By Arthur - 28 Apr 2012 11:40 AM
Dear Fellow Forumites
Just dropping aline as I prepare to escort my son and 12 other boys to a football tournament in France called the Festival D'Armor held in Plougonvelin in the province of Brittany. The group was organised and lead by my friend Jean-Pierre who is from Brittany and is a crazy French bastard (in the nicest way).
Tournament website
http://www.festival-armor.com/fr/home.php
Some past winners of the tournament
http://www.festival-armor.com/fr/lienmenu5-2.htm
Our Group and some details on our opponents
Groupe B - ILE DE OUESSANT
MELBOURNE UNITED (Australie)
GSI PONTIVY
FC LANDERNEAU
STADE PLEUDIHENNAIS
GJ DES 4 CLOCHERS
OK, this is it!...and this is what I know of our opponents:
GSI PONTIVY - Situated in the Morbihan region of Brittany (near Quiberon, where we will be staying), this team is likely to be a very tough opponent. The club has a FFF (French Football Federation)-approved academy. This club does traditionally well in tournaments (reaching the finals stages on numerous occasions), they will be fit, skilful with a traditional Breton stubborness in refusing to accept defeat. Their 2011 U15 team were the losing finalists in this tournament so beware of this new crop!
Their U15 team operates in the first level of U15, DH Elite.
http://www.pontivy-football-gsi.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=10
FC LANDERNEAU: Landerneau is an old historical town near Brest. They are a new club, borne out of the merger of two of their three clubs. They have 3 Under-15 teams, with their A-team playing in DH, the level immediately below DH Elite. They are currently in third spot in their championship, 2 spots above AS Brest, against whom we will play a pre-tournament friendly.
http://www.landerneaufc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=8&Itemid=50
No team photo available yet.
STADE PLEUDIHENNAIS: old friends, and a lovely club whose philosophy is to play good football with WHOEVER they have in their team and make sure that the kids are happy. In 2010, we were at the same U13 tournament and they borrowed 3 of our boys, as they were short of players (half their team competing in another tournament). They played a second round game which they lost against one of the eventual finalists, FC Nantes. I cannot stress enough what a fantastic bunch of kids and coaches these guys are. Whatever happens on the pitch, there will be a lot of mutual respect. Pleudihen is a small seaside village in the Cotes d'Armor region.
The team curently operates in U15 PH and sit 4th on the ladder. Their coach is a terrific guy called José Escanez. This club also organizes a European U11 tournament every year, attended by many of Europe's most famous clubs:
http://www.europoussins.com/index.php?limitstart=5
Finally GJ Des 4 Clochers (literally: Youth Group of the 4 Steeples) is an amalgalm of the village teams of St Divy – AS Kersaint-Plabennec – La Forest-Landerneau et la JS St Thonan, all from the Finistere region. They've only been in existence for 4 years. Traditionally, each of these villages would have had their own team only 10 years ago, but wth the change in demographics and economic situations, a lot of these villages are depopulating, which is why you are seeing more and more mergers in the Breton and French countrysides.
The complete draw is here:
http://www.festival-armor.com/fr/lienmenu3-1.htm
We play some practice games along the way starting on May 10 vs RC JOINVILLE, Stade J.P. Garchery 12, avenue des canadiens 75012 PARIS (RER Joinville le pont).
Then May 16 v Auray Football Club http://auray.footeo.com/ , 22 km from our base in Quiberon. Currently runaway leaders in U15PH
So there you have it as I leave on a four week football odyssey, I hope to find out a lot on how the French develop their players and will try and take as much footage and notes as possible.
When and where I can I will report in from France.
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By Arthur - 21 Jun 2012 11:18 PM
No Krones we don't my club is Nunawading our seniors are in the fourth division in Victoria, though we have a well respected junior setup.
This is not to be confused with the group that went to France, it was by invitation and not a club as such.
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