Monday, January 31, 2005

Bolton and good ole' Henrik "Toemrer" Pedersen

Working for a major donor organisation in a developing country can be extremely frustrating at times.
After such a frustrating week at work, I needed my usual escape, watching some good football with an ice cold draft beer!
While it did not seem overly exciting, I decided to watch the FA Cup match between Oldham Athletic and Bolton Wanderers. Bolton won 1-0 after scoring an early goal on a nice header by the young (and for me unknown) Ricardo Te Vaz.

While the game was a bit of a bore (although a good British Cup fight) it did bring memories to see good old Henrik "Toemrer" Pedersen: When I was a kid, I lived in a village in central Jutland called Bording, where I also played on the local football team. Although we sucked, I did get to play against some of the major teams in the area (with the not so internationally resounding names as AGF, Silkeborg, Ikast and Hammerum...). In another small village, called Ans, they had Mr. Pedersen on his team, and I am sure I got to tackle him a few times!
Of course, my (not so glorious) footballing career stopped there. While I went on to many years of schooling and travelling, Mr. Pedersen went on to become Danish league top-scorer, playing in one of my old favourite clubs Silkeborg. Later, he went on to England.

Strange to think that many years later, I would sit in a bar in Accra, Ghana, watching him play an FA Cup match in England!

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