A slight obsession with football

"Pass to Socrates on left wing" yells the coach.  "Hercules is also clear in mid-field".  Angus deftly moves the ball around and manages to get a clean pass to Socrates who takes it forward and scores a goal.....

I don't know about you, but when I hear someone call for Socrates I'm normally not thinking of football? But this is the reality of football life in Cyprus, where the players names are as colourful as their hairstyles.

Football has become more than a slight obsession for Angus these last few years. He currently plays five days a week, training with Arsenal football academy and then playing a match on Saturday. The overall standard is good, and Angus is loving the training and matches. His main concern about returning to Australia next year is that it may be harder to get signed with a European club from downunder, as compared to playing with Arsenal in Cyprus......nothing wrong with a bit of ambition!

A particular highlight for Angus this season has been the qualification of Apoel, the leading team in Cyprus, in the European Champions League. This means that there are some great matches to be played in Cyprus over the coming months, including Apoel vs Barcelona, Paris St Germain and Ajax from the Netherlands. Each match sure to be a sellout; we are in the process of trying to get some tickets.

To give some sense of how much football currently dominates the landscape for Angus, his weekends are spent poring over form guides, matches and results from the English, German, Spanish and Italian league fixtures. Likewise he is continuously analysing the latest player transfers "(xx insert name of team) should have paid more for (xx insert name of player)" etc. But it's not always about the European competitions......on schooldays we also get a daily debrief from Angus each afternoon on what played out during the lunchtime match (I'm always particularly interested to know if Socrates was fouled or not??).

You don't have to go far in Nicosia to find a cafe or pub showing any one of the weekend or midweek games from all the European competitions; large tv screens are everywhere, and the whole place seems to stop when there is a big match on. We often hear the cheering from nearby cafes at our house. On some weekends we try to watch the Arsenal premier league match in a local cafe or pub. The Brickyard is a favourite venue only about 5 mins from home.

Jessie had taken to calling Angus 'mop-head' for the
last few months 

Football has even had an impact on fashion and hairstyles for Angus. Just this week he took the plunge to get his long locks finally cut off, modelling a new coif on one of his favourite players Gareth Bale (who plays for Real Madrid). He thinks his football will now improve no end, given the fact that he can actually see the ball now! Sarah has been at a conference in UK and Netherlands this week, and I'm sure will not recognise her son when she returns tomorrow.

Angus is shorn. A new 'Gareth Bale' look!

At the Champions League qualifier: Apoel vs Aalborg
from Denmark. Fans were much better behaved than a
regular Cypriot game (see pic below)

The mild mannered crowd at a 'normal' match in Cyprus