CLUBS & SOCIETIES
PAGE 41
OAAFC ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL CLUB Unfortunately again the 2020/21 season was affected by Covid meaning the full compliment of fixtures were unable to be completed, but the football that was able to be played brought significant success to Old Alleynians AFC. The 1 st XI were in second place behind Old Carthusians when the Premier league was cut short and enjoyed a stellar run in the Arthur Dunn Cup reaching the semi- final for the second time in the club’s short history, before falling to eventual winners Old Foresters. The 2 nd XI had an outstanding league campaign before it was cut short finishing top of Division 3, 13 points clear of their nearest rivals. Such was the lead at the time of the curtailing of the league, the 2 nd was rewarded with promotion to Division 2. The 2s also enjoyed a successful cup run, reaching the semi-final of the Junior League Cup before a 4-2 defeat to eventual winners Old Ardinians. Similarly, the 3 rd XI enjoyed an outstanding league campaign and were joint first in Division 4 when the season finished and as a result were also rewarded with promotion ahead of the start of the 2021/22 season. The team also reached the quarter final of the Woolcott Trophy before falling to Old Stoics.
OA CROSS COUNTRY
Perhaps not surprisingly, the team took a few last-minute hits due to Covid restrictions (predictable), NHS rotas (predictable with medical people in the team) and injury (predictable in any athletics team!). Nevertheless, we got a team to the start line who all made it to the finish on what was a cold afternoon with soft going, significant amounts of standing water (puddles), a few trees to hurdle and some mud to get through. All in all, the recipe for a classic cross country race. The field was only marginally depleted (there were 222 starters from 30 different schools) from the last race in 2019 and it was great to see so many come together on the start line. The Old Alleynians were represented by David Slater (60-67), who had the distinction of being the first ever OA over the age of seventy to compete for us. Perhaps as memorable was the fact that he had been interviewed the previous week for his PhD viva on cochlear implants, having spent a lifetime working in the field of acoustics. You are, as they say, never too old to learn and never too old to run the alumni cross country race. First home for the OAs was Adrian Low (83-90) who came 89th overall and 7th over 50. Jerry Watson (71-78) was 103rd overall and 3rd over 60. Completing the team was David Gibson (89- 94) who travelled from Taunton to compete and placed 131st overall and 12th over 40. While you are reading this and feeling inspired to get fit, pencil in the date of this year’s race which will take place on Saturday 10 December 2022. See you there.
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