Victory in Vienna.

It means everything to me.

The tour began with five heading from Leeds to Bratislava — David Grundy, Garry Buck, Aman Atkar, Phil Railton and Paul Cook — while Michael Davison and I took the Newcastle route, which wasn’t too straightforward. The Metro stopped before the airport, I wandered around looking for an Uber before the line was magically working again. Newcastle Airport added a delay just to keep the blood pressure up, but somehow we still made the Vienna connection, mainly because we had to do our fingerprints.

The first night was simple enough: meet the “Bratislava lads”, eat, drink (heavily). Day two was food, more light drinking, and then a match played in searing heat at the vast Sport Center Donaucity just off the Danube.

Much appreciation must go to Sorin Brici, who organised multiple football nights in Vienna and managed to arrange a weekend game for us when they normally play on weekdays.

As the heat increased, so did the flies. Everyone swallowed a few, but at least we eventually caught our opponents too. The first half was chaos. Goals weren’t a problem as Phil and Cookie scored most of their chances, but defending was typical overseas defending — simple errors that wouldn’t happen in the UK were somehow standard over there. Luckily, we received Brotac Ionut, a superb player from the opponents who did plenty of running for us.

As the game went on, Grundy broke a toe again, because it’s expected. Cookie was hyper from the moment he arrived. Phil ran all day, and Aman scored a couple of goals he’ll be reminding us about until 2027. Garry had a stomach problem and was ironically begging for the shits. Dava was attacked by every insect in Austria. And I met someone angrier than me: Sorin, their organiser.

Watching through the Veo link gives you multiple angles, key moments marked on the timeline, zoom for close‑ups, and speed controls for slow‑mo or quick review. It’s the full match with all the smart analysis tools built in.

The second match was shorter, with the opponents depleted from their usual midweek schedule. We won early, mixed the sides, and collected the usual injuries.

The tour was over, and mine and Dava’s flight back was disrupted by some prick checking a bag in and then not turning up. Then there were two delays in Amsterdam, plus a nutter going off at the gate (security took about 30 minutes to arrive, when a taser and a kick in the balls would have done it).

But we eventually got home, and most of us have lost the use of our legs. I contemplated retirement as my feet couldn’t handle the second day, before making plans for Hungary in 2027. It goes on, and on, and on, and on…

"Achtung! Torseite, Grundy! Da versucht ein Österreicher, dich hoch in die Luft zu kicken!"

The squad for Austria was as follows:

Michael Davison GK
Davinder Sangha
Paul Cook
David Grundy
Phil Railton
Garry Buck
Amandeep Atkar

Sangha, Cook, Grundy and Railton played in the Falkirk Lava Cup tournament in 2025, while Atkar and Davison have played in 11-a-side and 9-a-side games recently.

We've added our dear friend, Daryll in honour, as without him we would have no link up with the 6 players heading out there. Daryll was also considering coming along at an early stage.