Blog 9 Nosdo FC

Those who know me, know I love playing football, I play a few times a week back home and so I was keen to do so over in SaLone.

I was desperate to get a game at Wusuum Field, Makeni’s stadium, which is home to the Wusuum Stars and is the only pitch in SL that is artificial. Though it is used sparingly as they like to keep it in good condition.

Instead I found a team called Nosdo FC (the name comes from a local sponsor) because of our housekeeper Alusine, a 22-year-old left winger who lists Ryan Giggs as his favourite player and is a huge Manchester United fan (Daza Robins will be happy) has played for them for quite a few years.

Alusine took me along to a training session and introduced me to his teammates and their coach Cisse, a really canny, young lad who is very softly spoken but heavy on discipline and religion.

They were all fantastic lads; they let me join in and shared a few jokes with me, typical white man banter.

The warm-up itself was brutal, although most of it was just jogging and stretching, in this heat it took a lot of energy and I had to work hard to keep up.

We played a game of 2-touch possession, it was tough! Every single player seemed to have so much pace, like I was playing against a million Walcott’s and with my touch not being the greatest I ended up doing what I do best and kicking people.

It did not help that the ground we were playing on had huge rocks everywhere and was really dusty, so to change direction took about 10 minutes. Plus the ball was like a bloody stone. These lads were used to it, even if some of them were wearing jelly shoes to play in.

Anyway after a few sessions and few games, Cisse said the lads were impressed and happy for me to come along to train and share my thoughts on football. That keeps me happy.

To keep Nosdo FC happy I gave them a gift….. a new strip. 12 red and white Sunderland shirts (thanks again to everyone who donated them). They all loved the tops and are so far unbeaten when playing in them. Ha’way the Lads, Ha’way the Nosdo.