The 2011 Island Games: Greenland v Åland

Radio Greenland up on the roof.

Now, this is where my very unjournalistic lack of note-taking during the matches I go to comes back to bite me, like a gooey gummy bear who's lost its dentures (hang on, wrong simile...should have mentioned crocodiles or piranhas or something...). Four games in two days, twenty goals and sundry other incidents. With one game, I can remember most of the salient points, but four...hmmm.

Lining up for the anthems. Greenland...

Luckily, nobody reads this text anyway, so I could just wibble on about the periodic table or monster truck racing, or anything really. I know people just come here to look at the pictures, so think of the next four Island Games football reports as a photo diary, okay!

...and Åland.

The first of these photo diaries is of the women's semi-final between Greenland and Åland, played at East Cowes Victoria Athletic's ground on Thursday 30th June 2011.

Singing beneath the flag.

Åland had won their qualifying group with big wins over Jersey and Hitra (5-0 and 6-0 respectively), and a 1-1 draw with the Isle of Wight. According to overheard conversations, they play together as a semi-professional outfit in the Swedish women's football league.

The team photo before kick-off.

Greenland had controversially qualified as best runners-up, with a 3-1 defeat against the Isle of Man and a rip-roaring 8-0 thumping of Gibraltar earlier in the week. This had left them with the best goal difference of the three second-placed teams, but with a worse points-per-game ratio than the Isle of Wight. The organisers must have decided that goal difference was the most important of the two factors, and through they went, with the hosts contesting the 5th/6th play-off with Saaremaa.

The match gets under way.

It was obvious from the first whistle that Åland were the better team. But whether it was nerves or misfortune, or a mixture of the two, they just couldn't break through the stubborn Greenland defence. Greenland had a couple of chances, much to their fans' delight, but the Åland keeper didn't really have a save to make. Surprisingly, it was still 0-0 at half-time.

Watching from the bench.

I don't know if they have half-time rollickings on Baltic islands, but in the second half, Åland played as though there had been some tea cup throwing going on in the dressing room. They were 3-0 up within five minutes of the restart, and it was game over. Greenland's passing game disintegrated and they started thinking about the third-place play-off and a possible bronze medal.

A Greenland flag on display behind the goal.

Both sets of fans (around 15-20 for each side in an overall crowd of 100 or so) kept cheering, but everyone knew the result was inevitable.

Åland score their second penalty of the afternoon.

The ref awarded three penalties for various misdemeanours in the box - two for Åland and one for Greenland - all of which were converted. Greenland's penalty was what they call a consolation goal, as they were already 6-0 down by then.

Åland move forward in front of the East Cowes Vics stand.

Final score: 6-1 to Åland. The match had kicked off twenty minutes late, due to the Greenlanders simply enjoying the pre-match warm-up too much, from what I could see. The officials had asked them to return to the dressing room several times, but they either didn't understand the instructions, or ignored them. This made me later than I would have been for the next match in West Cowes, but it didn't bother me too much. Slack time-keeping is too rare in modern life, and should be cherished when the opportunity arises (or so I told myself as I sat on the chain ferry pondering this, that and various other). Thus, onwards to a men's semi-final...

The final whistle blows and Åland have won!

The 2011 Island Games: Greenland v Rhodes

The Island Games banner at Brading.

The fourteenth Island Games are being held on the Isle of Wight this week. This is a mini-Olympics for 25 islands which don't have nation status, with over four thousand athletes competing in a wide variety of sports over the course of the tournament.

I have taken two trips over to the island so far, watching two of the men's football matches. The first of these was on Sunday at Brading Town FC, where the biggest island in the world, Greenland, were taking on the Greek footballers of Rhodes in the mid-afternoon sunshine.

Plenty of support from other Greenlandic athletes.

The match was hard-fought, but lacked a little in goalmouth action. Rhodes won a penalty midway through the first half, but it was tame and easily saved by the Greenland keeper. It reminded me of Kevin-Prince Boateng's hesitant pen for Pompey in the FA Cup final last year, not least because the two sides were wearing roughly the same kits (although Rhodes were in Chelsea blue, so it wasn't quite the same).

Flags flying above Greenland's Party Car.

The crowd were very much on Greenland's side. They had a big following from their own athletes. Their women's football team weren't playing on Sunday, so I assume it was them that were doing most of the chanting. A small group of English fans were also cheering the men in white on, singing such renowned ditties as "the referee's from Iceland" when the man in black was fooled by a Rhodes player's swan dive.

We were also treated to a selection of Greenlandic pop blasting from a car stereo throughout the second half. In case you're wondering, it sounds just like every other manufactured pop the world over, except sung in their own language. A bit disappointing really.

The Rhodes coach captured in a quiet moment.

The Greeks did manage to take the lead before half-time. A lofted free-kick was missed by the Greenland defence, and the Rhodes number nine managed to bundle the ball home from a yard out. Greenland's keeper kicked the post in frustration. All that preparation, and his team could effectively be heading out of the tournament after 30-odd minutes, what with only one team qualifying from the group of four.

The Greenland fans weren't the only noisy people in the ground. The Rhodes coach must have yelled every word in the Greek dictionary throughout the 90 minutes, with every gesticulation in the Greek semaphore dictionary as an accompaniment. In contrast, his team's substitutes only used the word "bravo!" I guess that's Greek for "well played!"

Rhodes clear the ball upfield.

Nothing much happened in the second half. Rhodes were content to keep the ball and make Greenland chase blue shadows in the very un-Arctic temperatures. They did manage to score a second ten minutes from time. Then still nothing much happened...

Greenland kit.

...until the board was shown to indicate four minutes of injury time. Then it all went hatstand. Greenland scored a few minutes previously, the ball being hooked in from six yards. Rhodes got wound up - their play-acting (which was always there or thereabouts) was turned up a few notches to eleven. They argued and time-wasted, for which their keeper was booked. Then one of their players stroppily pushed over a Greenlander (and at the far end of the pitch as well) - a sending-off. A minute later and a panicky mix-up in the Rhodes defence caused the goalkeeper to handle outside of his area - a second yellow, and he was off too. It took several minutes of arguing and harrumphing, but eventually one of the outfield players was given a goalie's shirt and play could resume.

The resulting free-kick was lumped in, the stand-in keeper grabbed the ball with all the goalkeeping skills of a newborn baby giraffe, and the ref blew for full-time.

The hot weather suited the Greek team.

2-1 to Rhodes in front of 202 enthusiastic fans at a pretty ground for just three quid. Most enjoyable!

More match reports to follow shortly.