“Dad! It’s 4 o’clock, we better go!” shouted Nick up the stairs.
“Is Jon here?” asked Dad.
“Yes, I’m right here Mr Grimsby!” answered Jon.
“Right then, let’s go,” said Dad, while putting his coat on.
It only took them forty minutes to get there and Nick was extremely excited. They gave their tickets in turn and as soon as Nick was in he smelt the air as he always did when he felt lucky. They asked the steward for directions to their seats and they sat down, exhausted by the journey.
“Hey, can I go to the toilet before kick off?” asked Jon.
“Yes sure, I need to go too. Are you ok being left here on your own, son?” said Mr Grimsby.
“Yeah sure, you go,” answered Nick.
He watched them go and just as they were leaving the inside area a man rushed past them. He had short black hair and beady eyes. He kept on looking behind him while talking on the phone as if he was being chased. He decided to turn down the row in front of Nick. As he started to walk down the row, Nick could hear what he was whispering through the phone.
“Yes, I have a plan. They’ll never know what hit them, Swansea have no chance versus Cardiff. Yes…Ah hu…Yes, see you boss. Bye.”
He put the phone away, took one good look behind him, and began to sprint away. Nick couldn’t believe his ears. Had that guy really just said that?
As he watched the guy disappear from sight, he turned to face the other way and there were two men searching the stand. He was staring at one and at that moment the guy looked straight at him. Their eyes met and for a few seconds fixed on each other. Nick turned away uneasily and hoped to God that the other guy was looking past him. Nick daringly turned his head slightly and noticed the man coming straight for him. They arrived with him some ten seconds later.
“Hey kid, what did you see or perhaps hear from the guy,” the first man showed him a photograph of the man from the phone call. “Because he’s on the FBI top ten most wanted list.”
At that point Jon and Dad came into the stand from the right.
“We’ll have to talk later, my Dad and friend are coming back,” whispered Nick and pointed to the right. Both men turned their heads and saw Dad and Jon approaching the row.
“We’ll find a way,” answered the second man. They walked quickly to the left.
“So what did I miss?” asked Dad.
Oh, if only he knew.
The game went very well for Swansea with them going into the tunnel at half time 2 - 0 up. If only it had gone so well for Nick. He was extremely nervous and Jon was starting to get suspicious of his behaviour because he didn’t celebrate either goal. When the whistle went he let out a sigh of relief. At least nothing had happened to him yet.
“And now it’s time for the seat prize!” announced the stadium announcer. “The seat is in the south stand.”
Wait a second, Nick recognised that voice.
“It’s in row W!”
It was the first man from the search. And that was his row!
“The seat number is…” he paused for effect. “1734!” he blazed through the microphone. It was his seat…
My Football Fantasy
Mitchell Tristram, Cwrt Sart
One day I went to the park with my friend Sam. We both started to walk down the street looking at the different types of houses. We got to the park and started to take shots against each other in the rusty goals that looked like they were going to fall over.
While we were playing I noticed there was a guy sitting in a shabby old white van watching us. So we carried on playing. Just as we were going to leave he got out. He was dressed in a thick leather coat with jeans as skinny as a carrot and Dr.Martin shoes. He was also wearing shades, and his hair was in the shape of a Mohawk’s!
He walks over to us. At this point we were petrified. He said “Orite mate?”
Sam replied “Hello.”
He said “I am a scout for Wales and I have been watching you for the last hour and I think you have potential. So I would like you to come training for Wales tomorrow.”
So I said “Ok” and ran home as fast as I could.
When I got home I told my mother all about it. She was so happy for me and baked me a cake.
The next day I woke up and immediately got ready for the big day. I walked down stairs and before I new it I was in the car going to the trials.
When I got there I was a nervous wreck. I walked into the stadium and right in front of me was Gareth Bale. I was so excited to be training alongside him.
A few hours later the training finished and I thought I had done pretty well. Just as I was about to leave Gary Speed came up to me and asked would I like to play Saturday against Sweden. Before he could finish the sentence I had said yes.
So I played Saturday and I defended really well and that is my football fantasy.
My First Football Goal
Rhys Williams, Cwrt Sart
Rhys is a very bright and athletic teenager. He has short black hair with a hint of brown. His eyes are as blue as the ocean. His teeth are as bright as the stars glistening before your eyes.
Rhys is five foot and eight inches tall. He was the tallest in his school. He has size 7 feet and has a very high test score rate. He is also one of the smartest teenagers in the area.
As it approached 10 o’clock, Rhys’s friends arrived to leave for football. There was Jamie, the shortest one but one of the most skilful players. Mitchell, who was also very short but very athletic. Then there was Madi, the one with all the angles and moves. And of course me, the goalkeeper, who had been there for many years.
