the struggle for success: bridgewood high fc (extract)

the strugglefor successBridgewood High FC

Follow the team online at www.bridgewoodhighfc.com

the strugglefor success

Bridgewood High FC

Written by Dave Spurdens

This edition published in Great Britain in 2008 by Quest, an imprint of Top That! Publishing plc,

Marine House, Tide Mill Way, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 1AP, UK

www.quest-books.co.uk

0 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1

Editorial Director – Daniel Graham

Creative Director – Simon Couchman

Art Editor – Matt Denny


All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or

otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Neither this book nor any part or any of the illustrations, photographs or reproductions contained

in it shall be sold or disposed of otherwise than as a complete book, and any unauthorised sale of

such part illustration, photograph or reproduction shall be deemed to be a breach of the

publisher’s copyright.

ISBN 978-1-84666-697-1

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Printed and bound in China

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogues are products of the

author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead,

events or locales is entirely coincidental.

the strugglefor success

Bridgewood High FC


Published by Quest.Quest is an imprint of Top That! Publishing plc,

Tide Mill Way, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 1AP, UKwww.quest-books.co.uk

Copyright © 2008 Top That! Publishing plc. All rights reserved

Follow the team online atwww.bridgewoodhighfc.com

Follow the team online and keep up to date

with the latest Bridgewood High FC action.

The fan site includes player profiles,

photographs, a player blog, league tables and

fixtures, free downloads, match reports, polls,

competitions, Bridgewood

High FC merchandise

& much more!

the struggle for success

Foreword by Timothy Houghton-Smith

I can’t believe what a fantastic first term I’ve had

at Bridgewood High. I’ve made loads of great

friends and am already overloading my timetable

with all sorts of extras.

My parents are amazed I am so happy. I

wouldn’t say they’re snobs exactly, but they do

have a rigid view of life. They expect you to

pronounce your ‘t’s and ‘h’s and say every bit of

a word properly. Their dread, when I came to

Bridgewood, was that I would start speaking

with a cockney accent.

I had to laugh. I mean, what would actually be

so awful about their son Timothy speaking like

that? ‘Yor ’avin’ a giraffe!’ I can imagine the

look on their faces!

My dad was also struggling to understand why

I love football so much. ‘Don’t you miss playing

Follow the team online at www.bridgewoodhighfc.com i

Bridgewood High FC

rugby, Timothy?’ he asks. ‘Like a hole in the

head,’ would be the true answer, but I’ve never

actually said it yet.

‘Don’t you miss all your old school friends?’ he

asked the other day. The same reply would fit:

like a hole in the head. But because I didn’t want

to hurt his feelings I just told him I’m too busy

to miss anybody from my old school.

My parents have never seen me so keen to get

back to school after a holiday. I’m going back

early, too, because the football team are going to

Amsterdam. We’re only playing in an

international tournament, in the Dutch capital!

How cool is that?

Some of the team have never been on an

aeroplane, let alone travelled abroad to play

against teams from Germany, Switzerland,

Denmark, Belgium, France, Spain and Holland.

Everyone’s really excited.

Twenty-four of us are going. We’re staying at

Amsterdam University, which is supposed to be

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fabulous. Think of any facility you like and

chances are they’ve got it – even an ice-rink and

an Olympic size swimming and diving pool.

Actually, there are twenty-five players going

now because George Lucas is fit enough to join

up with the squad. He was out of action last

term after having part of his liver removed to be

grafted onto his brother’s. His brother, Harry,

had been the victim of a callous hit and run

accident. Fortunately, the life-saving operation

was a great success and his brother’s quality of

life has improved dramatically.

I’ve been on a sort of Internet scouting mission,

scouring the Web to find out about the schools

playing in the tournament. Everything I’ve read

has been about them being the top teams in their

areas. Every single one has either won their

regional league or cup.

The funny thing is, Bridgewood High FC has

never played in a league or a cup competition.

