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WEEK
1 - CLAYMORES 21 FIRE 20
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Finally the wait was over and opening weekend in Edinburgh arrived with our friends from Dusseldorf hitting town. This is the story in pictures ... |
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Cambridge Saturday Night Fever like we'd never been away! The place was packed full of Fire, Claymores and Monarchs as we gathered round the TV to watch the Thunder and Galaxy open things up. Frankfurt prevailed 21-20 much to the discontent of most folk. Then the beer flowed. Then we heard Mike Ditka traded everything in New Orleans for Ricky Williams and we kept drinking! Then the blackouts started! It was a rough night all round - say no more! |
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Put that f'in camera away you f'in clown! Shuggie and Jock "The Legend" Douglas |
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The first signs of tailgating at about 11am in the car park, and already a cheddarhead is sniffing out the beer. The Fire Brothers "Firemobile" has be the best looking vehicle in the NFLE! |
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Backfield Party wasn't bad, despite Rolf Harris's absence. There was a good flag football game played (see further below), some beer drunk and even some Cheddarheads sold! Plus Preston won a dancing contest on stage, beating some dejected kids in the process, despite his best efforts to throw it. Ouch! |
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PLAY BALL! |
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FINAL: Claymores 21 Fire 20. 1 and 0 baby! Dameyune works his magic and we're off to the best possible start. The 9,000 crowd was rocking by the end. On the Fire's final drive LT Clay Williams twice was called for false starts because of the noise. Then on 4th and 20, DE Jermaine Benoit bull-rushed past Williams and sacked Cherry to send the crowd into pandemonium. CHEDDAR WEEK 1 AWARDS MVP - QB Dameyune Craig. Provided great entertainment in not getting sacked despite many close calls, and then produced the game-winner at end.) Mike Kenny Special teams Award - P Chris Dolan. Boomers all day! (Though DT Jim Hoffman and LB Matt Finkes deserve mention for their TD play). Ooops Award - CB Denorse Mosley seemed determine to get WR Diallo Burks in the record books. Phew! Award - WR Yo Murphy. Great TD grab on his return, but gets let off the hook after a 3rd + G drop at the end of the game. Englishman of The Day - Tie between barefoot Rob Hart (winning XP) and DE Jermain Benoit Big Thanks To - Fire OT Clay Williams, DT Tyrone Williams (ejected) and K Manny Burgsmuller (missed XP proved costly). |
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The big game of course was the one before the Claymores-Fire, and Doug "Blunt Views" Adamson shows off the Monarchs Memorial Cup that he helped swipe! The Claymores opened a can of whoop ass on the Monarchs fan in a flag football contest 21-0. In the process, we collected ANOTHER piece of sliverware from the boys down south - The Monarchs Memorial Cup! It always put the all-time series at 4-3 with no games planned in the near future. Not bad! |
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C Emmett Zitelli dedicates the victory to the fans. Great to see the big guy back and hopefully he'll enjoy a winning season this time! |
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"I'm going kill you Shuggie!" Apparently Ben Torrerio was not impressed by what we said in our season preview fanzine about his "clip-boarding abilities". The ex-Claymore is now STV's new presenter. Looks like we're off TV for good! |
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Some of the flag football boys pose with the coach. From Jim Criner clockwise - Blunt Views, Chris Gers, Steve Russam and Lorne "Staubach" Callaghan. |
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The coach enjoys a vintage Red after an exceptional day in the Red Zone! |
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"Did you hear the one about the Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman?" Shuggie and Coach share a joke. |
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It during this time that we lost track of hardcore Admirals fan Ross Mather, who had made the trip to Scotland, after being in Barcelona the night before for the Admirals opening game. Ross looked he hadn't slept for 2 days (he hadn't) and was severely struggling by this point (no photos to prove it sadly). He managed to lose his bag here, which were full of, unsigned traveler's cheques among other things. The bag did eventually turn up later in the Cambridge Bar, unlike Ross! But hats and cheddars off to him for the first great doubleheader of the year! |
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Poor WR Yo Murphy never expected this on his homecoming! |
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The beer is kicking back in by now! Relaxing in the Murrayfield Hotel aafter the game - but what are the Sausage and Lynda doing (far left)? |
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The beer is well and truly working by now! Number #1 (Shuggie) and number #3 show some hairy leg, while Phil King looks on. |
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The highlight of the day had to be setting up a classic cheddaring of PR man Steve "Clarkey" Livingstone. A defiant Steve had boasted to Preston in Orlando that "You bastards will never get that thing on my head!" Always up for a challenge, we quashed Steve's prediction right off the bat, with a military style operation. Preston sneaked up behind, while Shuggie snapped the helpless Steve in style! |
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CHEDDARED! |
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Back to the Cambridge for more partying! Hell we're over .500 for the first time in 2 years, so we gotta keep the pace up. Despite the loss, the Fire fans were in great spirit as always. L to R Sausage, #3 and Knippi. (Big thanks for the Pyromaniac calendar Knippi!) |
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Fire Brother Uwe and the Cheddars. Only the 1 Fire Brother could make it - the other was back in Dusseldorf. But he's already staked his claim as the best-dressed fan in the league. Sorry Captain Claymore! |
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Preston and Michael Hetkamp from Fanclub NRW. Sales in the Claymore shop probably went through the roof again with Michael in town! |
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We are told this is "Mr Schlosser Alt". If so we'll trade you a cheddar for a lifetime Alt beer subscription! |
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Michael (Fire Flames) and Hansie (Burning Hearts) - 24 hour party people! |
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Eventually the night wound down (after the traditional table-top New York New York) and we got out the Cambridge at the backside of 1am. A great weekend and a great start to the season. Now for Berlin! |
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