Taunton C.S. A vs Invitation XI

With a final flourish that couldn’t have been scripted better, John Bird, legend of 35 seasons with Taunton Civil Service Hockey Club, scored the winning goal with the final strike of a match between
his Invitation XI and the Club 1st XI.

Saturday 23rd March 2013 will go down in the annals of history for Taunton CS Hockey Club, when John Bird hung up his stick after a career spanning 35 years. A match was arranged between an invitation XI consisting of players past, and the current Club side to celebrate the end of an era.

The two sides lined up with an age span of over 40 years between the youngest and the oldest
players on a bitterly cold morning at Kings College. Clearly the mere fact that some of the invitation
side had managed to find their kit let alone turn up for a game had struck fear into the hearts of the
Club side who conceded a goal within minutes of the start from none other than John Bird, clinically finishing off a slick passing move from one end of the pitch to the other. The Club side were spurred into action and decided to use their main weapons of speed and youth, along with the ability to launch the ball 50 yards through the air over the top of the spectating opposition, taking the lead and setting an ominous pattern. Oranges at half time laced with a little special ingredient failed to dent the pace and enthusiasm of the Club side but did seem to have an invigorating effect on those players who recognised the similarities to the taste of Sanatogen.

John Bird’s team called on all their years of experience and a natural ability to look old whilst playing some decent hockey to claw their way back over the following hour to what looked like the inevitable 5-5 draw. Every trick in the book was used by the visitors including selecting sympathetic umpires and having Andy Carter suspended for looking “far too likely to beat a tackle”.

The Club side scored regularly [Connor Neal (2) Mark Sawyer and Toron Everett (2)] in reply to a scorching shot into the goal from an impossible angle by Vince Kearney (subsequently found via replay to have ricocheted off virtually every person and hard object within 5 metres of the goal before crossing the line) and well worked scores by Bill Horner (2) and Richard Ackland.

The game was played in a fantastic spirit with good vocal support for both sides and despite several attempts to snatch victory the Club side couldn’t break through the dogged defence, the cloud of Deep Heat vapour or the incessant barracking from the sidelines by those too old or too injured to play any further part. The seconds ticked away, the draw looked most likely. But with moments to go a penalty corner was awarded to John Bird’s team and the scene was set for a dramatic finale.

This would be the last action of a career spanning three and a half decades, hundreds of goals, dozens of cards of various colours and the invention of profanities that are still as yet unexplained. The crowd were hushed, hearts in their mouths. Players lined up and the ball was injected to John Bird. With his trademark deftness of stick the ball was collected, pulled inside the circle and fired into the bottom corner of the goal…the legend was fulfilled and the match won. Grown men welled up with emotion, fatigue and lack of oxygen as rapturous applause and the sound of the final whistle filled the air.

It was to be a fitting end to a playing career that started well before many of those taking part in the match had even been born and one that will be remembered for very long time by those who can say they “were there at that match when JB retired”. Thank you and good luck John, you will be sorely missed but never forgotten for so many reasons - some of which are hockey related!

Invitation XI John Bird, Terry Harris, Julian Brown, Paul De Jaeger, Damian Marshman, Simon Dacey, Vince Kearney,Hugh Phillips, Bill Horner, Richard Ackland, Charlie Brown, Jason Vincent, Dave Phelps, Steve Campion, John Southwell

Club XI Mike Whitman, Ali Johnstone, Ben Caille, Jason Harris, Tom Loveluck, Simon Jones, Curtis Bradley, Toron Everett, Andy Carter, Mark Sawyer, Connor Neal, Dan Adams, Jessie Mooney

(report supplied by Terry Harris)

Reference should also be made to Conor Neal, who has played in his last match for Service for some time. In a couple of months, he will be deploying to Germany for two years and the commute might get in the way of a regular game.