We ought to be nervous, yet we’re all strangely

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Bridgewood High FC

confident that we’re going to do well.

It was terrific to see everybody as we met at the

school gates to catch the coach to Stansted

airport. Everybody was congratulating George,

not just for fighting his way to fitness in time for

the tournament, but because the people who

were responsible for his brother Harry’s accident

had been caught. Three members of the

notorious Chapman family would soon be facing

trial for their crime.

George Lucas wasn’t the only person who was

happy that the criminals would be brought to

justice. The same set of villains had made Jack

Mayhew’s life a misery, and he was praying

that they would be going to prison for a very

long time.

Both boys were on too much of a high about

going to Amsterdam to let the thought of the

trial get them down, and they weren’t alone.

Dermott Riley and Dicky Woodward couldn’t

stop slapping each other on the back and singing

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‘Here we go, here we go,’ over and over again.

Albinus Gardiner was asking, ‘Are we there

yet?’ before he’d even boarded the coach. He

wasn’t happy about wearing school uniform for

the trip, but the headmaster, Mr Hyde, reminded

him that he was representing Bridgewood High

School on an important international venture.

Albinus still didn’t look happy, but it stopped

him going on about it. He just waited until Mr

Hyde turned away and then pulled his tie down

a bit more as he climbed up the coach steps.

Everyone raced towards the back of the coach

to get the best seats, and the engine chugged into

action. Amsterdam here we come!

Follow the team online at www.bridgewoodhighfc.com v

Bridgewood High FC

1

Thrills and spills

Bridgewood got off to a flying start in

Amsterdam with a comprehensive victory over

the Karl Benz Academy.

The squad had a day off following the first day

of matches and there was a very happy

atmosphere in the Bridgewood camp. Breakfast

that morning was full of snap, crackle and pop.

Timothy Houghton-Smith had a special

spring in his step because they were going to visit

the Van Gogh Museum. Angelo Paggio and

Salam Chalabi were also looking forward to

seeing some of the world’s greatest paintings,

but they were equally excited about visiting the

Anne Frank House. They had read The Diary of

Anne Frank at their last school and knew all

about the brave girl who hid from Hitler’s

soldiers during World War Two.

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Albinus looked glum at the thought of being

dragged round art galleries, but the news that

they were visiting a famous Amsterdam shopping

centre brought a smile to his face.

‘There you are, Albinus: music shops, cafés,

souvenirs, designer clobber – and you can wear

jeans!’ Dicky teased him.

Meanwhile, the PE teacher, Mr Cauldwell,

and Football Development Officer, Mr Mansell,

had thought long and hard about which players

they would play in the second match. They

both agreed it would be unfair to come on a

trip like this and not give everyone a run-out.

They wanted to try to win the tournament if

they could, but they didn’t want to make a

group of great kids, who they knew would give

their all, miserable.

Straight after breakfast, they announced the

team for the game, which was against the Servet

Institute from Madrid.


Bridgewood High FC

Ryan Hartley

Luan Charlie Justin Peter Havolli Oakley Cornard Schirtzer

Aaron Jack Albinus Jacobs Mayhew Gardiner

Dermott Dougie Christopher Riley Butt Coggins

The day off was marvellous. Timothy, Angelo

and Salam were awestruck at being so close to

paintings by Van Gogh. Mr Cauldwell noticed

that the boys he thought would be bored

actually seemed mesmerised by the paintings.

A muffled ‘whoa!’ from Albinus and a ‘cool!’

from Dermott suggested they were both

really impressed.

The trip to the Anne Frank House gripped all

the boys with an intense sense of suffering and

bravery. As they filed out, a mood of

thoughtfulness hung over them all.



The mood soon changed when it was

announced that everybody was on trust for the

visit to the shops. ‘Groups no bigger than four,

and meet back here in two hours,’ announced

the Head of PE, Mr Grant. The boys scuttled

together into foursomes and took off to buy

presents and souvenirs to take home.

