Korf Kerfuffle
| Saturday 25 June, 2005 |
Brixton Rec on a Saturday morning is an unlikely venue to stage an international match. But there I was, bright and early, eagerly anticipating a Great Britain Vs Netherlands (North) korfball challenge match.
Ten years ago and this could have been me stepping out onto the hallowed beer stained court, dropping off and launching my long shots. Dodgy knees, dodgy local korfball politics and dodgy away trips to some inbred Kent countryside clubs led me to concentrate on taking crap pics over the course of my weekends instead.
A man who has not heard of korfball is a man who has probably got a life. For the uninitiated, korfball is a Dutch hybrid of basketball (hurrah!) and netball (boo!). Something for Arthur, something for Martha. And there's a fair few Martha's out there in those Kent countryside badlands.
Front defence, 'keeping it tight' and launching your long one - there's plenty of sexual tension out on the korfball court with each team comprised of four males and four females. There was also plenty of non-ironic mullets on court at Brixton Rec on Saturday with the fashion sense of our crazy Dutch friends coming close to bringing out unknown Eurosceptic tendencies in me. I was won round to the philosophy of the Federal State though when the U-19 Dutchies skipped out onto the Brixton court in their regulation korfball miniskirts. Girls not boys, but if you swing that way then you probably wouldn't have been disappointed either.
 Something for Arthur, something for Martha |
The game itself was a one way affair with the Dutchies taking a 14-1 lead into halftime. And this was just their Northern oiks team. In a week of plucky Brits underperforming over at SW18, the plucky Brits at Brixton Rec did their best. The Dutch did invent korfball after all, and when was the last time they beat us at cricket?
The British Korfball Association has a vision to:
'Transform Team GB into the world leader by 2011.'
I won't embarrass the plucky Brits by giving out the final score, but it was close to my cricketing activities later in the day. There's clearly a long way to go, but to build for the future down at Brixton Rec has got to be better than some old bloke with dodgy knees ending up being knackered every Sunday morning down in crappy Kent.
(click on thumbs to see large image)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
