22 June: What Happened

sufian23:

ok this is what happened to the game on 22 June, told from my experience...

Pre-Match

the game was arranged on 7 June, when we lost 0-2 to the team in a red (torture's team) at Mango. the contact was one of the oppo players who had another team.

so they had to get a field, and us the ref.

after a hangover from the last game on 15 June, i only started to scout around for a ref on Wed 18 June. by then it seemed that it was too late... and i had exhausted all my ref contacts.

then one of the refs, out of goodwill, said he was willing to ref this game provided we start at 3pm sharp, as he had an NFL game at 5pm at another location. so taht was a done deal, and everyone was informed to be punctual.

Match Day

I left my house at 11.30am to do some shopping before the game.

as i reached Northpoint, the ref (lets call him E) smsed to say he could not make it for the game as he "had to rush to the office". i didnt even bother replying.

thus began a mad scramble to get a ref. adib, shaiful, firdaus, hasan and the oppo were all activated to try get refs, although the lead-up to the game already showed that our chances of getting a ref were like, (Mu)slim. [Muslim is one of our players who comes for games from time to, er,...]

while shopping at Popular and Watson's, i got through to 3 refs.
Ref 1: "springfield too far away, saya jurong ah"
Ref 2: "you check first if game is cancelled, my game at tampines 3pm already cancelled"
Ref 3: "ok, saya on the way to sengkang, ada game 3pm. kalau misalnya cancel, saya call awak by 1.30pm, saya ref game awak, maybe awak ambik saya half way sebab saya tak familiar dengan padang tampines"
i was taking mrt/bus! but gamely, i went: "Ok! nanti saya ambik awak..."

after shopping, i had time to kill, so had light lunch at KFC, while waiting for refs to call back.
Ref 3 called back, "ok game saya cancel, so kita jumpa kat mana? saya tengah tunggu mrt ni..."
Me: "sebenarnya, saya pun naik mrt... saya masih kat yishun" Read: "aku masih tengah makan kat KFC!"
Ref 3: "oh yishun! mcm gitu kita naik mrt sama2 ah!"
Me: "ok, k... tapi saya rasa saya check padang dulu... dah 2 game kena cancel ah niari"
Timecheck: 12.45pm

then i tried contacting the oppo to check if the field was playable but to no one was picking up the phone.
Timecheck: 1.00pm

Called hasan to check procedure of cancellation of games. Call to cancel game is made by the field caretaker, who will call the person who booked the field. But the person who booked the field is not picking up the blinking phone!

Asked hasan to try SSC to check if game is on. Hasan called SSC, who gave number of Springfield caretaker, who then said he had already called the person to inform that game was cancelled.

-_-

as i was smsing the oppo, they called to inform that, "eh, game cancel ah..." wow, dats news...

so now, after original ref pulled out, we got a ref, but now no field.

as i was about to think of calling of the game, hasan comes to the rescue... "Let's try mango..." wokay!
timecheck: 1.20pm

hasan calls back to say mango not available... but the CC says the field at bedok north "yang nasi briyani", is available at 1pm, and 3pm. ok hasan, let's get the field!

so now, after original field cancelled, we managed to get aback up to our back up field. mental note: inform players immediately cos they're on their way to tampines...

meantime, ref keeps calling to check if the game is on cos he's waiting for me at some location... also, i need to inform oppo of latest update. KFC worker clears empty tray sitting at my table for half an hour.

called oppo: "oh, the field at bedok eh? dat one not so good right? (pause) i ask my team first can? get back to you in 5 min..."

walk towards MRT, oppo calls... "Bro, i tnk never mind ah... maybe we play next week? that field is not so good ah, senang injured..."

changed direction, walk towards bus interchange to change my itinerary to go Serangoon, type sms to inform team that game cancelled, got on the bus...

Ref 3 calls... "mcm mana game?"
Me: "game cancel ah..."
Ref 3: "oh, padang tak boleh eh?"
Me: "bukan... padang boleh... opponent pulak pull out.."
Ref 3: "oh bukan padang cancel lah... takpe, takpe, awak carry on, saya cuba carikan awak opponent... insya'Allah ada..."
Me: "ah? er, ok lah..."

change sms, inform team game IS on, venue changed, same time. this is the sms u all received from me. changed back itinerary, got off the bus at yio chu kang, switched to mrt. game on!

mental note: HP battery dying.
battery continues dying as i communicate with hasan and dedi to arrange meeting at eunos. ref calls... he found an oppo!

so now, after original oppo pulled out, we found a new oppo... set ah!

then, city hall mrt station... Ref calls... battery dying, dug for coins, quickly used public phone.
Ref: "Fan, game awak pukul 3 ke pukul 5?"
Me: "pukul 3 lah..." [sensing something is not right]
Ref: "ah, betul lah... saya dah cakap dengan opponent ni pukul 3... dia pegi bilang team dia pukul 5 pulak.... awak tak boleh main pukul 5?"
Me: [remembering hasan's earlier msg] "pukul 5? tak ada ah... kan dah cakap pukul 3... k, saya try lah..."
Ref: "k, k, nanti u call balik..."

hasan's on the way to book the pitch! called hasan hp repeatedly, no reply, sekel tak angkat talipon!... running out of coins. called shai, who's in the toilet, to get hasan's home number...

Hasan sis: "hasan? dia dalam toilet..."
Me: [dlm toilet jugak??] "boleh tolong panggil dia? urgent lah..."
[Hasan comes on the line]
Me: "can we get field for 5pm tak?"
Hasan: " i dun tnk so lah... i cannot get through to mango... and the bedok field, they only tell me 1pm & 3pm..."
Me: "eh?.. ohh... ok lah, (explains situation)..." [plans to call off game]

called ref to cancel game...

5 min later...
Hasan: "Yan, we got a field at 5pm!"
Me: "what? ok k... my hp is dying, i hand over to u k? here's the list of players (stored in hp) to update the situation, and here's the contact for the ref..."

called ref again...

Me: "ok game on! kita dapat padang pukul 5!"
Ref: "ah?? alamak... saya pun dah pening ni... saya dah berapa kali naik turun bas... ok k..."

timecheck: 2.45pm

stopover Raffles place for zuhur and relak jack cos of delayed kickoff.

timecheck: 3.30pm

Raffles Place MRT, found extra coins in pocket.
called hasan: "how is game on?"
hasan: "ok, ref cakap jangan book field dulu... he's still trying to get a team, cos most from the west... yang tadi tu, diorang from bedok, abih nak tahu where's the game... bila dah bilang the location [bedok north], diorang cakap jauh sangat pulak..."
me: "ahh??... abih amacam?"
hasan: "turun aja lah... some of us are here already..."
me: "hmm... ok lah.. i go there now, im at raffles place.."

timecheck: 3.55pm

arrived at Eunos MRT, walked towards bus interchange, changed mind, walk towards public phone and made phone call to hasan...
Hasan: "ah yan... ok, cancelled ah... ref cakap diorang cannot make it ah..."

and so, dats the story.......

any volunteers to liaise the next game? :)