Rio

In the morning we were up early to get Jack over to West London for his 10am ko. They won well with Jack scoring a nice opener cutting in from the left, beating a fair few and then hitting the top right hand corner. Boy was it foggy tho. Classic London mist.

We then raced to get back for Lukie's game at Bromley Town FC which they also won 2.1. It was end to end and they won with the final kick of the game. The parents were going nuts by this time. It then got even nuts'er (my south east London accent is well and truly on its way back) when we turn round to see that we were in the company of footballing royalty, one Ashley Williams (Swansea and Wales captain) and local boy Rio (former England captain) no less. Both their sons play in the same legaue as Lucas. We then sought the obligatory photos - all good fun in the balmy autumn sunshine.

Rio has come in for criticism in these parts as the perception is that he has given very little back to the community in Peckham where he grew up. That all being said I would not wish on anyone what he has been through over the last couple of years. I cannot even begin to imagine.

Last year Jack played in Peckham against one of the tallented sides from the estates. It really struck a chord with me as on one side of the pitch you had the best part of 25 parents supporting Bromley and on the other you just had their coach. Not one parent was there to watch. After the game I felt compelled to congratulate their coach on his coaching as he was excellent and hardly ever raised his voice. We got talking and it turns out that most of the players had still not paid their yearly fee. We were already into the second half of the season. It gets worse. Often the parents even fail to pick the kids up. Rio take note.

It got me thinking about the two other times I've seen Rio in the flesh. I remember when he just got called up for England and I saw him next to me in a Jungle night club in North London and then the next time was at the 2006 WC.

On a high I managed my home circuit in 36.04 in 3.50s. Still feeling the effects of my cold.