Low clouds surrounded the Alan Cooke Ground and the rain, which had been falling for days, only began to ease as the first players arrived for the annual Andaman Cup. Patong was flooded, the posts holes too and the pitch was a swamp. 

The Tigers, finalists last year, could only scrape together eight players this time round. Sammo was pessimistic and before the tournament began was heard saying “Skinny, we might not win a game today.” Like his other footy tips all year, how wrong he was.

The Tigers played Phuket Power first. They picked up four ring-ins, all of who were handy, and after introducing themselves to each other trudged onto the pitch without a warmup. They didn’t need it. Big Mike won the rucks, Big Pieter attacked the ball like a pitbull and Barnsey kicked the goals. Phuket did well but had given away a lot of their bench. They had plenty of athletes, but most of them were rugby or soccer players. The Tigers won it, but only just.

The Tigers played defending champions, the Bali Geckos next. Sammo, leading out of the goal square pulled his hammy and looked out for the tournament. It was a hard-fought match but Bali had too much class. Luffy was so good in goals for Bali and they beat the Tigers by seven points.

Bali were short on numbers too and so Barnsey and Skinny had a run for them in the next match. Skinny had his best game of the tournament but in the second half got picked up and rammed into the pitch by a muscular soccer player. Suffering a bit of whiplash, he played on for a while until Sammo intervened and led him off. Yoda replaced Barnsey to give him a rest and Bali won easily, securing a place in the final.

The Tigers needed to beat Singapore in their last game to make the final. Few gave them a chance. Sammo was playing injured, Singapore looked strong and had a bench while the Tigers were still scratching for players. 

At first it went to script. Singapore got off to a handy lead but the Tigers stayed in it, taking many shots on goal but mostly kicking points. It was Billy the kid, on loan from Phuket who kicked the last two goals for the Tigers and they scraped a win by three points. You would have called it a thriller but no one seemed thrilled, the Tigers trudged off, exhausted after slogging through the mud for three games, the thought of another game, albeit a final was not appealing. But the fifteen minute break did wonders. Both Bali and the Tigers did some recruiting, Bali took Singapore’s best two players, the Tigers got Jacob, Billy, Tarn and Spokey. Yoda too, pulled on the Tigers jumper again for what would be his last ever game for his beloved club.

It was another thriller. This time it was the Tigers who started the best, with early goals to Billy and Spokey they led at halftime by two goals. Big Mike had moved down back to shut down Bali’s star forward Luffy and he did a great job. Big Pieter was smashing blokes left, right and centre, Barnsey and Billy were everywhere and down back Tarn, Easy and Nam were defending stoutly. Bali came storming back in the second half though as the Tigers started to break down physically. Big Mike rolled his ankle and stayed down for a couple of minutes. Losing him would have been the end of the Tigers chances and he probably knew it. He dragged himself up and returned to his spot, less mobile but still involved. It got worse for the Tigers when fullback Tarn went down next, crippled with a double calf cramp. The medics took forever to appear and for several minutes the Tigers played one man short. Then Barnsey didn’t like one of Gunny’s calls and got marched 50 meters which allowed an easy kick at goal. With just minutes to go Bali had gained a slender lead. Bali had all the momentum. 

The stage was set for somebody to be the hero. That man would be Billy. He’d had a great tournament, kicking nine goals all day but he’d also dropped a few chest marks. It was Spokey, I think, who won possession outside the arch, looked up and saw Billy in the open. Billy didn’t drop this one. In front of the Alan Cooke Pavillion, with the crowd roaring with excitement, his wife among them, the final hooter blew and Billy steadied himself to kick a goal to win the grand final. He made no mistake. The Tigers had won it.

What an ending it was. Tigers legend and tournament organiser, Yoda gave an emotional speech to his team mates, informing them of his official retirement. They carried him from the field in appreciation of an outstanding career. Life Member, former President, All Asian, Yoda has done it all, and hiccups aside, put together another successful Andaman Cup. Gunny too must be thanked. He umpired every game and did it well. What a great way to end a fantastic season for the Tigers, two cups in one year. When was the last time that happened?

Competition Results

Bali 3.4.22 def Singapore 3.1.19 Tigers 3.1.19 def Phuket 2.2.14 Sharks 5.1.31 def Phuket 4.6.30 Bali 4.3.27 def Tigers 3.2.20 Bali 3.3.21 def Phuket 0.6.6 Tigers 3.5.23 def Singapore 3.1.19 Grand Final Tigers 5.0.30 def Bali 4.3.27 Tournament Winners – Thailand Tigers Leading goal scorer – Gerard Barnes (Thailand) Best player – Brodi (Bali) Umpires Award – Billy (Phuket/ Thailand) Indigenous Award – Thomas Powell