It was 10:30 when we arrived at Briton Ferry with teams from Swansea to Cardiff. There were four fields for forty teams, and there was four pools - A,B,C and D. Rhys’s team were pool D. As the first game approached the players were on the field warming up.
“My team are going to win,” said Rhys to his mum.
Kick off was at 11 o’clock. The time now was 10:59. He was counting down the seconds, waiting for the manager of the club to blow the horn to start the tournament… three, two, one (bang!!!!) the crowd went wild….
The Dream Job That Ends Tragically
Emyr Waters, Bro Myrddin
In North Wales there lived a boy called Steve and he wanted to play rugby for Wales but he never thought he was good enough. Steve was very short and thin. He had a ginger Afro and his teeth were all out of shape. The only reason that he didn’t think he was good enough is because people always bullied him saying that he was a terrible rugby player and that he’d never get married.
One day at school he heard there were trials for the District on Friday so he thought he’d go and try out for the team.
When Friday came he was so excited. There were hundreds of people at the trials and out of all the people to bump into he managed to bump into the bullies.
“What are you doing here? You might as well go home because you will never get in,” the biggest one told him.
So Steve just turned around and walked away.
During the training session they had to do four laps around the pitch and Steve came in the top ten. The bullies came close to the end. The other stuff involved sprinting, tackling and a game at the end. By the end they had chosen a team. Some how Steve wasn’t in it but the bullies were, so Steve ran home crying.
During the next few months the bullies had progressed to County and they were getting all of the girls. One more step and they would play for North Wales.
The following Sunday, Steve was playing for his usual team and he heard there was a scout there for North Wales. So Steve played his best and at the end the scout came over and asked him to play for his team. He just ignored the bullies.
From then on Steve was playing Centre every match and he was getting all of the girls; but the best thing was the bullies started showing him some respect and were nice to him.
During the years Steve progressed to play a higher and
higher standard of rugby. He won the Heineken cup three times with the Ospreys and the RaboDirectPro12 four years in a row. But Steve’s biggest test so far was about to commence because he had been chosen for the World Cup squad. And he wasn’t a favourite to start in his regular position.
The preparations were hard. They had to go in a freezing machine to get harder and they went to Poland to get their fitness better. Eventually they were on the plane on the way to New Zealand. He thought to himself that their qualifying group was hard, but he was quite confident. During the few weeks they beat Samoa 35-10, Fiji 24-5, Tonga 40-0 and France 20-18. In the quarterfinals they had to face Ireland who were on form. It was an easy game for Wales with a 20-3 lead at half time. In the second half Ireland seemed a much better side with the score getting tighter. With a minute left on the clock the score was 27-27 and Wales had a penalty on the halfway line. The crowd went silent except for a few Irish fans.
Billy West ran up to take the kick. He paused then kicked. It looked good but when it got closer it didn’t look so good and it landed on the crossbar. It was moving from side to side until eventually it went over on the right side of the posts! Everyone cheered. Billy West was definitely the hero of the day.
On the next day they found out they were playing Namibia in the semi-finals. They had been training all week even though there wasn’t much point because Namibia weren’t very good. When the day arrived, Steve was nervous running on to the pitch. Eventually the whistle was blown and he got stuck in with some lovely runs. By the end the score was 70-7 with four tries coming from Steve.
To their disappointment they had to play New Zealand in the final and people were obviously faking injuries because they were scared to play the greats of rugby. On that Saturday they were going to the stadium and he had to play wing because of all the injuries. He didn’t mind much because it’s not much different to playing in the centre. When they were running onto the pitch the roar from the crowd was amazing. But when the All Blacks came out there was an even bigger roar.
The referee was Scottish and when he was ready he blew the whistle to start the match. Bobby Jackson caught the ball and made a powerful run. In the twentieth minute of the match it was 6 all, so it was a very boring match. At half time it was 12 – 9 to Wales.
During half time the coaches were shouting like mad. You could hear the coaches from the stands. When Wales were running out to the pitch Steve thought to himself that he only had one chance so he was going to put his body on the line and play amazingly for his country. The kick was taken and Bobby Jackson caught it again. The ball got out to Steve on the wing and he was through. He chipped it over the full back and scored. The noise from the crowd was amazing. The fly half converted.
Ten minutes into the second half it was 19 – 15 to Wales but New Zealand weren’t giving up with some strong driving from the forwards and some outstanding pace in the backs. And because of the hard work, New Zealand were awarded with a try and a conversion to make the score 19 – 22.
In the 78th minute the score was 28 – 25 to Wales. Unfortunately, New Zealand ruined their dreams by getting another try and conversion to make the score 28 – 32. Wales had to re-start with a minute left on the clock. New Zealand were pushing ever so close to the line when Steve made an interception. He had to get past their full back so he barged him onto his butt. The problem was that their winger was catching up with him. Steve stopped and the winger fell on his face, then he carried on running and placed the ball under the posts. Every Welsh supporter in the crowd screamed and cheered.
