to prove). However, Nigel was abruptly woken in the 63rd minute when the game burst into life with the home team taking the lead. Twente then just crumpled and eventually lost 3-0.

A good day was had by all on tour and after tonight's dinner, tomorrow's itinerary was given by Pete Yeardley.

Day Three

If there was ever a day to see mass sleep walking then today was that day as the teams had to endure the 07:30 woodland walk. One or two of the boys almost smiled on this walk…

After that, it was a trip to the beach at Scheveningen, where as soon as the boys were let loose on the promenade many of them headed for McDonalds whilst a few brave adults tackled the ferris wheel situated at the end of the pier.

After the fun and games at the beach and some souvenir shopping we were back on the coach and heading for the annual clash against FC 's-Gravenzande. We arrived at the stadium, took the traditional group photos that you will see on the front cover of the tour programmes before having some pre-match grub. (A tactical plan to slow us down me thinks!!)

Once the food and drink had been consumed the three teams got changed and headed to their respective pitches for their warm ups.

With the U14s in their changed strip of red and white Shane got them warmed up by getting them to lay down and have a nap… or was he trying to get them to do some press ups. Who knows!!

All three matches kicked off and the U13s raced into a commanding 3-0 lead within the first five minutes with constant pressure on the opposition's defensive line.

A couple of minutes later the U14s were 2-0 up (with a double from Nat Bell) and playing the "beautiful game" with style and panache that took our opponents very much by surprise.

15 minutes into the U12s game and they were finding their opponents to be very formidable and under a constant barrage of pressure. Our defensive lines were struggling to cope but managed to clear the ball time and time again but we found ourselves 3-0 down. The rest of the first half was much more even. However, as in yesterday's match, we couldn't hit the back of the net and we finished the half 5-0 down.

Back to the U13s, and it was relentless pressure from our boys with the FC 's-Gravenzande team hardly entering our half but when they did, our defence tidied up superbly. Our constant pressure paid off as we scored two more great goals to lead at half time 5-0.

The U14s, like the U13s, were pressing time and time again and Nat Bell was rewarded with his and the team's third - a great first half hat trick! And that's how it was when the ref blew to end the half.

As the second halves got under way, it was clear that the half time team talk given to the U12s had inspired the team and they dug in and closed down their opponents much quicker, giving them no time on the ball. They repelled the repeated attacks and came close themselves on a few occasions to reducing the deficit but could not find the back of the net. After a monumental effort by the whole team the match ended with the score line still at 5-0. Well done lads - a brave effort!

The U13s continued as they did in the first half and piled on the pressure, but when needed defended superbly and with a few flowing moves were able to grab three more goals. The game finished with Marcel Lewis and Otis Lewis both scoring twice and a goal each for Samuel Osei-Bonsu, Jacob Jamieson, L J Bexon-Shaw and Josh Irving. The final score was an 8-0 victory.

On to the U14s, and they were passing and moving like a well drilled team that you would expect to see as they are currently unbeaten in the league this season. The pressure that the boys from Bassett placed on the Dutch was relentless and the second half rewards were another two goals from Nat Bell, a well taken penalty from Billy Saunders and a goal for Jack Langcaster, giving the boys a 7-0 win.

All three teams played great football, did themselves and the club proud with the way that they conducted themselves, and we look forward to receiving the players from 's-Gravenzande in May.

Results vs FC 's-Gravenzande

Under 12s - L 0-5
Under 13s - W 8-0
Under 14s - W 7-0

Back in the 's-Gravenzande club house, we were given dinner and the three captains were then presented with the Friendship Trophy to bring back home to Bassett.

A great end to a great day...

Day Four

Today started quietly with another 7.30am stroll in the woods to wake the boys up before taking our seats in the dining room for breakfast. It was very much quieter than usual… are the past two days starting to take their toll??

After breakfast we had an hour before Woody and Derek took over and delivered the infamous RWBTFC Dutch quiz!!

The managers were all allocated players to be their knowledge banks and, as we would expect from Shane, he became his team's mascot and donned his mascot outfit- a size small junior tee shirt!!! (Must see the photos.)

At the expense of the managers embarrassment, they had to mime out certain sports and elements, which was very amusing to us all.

After this, Shane took each of the age groups in turn to do some stretching exercises which certainly helped some of the boys for this evening's matches.

This was followed by a short coach hop to FC Dordrecht (the Dutch Eerste Divisie club) for lunch at the excellent De Schaapskooi restaurant and team photos in the ground.

Later in the day, we travelled to the local amateur football club of SC Emma for our final matches of the 2017 tour.

We have been engaging in regular annual football matches at SC Emma for quite a number of years now, but this year they decided to field various age groups including their U15 girls team. To accommodate this, our U13s, with a few U14s mixed in, played their girls team and some of our U14s merged with their boys team to play a mixed friendly.

The U12s were split into two teams of eight to play a mixture of SC Emma's junior teams.

All of the matches were played with a good spirit, and after the U12s finished they had penalty shoot outs so that everyone got a chance to shoot at the keepers with both sets of players applauding every time a goal was scored.

Even Shane came on for the Dutch side and scored a goal…we never knew he had it in him!!!

The whole event was like a tournament atmosphere and the U13s were a particular hit with the girls team - I am sure that SnapChat address were exchanged at some point...

Dinner was served in the clubhouse later followed by a lot of socialising between the Dutch and the Bassett teams.

So this brings to an end the final event of this year's tour and what a success it was. Hopefully new friendships formed and associations with the three Dutch clubs made even stronger, and we look forward to returning next year.

Before signing off, I would like to thank all of the coaches for their continued support and care for the wellbeing of the teams and helping to make this year's tour run safely:

From the U14s - Shane Saunders, Simon Jones and Steve Hiles
From the U13s - Steve Robins, Jeremy Turner and Steve Shaw
From the U12s - Tony Gleed, Glen Coates and Nick Warren
The Tour leaders - Pete Yeardley and Nigel Deane
Welfare Officers - Derek Edgington and Erk Ates
Tour Logistics - Bryan Wood

Without these people these tours would never happen!!

Finally, huge thanks to Ross and Tony, the driver and navigator from Barnes Coaches, for getting us safely to our destinations.

Holland Tour Awards Night

The tour party reconvened on Sunday 23rd April for the Tour Awards Night in the clubhouse at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground. Man of the match and overall Tour awards were handed out on the evening.

The winners were:

Man of the Match vs SC Monster

Under 12s - Sam Burns
Under 13s - Gabriel Noone
Under 14s - Nathaniel Bell

Man of the Match vs FC 's-Gravenzande

Under 12s - Joey Warren
Under 13s - Otis Lewis
Under 14s - Billy Saunders

Man of the Match vs SC Emma

Under 12s Yellow - Jacob Rendell-Haines
Under 12s Blue - Michael Clifton
Under 13s - Josh Lewis
Under 14s - David Chimbaza

Tour Awards

Under 12s - Finlay Cranswick-Coates
Under 13s - William Haddock
Under 14s - Jed Phillips

Managers' Tour Award

Under 12s - Joey Warren
Under 13s - Tristan McKay
Under 14s - Frederick Merrett

Special Tour Award

Frederick Merrett

Steve Hiles was also presented with an award for being the Worst Linesman, while Nick Warren took the 'Worst Dressed - Constant Breach of Tour Uniform prize.

A special presentation was also made to Steve Garlick for his thoroughly entertaining tour blog and photos.

Last modified on Tuesday 25th April 2017 at 20:35.