Well it is a day late, but I am finally here with my summary of the Twilight Football game I checked out this past Tuesday at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, England. This was one of seven worldwide Twilight Football games, which were all sponsored by the good people at Sony. I was chosen by the electronic giant and tripwolf.com to represent the United States of America at this global event. I was lucky enough to bring along my father-in-law (who knows way more about soccer..er I mean football than I do).
When I arrived Sunday in Cornwall, England the weather was absolutely brilliant. There was not a cloud in the sky and it was quite shocking as the weather predictions for my arrival was calling for clouds and rain all day. Now while I enjoyed an unseasonably warm and sunny Sunday and Monday in the southwestern part of England, the day of the big game was a completely different story.
I woke up Tuesday morning and pulled open my hotel room’s curtains to see before me nothing but dark clouds, a foggy mist in the air, and sprinkles of rain drops on my window. Was I mad? Hell no, this is England in late September, I was actually kind of hoping for some gloomy weather while I was here.
The bus left sharply at 4pm and it took us about an hour to get from the St. Mellion International Resort to Tintagel Castle. The ride was interesting to say the least, as many times our huge bus stopped traffic due to it taking up most of the small roadways that were obviously built long before this monstrous vehicle was invented. At times our massive bus came within inches of scraping the homes that were built right by the side of the road. To make matters worse, it was already dark at 4pm due to all the clouds in the sky blocking the sun. Plus the rain and fog combo made visibility much harsher for the driver.
The game started a little earlier due to there being no actual twilight due to the bad weather. Everyone involved in the game, from the Sony reps to the photographers to the locals, all were great and made for one hell of a good time on top of some English ruins in gross weather. A team from Brazil played another team from Australia in a 50-minute game that was enclosed in a plexiglass wall to ensure that none of the players went slipping and sliding over the edge of the ruins and down below into the water.
In what was a rough and tumble kind of match, Australia came from behind and beat a very passionate Brazilian team 10-6. A few times throughout the game players went flying into the plexiglass walls only to knock them down. It made for a great picture, as two or four huge athletes would go barreling into a few tiny photographers and all would be lying on the floor in a mess of grass, mud and Sony cameras.
In closing, I had one hell of a time and the people at Sony treated me and the other guests like gold. The site of the event had a tent set up with coffee, tea, soups, and even Cornish pastries (which were delicious). I got to befriend and hang out with many cool people from Spain, Croatia, Italy, France, Czech Republic, and of course England. Below are a few shots taken at the game. Enjoy and have a great weekend.
Bridge to the site of the big game.
The weather wasn't pretty that day. But both team Brazil and team Australia brought their "A" game.
Now while team Australia might have won the game 10-6, team Brazil were much better at singing their national anthem.
Both teams played hard in the foggy and rainy conditions at Tintagel.
When you get such great competitive athletes together, there is always going to be moments where they might get rather verbal in their disagreements.
Overhead shot of the hard hitting football that took place atop Tintagel Castle.
Early in the game team Australia (in the orange) was down 4-0. But they fought hard and made a great comeback.
Team Brazil's goalkeeper really made many blunders throughout the match, which helped the Aussies score back to back to back goals easily and take the lead with just a few minutes left.
Spectators took in the game not just from the sidelines, but above the match with breathetaking views to boot.
After the match both teams embraced and celebrated together. Great game played by both teams.
To check out more pictures from Tintagel and the other six games, click here.
