Wed, 25 June

Sunday morning was a no go for most of the TGA team this week, as bruised and battered soldiers rose from the depths of their beds around noon, some cursing under their breath at the personification of beauty the have found themselves next to, and all scratching their heads thinking, ‘what the hell happened last night?’

Our third seasons bi-yearly End of Season Awards Ceremony at Brewerkz on Saturday night was a huge success. Guests enjoyed a video presentation looking back at the season that had just gone by, complete with manager interviews and darkeside downs (watch for this on youtube in coming days).

Awards were presented for great achievements throughout the season, with Gary Boland taking home the Player of the Season award, Nick Hughes taking home the Goal of the Season Award, Ian Laird being the first person since the start of TGA to take the Clubman of the Season Award of Tommy Hutton, and Yohann Guilloux receiving both the Golden Boot and Most Improved Player Award. Although not their to receive her award, Mel Allwork joined us live from London to say some words about how important being named Supporter of the Season was to her.

On top of this, banter awards galore were presented to the rest of the team, with all the players heading up to the stage to down a mug of Brewerkz Pilsner. Quote of the night went to Sunil who proclaimed in disappointment ‘I’m getting an award purely because I’m Indian’. Unsurprisingly Al Noel had the fastest down of the evening and there were even some plastic cup tricks, with Tommy Hutton balancing his cup on his head post down, before flicking it off and kicking it at Kumi, who was sat half a meter away (in an attempt to kick it into the crowd).

Hugsy was honored for his catch phrases with the new Roy Walker Award, Boland had his work team kits pink colour singled out for the hypocrite award (he was very much against changing the TGA colours to pink) and there was further confirmation that Ben Morley does not fire blanks, when he was awarded the fertility award.

The most unhappy recipient of the night (excluding Sunil, but he was so drunk he didn’t really know what was going on) was Benoit and his Pitch Bitch Award. In true Omo fashion, he had a moan, but as per usual with Benoit, beer saved the day, and he was alright after a while.

For the first time in TGA history, two couples of the year were awarded, with the Irish duo of Hearne and McCoo getting one, and Benoit and Ben Weaver also receiving the award. McCoo was also honored along with Cuong and Hugsy for the comments of the season, and Kiwi Steve and Rob Warnock received awards for sideline banter.

The biggest raw of the night was reserved for the last award of the night, the new Most Handsome Player award. This award went to the vote and the winner only beat Skipper Pimp Dom Clonen (recipient of the Huggy Bear Award) by 3 votes. Manager Tommy Hutton has been selected as TGA’s best looking player, and is reported to have been wandering China One until early in the morning making sure all the girls knew of his new found status.

On the whole it was yet another fantastic evening, and one which will be remembered (or remembered in parts) by all for years to come. The next one cant come soon enough.