BY ROSS FARLEY, BAYSIDE RESIDENT
It was an informal game of soccer at a youth camp. They looked a rag-tag bunch: no one wore proper footy gear, and some campers wore jeans for almost everything.
Camps are temporary communities where some know each other well while others are finding their feet with new friends. They were all keen to impress with their soccer skills. Sides were picked and tension mounted as kick off time approached.
As one of the staff, it fell to me to referee and one guy, who always wore jeans, pleaded with me to be allowed to kick off. My whistle blew, the game began, and he kicked off, but his leg also came off and flew about 20 metres down the field. He had a prosthetic leg, and no one knew until he kicked it off in spectacular fashion. For a few minutes, no one showed the slightest interest in the ball because they were all rolling around laughing.