The clock had gone red when they took the conversion so that meant that Wales had won 35 – 32 in a very close encounter. The squad lifted Steve up. It felt like it was Christmas morning, but some crazy Welsh fan ran onto the pitch to celebrate and pushed one of the players that was holding Steve. He fell on his head and his neck bent backwards. He was unconscious and they had to call an ambulance.
He was rushed to the nearest hospital to get a scan. It didn’t look good. The doctors unfortunately had to break the bad news to him that he was paralysed. He had broken his neck, cracked his head open and had been bitten by something so he had an infection to his leg that had spread. To safe his life, he had to have both of his legs amputated. He had to go ahead with the operation if he wanted to see his family again, so they took him to the theatre.
When he came out, his legs that were now stumps felt sore. Eventually the doctor came in and told him that the operation was a success. A few days later he was discharged from the hospital.
When he arrived home there was a big trophy waiting for him that read “Player of the Tournament”, and there was another two huge medals: “Man of the Match” and “Rugby World Cup Winners”. But the best things were the two prosthetic legs, one white, the other red. On the white one it said the score and the scorers in the Final. On the other was the date, the stadium, the location and the names of the squad. Steve thought this was the best day ever. Then suddenly loads of his family jumped out and said “Surprise”! Steve jumped in shock and started to cry a bit because it was the first time he’d seen his family in a very long time.
Thirty years later his neck had healed, his head had healed and he had learnt how to walk again on his prosthetic legs. By now he had got married and had three children. These days he coaches the Ospreys.
He has been placed in the “Hall of Fame” for overcoming his fear, succeeding in the World of Rugby and becoming one of the greatest players ever to wear the red shirt. But more than that, he had overcome his tragic accident on the rugby pitch and turned out to have a wonderful family of his own, and show his children that they can succeed in anything they have a passion for. He is a great ambassador for rugby and for the Injured Players Association.
Getting Adopted and Saying Goodbye
Ellie Davies, Bro Myrddin
When I was born, my mum and dad adored me. They bought me cute dresses and they took me to places swimming, for trips to the farm - all sorts. But as I grew up it all went wrong.
When I was one year old, Mum would always ignore me. She was always telling me to be quiet even if I was crying; and if I was hungry she would tell me to go away and go and fetch something to eat. I couldn’t walk properly due to the fact that Mum would hurt my legs whilst abusing me, so eventually I grew slower.
When I was two years old, three, four and so on, Mum carried on abusing me. For dinner every day I had nothing. I looked anorexic, but sometimes when I was lucky I got leftovers. When I started school I usually went in everyday with cuts and bruises all over my face, arms and legs and sometimes a black eye. As I was so young I didn’t understand what was going on, and I didn’t know what to do.
One afternoon when Mum came to pick me up from school the headmaster called her to his office.
“I’m not trying to be nosy but since your daughter has started in Ashton Primary she has come in with cuts and bruises all over her, almost every day. Is there anything you’d like to tell me?” he.
“No,” Mum replied aggressively. “She likes to go out on her bike and falls off quite often", and with that she left the room.
The teachers didn’t know what to do, the headmaster only had one choice and that was to call Social Services.
Over the next few days, Mum would never let me out of the house. She locked all the doors and windows and every time Social Services came Mum pretended to play hide and seek with me. She always used to hide me under the quilt and she tried to suffocate me and stop me speaking so when Social Services were there I couldn’t speak.
After a week Social Services decided to call the police. They came and broke the front door down. Mum tried to hide me but she had no chance. The police were in before she knew it. Social Services worker Stephanie took me away from Mum.
At home, Social Services worker Doris and the police stayed to interview her. She was arrested and taken to court a few days later. Mum was found guilty in court of attacking me.
I was
put up for adoption and one day a family came in.
“Hello, I would like to adopt a little girl,” said the lady.
“I really want a sister,” said her daughter.
I was perfectly attractive to people. I had big bright blue eyes. The lady said:
“We would like her to be between four and seven years old.”
At that time I was five - the perfect age - but I was still a bit young to understand. What was going on and why was I in care? I was also trying to understand the fact that I would never see my mum again.
The family took about three months to adopt me because they had loads of paperwork to do and had to find out what Mum did to me in the past. Every night until I got adopted I had dreams of the type of house they lived in.
I remember the dream I had a few nights before. I had a dream they lived in a really big house and I had a multi-coloured room and a massive bed all for me and all my toys and dolls.
The day came. I was finally getting adopted, going to a new home with new people. As we left I waved good-bye and blew a huge kiss to Stephanie for all she had done for me. After we went through the gates the lady said:
“We’re going to take you to the shops and buy you a new wardrobe of clothes and then tonight we’ll take you out for a special treat.”
I had a huge grin on my face and I said: “I love you all.”