What a wonderful tour: JK Jalgpallihaigla 10 Dulwich Hamlet Supporters' 6!

Despite the scoreline it was yet another successful tour for ‘The Rabblers’, enjoyed immensely by all who took part. Our Estonian friends were even better hosts than we imagined, and Tallinn itself was an even more beautiful city than we’d been led to believe. The only ‘downer’ was that we didn’t all have enough time there!
The majority of the fifteen strong tour party arrived by Thursday, with the rearguard getting to the hotel on Friday. The early bunch were lucky enough to catch a UEFA Cup match, at the national A Le Coq Arena, on the Thursday evening. Local side FC Flora going down to visiting Norwegians Valerenga IF by the only goal of the game. Our match, at 1 o’clock on Saturday, was somewhat more high scoring! We eventually lost by the amazing scoreline of 10-6, but in truth the four goal margin flattered the hosts somewhat, though it was such dun we weren’t complaining too much. But even before a ball was kicked in anger there was real drama in the Dulwich Hamlet camp as a flurry of phone calls between a stranded Lucas Green & a despairing Andy Tucker made the possibility of one of our touring lynchpins not being with us. Unbeknown to us soaking up the rays in the sunny Baltics, there were near monsoons all over England, & Lucas had his train severely delayed by a landslide on the line as he tried to make his flight at Gatwick. Attempts to namedrop “Don’t you know who my brother is…” were doomed to failure & the plane was airborne without him. A major disaster was looming, but Lucas would not be beaten. All remaining flights to Tallinn were full, and he searched for all possibilities. Going via Helsinki, then boat. Prague. Berlin…train onwards. You name it, he tried it. But then, after more badgering, a seat became available on the morning flight! And with an hour to spare Lucas was on the touchline! A true “Rabblers” hero, who deserves to go down in folklore for his efforts. And although we did not win the game, he put in a sterling performance that, on any other day, would have won him our player of the match award. But not today. As true Hamlet history was made. The all-time known Dulwich Hamlet First Team club record of goals scored in a match by a single player is six, the only one post-War was Matt Fowler in a London Senior Cup tie at Bromley in the late nineties. Prior to that you have to delve all the way into the dim & distant past of the nineteen twenties when both Sid Nichol & the legendary Edgar Kail hit a double hat-trick each in the same match no less! Now the name LAWRENCE MARSH can be added to that list as he scored all six for “The Rabblers” on this tour against JK Jalgpallihaigla! Who would have ever thought it eh? Lawrence Marsh mentioned alongside the great Edgar Kail? How fitting that he achieved this wearing our new “Rabblers” kit of thin Pink & Blue stripes, modelled on the 1919/20 FA Amateur Cup & Isthmian League championship winning double side, that Edgar was part of.
Of the match itself…well we were always the underdogs, & our main hope was to stifle them a little, not let them play & keep in the game for as long as possible. Which was not going to be easy. The temperature was in the mid seventies at least, and we only had two substitutes. A large part of our party were the wrong side of thirty, and two were well into their fifties! But Jalgpallihaigla had wave after wave of youthful substitutes with which to ring in the changes. Their oldest player, & he was their eldest by far, was a ‘young pup’ of 42. We went a goal behind after eleven minutes, but only five minutes later Larry Marsh had evened things up. But any hopes of a lift from this, that ‘we can do this’ self belief factor, was smashed less than sixty seconds later when Paul Griffin put the ball through his own net, under no pressure from the opposition, when all he had to do was knock the ball into touch, either for a corner or a throw. But no, he hit it with hard precision into the bottom corner of the net, leaving a bemused Matt Hammond in goal with no chance. A crestfallen Griff collapsed to the ground, and held his head in his hands. And so he should. This moment was a far cry from his moment of glory when he scored against the Swiss in Prague back in 2003. After the final whistle Griff tried to tell us that he was ‘aiming for the corner flag.!’ Not long after Matt conceded, what he will admit was a ‘soft goal’. But not entirely his fault. Firstly, he was suffering from an attack of ‘Severe Post Traumatic Stress’ as a result of that own goal; & secondly, he was playing the game with a finger strapped up, which he’d injured playing in the Sevens a few days before. Unbeknown to him he had actually broken his finger & was playing through the pain barrier to take part in this tour. But going two goals behind was going to stop our man making history, and by the half hour mark it was even stevens once more, before the Estonians edged in front again. But minutes before the half time whistle Larry had again put the ball in the back of the net to make it four all at the turnaround.
After the break the heat, and advancing years, made it a wearisome task for “The Rabblers”, but despite starting to wilt not one player gave up & battled gamely on, even when the Estonians pulled away with a two goal lead. Larry pulled one back in the 63rd minute, & held on for another seven minutes before Jalgpallihaigla hit two more in a five minute spell, which would have finished off lesser sides. With two minutes to go they hit another, before Larry gleefully scored his record breaking sixth goal of the game, their tenth in the very last minute moments later, almost seeming like a ‘consolation’ as all of us enjoyed a breather as the desperately awaited final whistle blew not long after.
I could go through the whole team and mention them all one by one. But there is no need. I have been watching, and involved in, the Supporters’ Team since it was formed back in May 1989. This was-despite the scoreline-one of our finest moments. Wilting in the heat everyone gave their all & never stopped working. Each and every player who pulled on a Pink ‘n’ Blue shirt last Saturday can be proud of themselves, for if heads had dropped then the scoreline would have been much higher. Never have I got so much ‘pleasure’ from a defeat.
The parting continued all night. We knocked back the beers they had provided on the touchline, then dashed back to our hotel to dump our gear. Some returned to the pitch next to where we had done battle to watch a top flight Estonian League match between JK Tallinna Kalev & Parnu Vaprus, before popping into a local bar. We then saw an international match at the same place between Estonia Under 18’s & Belarus. After the final whistle we headed to a local pool bar that our Estonian friends knew well. We left there just before midnight & headed into the Old Town, one of their number stripping naked and jumping into a fountain for fun! Yes…they really were that crazy! We settled into one of the main tourist pubs, and at about two in the morning we split into two groups, some heading back to the hotel, others going onto a local punky-type nightclub in a shopping centre!
Sunday was spent relaxing, sightseeing, or even watching more football as a few caught a local second division match. In the evening we all had a ‘team meal’ in a medieval style restaurant in town, some of things being sampled were wild boar, rabbit, bear, salmon & plenty more I can’t recall as I type, washed down with lots of wine & jugs of honey beer. A splendid end to a marvellous weekend.
Once again, a BIG THANK YOU to Lawrence Marsh & Andy Tucker for organising & everything, & liasing with Madis & company from Jalgpallihaigla.
The sadness at leaving Tallinn was tempered by the fact there is no doubt we will return to play the boys from Jalgpallihaigla again in the not too distant future. The beauty of travelling to unchartered places with ‘The Rabblers’ is that another small part of Europe becomes embedded in our English hearts. A little part of Tallinn will forever be Pink and Blue.