40 YEARS ON

The Gothia Cup first competed in July 1974, opened today and Charterhouse u16s earned three points in their group with a 1-0 win over San Antonio Club at Gothia's most northern location, Hjallbovallen. Despite squandering chances, the youngsters kept their cool and scored half way through Jamie Platt when he shot home from 12 yards half way through the second half on Hjallbo's AstroTurf. Later this evening, the fantastic opening ceremony took place in the principle stadium in Gothenburg, the Ullevi. Over 58,000 people packed the arena watching teams of 10-18 year olds representing countries from all over the world. The Seychelles were here for the first time and of course the USA were in full force with clubs sides from all over the States. Swindon Town FC youth and girls were England's open ceremony representatives, parading in dressed in crusader uniforms. The rain has held off and the first day of competition was highly successful. David Howells, the ex Spurs player, is lead coach for the Chartehouse School U15-who are playing in the U16 age group (due to qualifying date being January) with team manager Richard Lewis and team masseur and analyst James Sylvestre. Retired teacher and blogger Malcolm Bailey is in attendance, of course. He has been to Gothia for a number of occasions since 1992.