Page 63 - KRH Year of 2021 CREST

The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars 61
Football
Football in the KRH came back with a vengeance in 2021. The year saw a return to the Army League and Challenge Cup, a tour to Jersey, a popular intra-regimen-
tal 5-a-side league and two Brackenbury trophies. There was enthusiasm aplenty but no shortage of rust either. Fortunately, the ever-youthful Sgt Spencer was on hand to ensure that the squad was given a good run-out in the Spring in order to prepare for the long season to come.
Skilfully constructing a training programme around deployments to CMR and COVID-19 uncertainty, Sgt Spencer ensured the Regiment had a firm idea of its squad heading into the Summer. This was further aided by the 5-a-side league he set up. This league proved very popular both in crowd attendance and participation with a num- ber of the stronger teams succumbing to the taunts of the crowd as the atmosphere boiled over. One notable result was the rank amateurs of the Recon Roughnecks holding the prima donnas of Sesh Fabregas to a draw. As football- ing momentum gathered both in Aliwal Barracks and across the nation with the start of the Euros, the sorely missed Brackenbury Trophy reared its head once more. Delayed once by the pandemic, this time nothing would stop the Troopers perform a surgical disembowelling of the bedraggled cadaver that was the Corporals’ Mess’ excuse for a football team. The final score was 8-1 with then Tpr Villiers and Tpr Davies bagging themselves hattricks. In all respects the Corporals were thoroughly outclassed. Cfn Moulding and then Tpr Thompson pulled the strings through the centre of the pitch showing the class that has allowed them to represent the Inter-Services and the Army respectively. Tprs Pierce and Ellmer worked hard on the flanks and once the ball was at the feet of Villiers and Davies it was game over for goalkeeper LCpl Marks. A first win in living memory for the Troopers one to forget for the Corporals.
So it was that the Regiment took a youthful looking side over to Jersey in the back end of June to enjoy a long- forgotten perk of Regimental life – sports tours. A few hangers on from the Cyprus tour such as Sgt White and Cpls McCormick and Fletcher, spewing more hot air than ever on his return from training recruits having had a captive audience who were not allowed to answer back to him for two years, made the trip. Even WO2 Thorpe was dug up from a local Celtic burial site and wheeled out for the occasion. However, be we dinosaurs or crows we more than met our match with what the disarmingly charming island of Jersey had in store for us. Lt Barrell failed to do any sort of intelligence work on the opposition sides that had offered to play us with the result that we were met by some serious footballing outfits. While many of the tour- ing party managed to score again and again off the pitch, on it was a rather different affair. Credit must go to St. Brendan’s, St Paul’s and Grouville FCs who thoroughly outclassed us. Nonetheless, they never failed to host us in fantastic style. It was a particular highlight of the tour to be escorted to Grouville FC by the local motorbike chapter, the Green Man Motorcycle Club, followed by a post-game charity function in aid of Jersey Joint Services
LCpl Thompson playing for the Army FC
Veterans Association (JJSVA) where we contributed numerous items to the raffle and had soldiers showing off the Regiment by handing out prizes in Blues. All good things must come to an end and no matter how sore the farewells were to the island and its population we were whisked back to Tidworth to focus our minds once more on tank warfare and await the coming of the football sea- son proper after Summer leave.
The season arrived as the Regiment hastily prepared for a spate of exercises, but the hard work of the previous months was paying off. Victories were had in the League and Challenge Cup. Most notably a 7-3 hammering of the Household Cavalry Regiment. Nothing could have capped the year off better however, than the second Brackenbury Trophy of 2021. Despite many of the stars of the show in June now being promoted to LCpl – Thomson, Villiers, Holland et al. – the Troopers once again put in an invig- orated performance. With playmaker Tpr Walker pulling the strings at CM, the Troopers once again picked apart the Corporals. A tighter affair than the Summer none- theless ended 4-2 in favour of the junior men. This time play was at the Tidworth Oval with the full Regiment in support. The imaginative cry of ‘Troooooooopers’ echoed around the arena. To the winners went the spoils, and to Tpr Davies a large volume of Regimental champagne for his heroics. Thus 2021 drew to a close with huge improve- ments having been made across the Regiment. 2022 prom- ises to be another exciting year for the KRH FC with firm foundations having been set over the last 12 months.
WADB