It had been the perfect day and a great cheer

rang out when it was announced that they could

choose to go ice skating or swimming that

evening. Ice skating was a unanimous winner

and led by Dicky who couldn’t wait to show his

prowess on the blades, they all streamed off the

coach at the ice rink.

Timothy was amazed at how good Dicky was,

but he wasn’t on his own. It was clearly not the

first time on ice for Albinus, Aaron or Dominic.

Mr Grant watched as the level of competition

rose between the four boys.

It all turned sour when Dicky announced his

intentions to go for an ambitious double axel –


Bridgewood High FC

with disastrous consequences. He left the ice

gracefully – and then hit it again with a bone-

shuddering thud and lay still.

Within seconds two rink attendants were at his

side with a stretcher and first aid kits. By the

time they reached the first aid room Dicky was

sitting up, but was clearly in a lot of pain. ‘They

don’t always go to plan,’ he whimpered.

‘Could be a break, might just be badly bruised.

Probably best to get it x-rayed,’ suggested the

attendant, examining Dicky’s elbow.

PE teacher Miss Cranson volunteered to take

Dicky to hospital to get it looked at. Two hours

later they both returned in a taxi, with relatively

good news. Nothing was broken – but Dicky’s

arm should be kept in a sling for the next

two days.

‘Can you Adam and Eve it? I won’t even get on

the pitch tomorrow!’ Dicky exclaimed.

‘Well, mate, you can’t be an ice skater and

Ronaldo rolled into one. I’d give that skating the



elbow if I was you!’ Dermott knew the pun

wasn’t lost on his teammate, who acknowledged

the joke with a sickly smile.

Apart from Dicky’s spill, it had been a great

rest day. There was much chatter about the game

against Servet the next day, until finally the

teachers packed everyone off to get a good

night’s sleep.


Follow the team online atwww.bridgewoodhighfc.com

Follow the team online and keep up to date

with the latest Bridgewood High FC action.

The fan site includes player profiles,

photographs, a player blog, league tables &

fixtures, free downloads, match reports, polls,

competitions, Bridgewood

High FC merchandise

& much more!

146

AvailableNOW

Available from all good bookshops!

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Publishingdate:Spring2009

Follow the team online at www.bridgewoodhighfc.com

Available from all good bookshops!

Bridgewood High FC

AUTHOR PROFILE

DAVE SPURDENSDave Spurdens has worked as a sports writer

and journalist for twenty-five years. He has

written for magazines including Football Kick,

Football Monthly and Football Digest and was a

football correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph.

His published football-related books include

World Soccer Skills, Liverpool Football Club –

The Inside Story, Wolves – Our Way, Norwich

City – Our Way and the children’s novel Rowton

Road, which has a BMX theme. He has written

four additional books on BMX and was the

editor of BMX Racer & Freestyle magazine.

In his early days, Dave played football for

Crystal Palace youths and reserves and was

player-coach for Maidstone United. He held the

FA Full Badge coaching qualification and was an

adjudicator of Preliminary Badge courses for the

FA coaching department. Dave also worked for

six years as a football coach in South and East

London schools.


the strugglefor successBridgewood High FC

by Dave Spurdens

The premier Bridgewood High School football team experience the highs and lows of foot-ball as they struggle to make their mark in the competitive league. Have they got what it takes to be a successful team?

Follow the team online at www.bridgewood-highfc.com

• Match reports • Player profiles • Fan polls • Free downloads • Player blog and much more!

“An action-packed book with a fantastic website. My son and I loved reading about the exploits of the Bridgewood High FC team and are looking forward to the next instalment.”

Richard Wright, former England and West Ham goalkeeper.

Quest is an imprint of Top That! Publishing plc, Tide Mill Way, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 1AP, UK www.quest-books.co.uk Copyright © 2008 Top That! Publishing plc. All rights reserved Printed and bound in China 0 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1

RR

P £5.99

the struggle for success: bridgewood high fc (extract)

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