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“GOAL!”
Toby threw his hands in the air and did a Samba dance in celebration.
The score was 31-26 to his team: Emma, Mudder and Toby.
Charlie, Wrecka and Billy were trailing badly.
The game was up – it was nearly time to go home.
It was the first time they had played at Crickledon Rec since their big match against Moss Green.
A loud cheer came from the other end of the field.
Charlie twisted round – half of the Moss Green team were celebrating too.
He saw Kev in the distance, who raised a hand in his direction.
The Boy Wonder waved back, happy with the way things had turned out.
It had been close.
They had so nearly lost their pitch on the Rec.
Nearly, but not quite.
Adam Knight’s screamer should have won it for Moss Green.
But Mudder’s touch had been enough.
Just.
Charlie closed his eyes as he remembered the scene.
“YEESSSSS!”
Every Moss Green player had excitedly thrown their hands up in the air.
Understandably, they thought they had won a great away victory against a team led by the Football Boy Wonder.
But the celebrations were cut short.
It had been Billy who shouted first.
“TREE FACTOR!”
Everyone knew the rules of park football: if the ball touched one of the branches of the tree, then it was never a goal, regardless of how high the ball was.
The tree trunks acted as posts. The ball could hit them and bounce straight back into play with no-one batting an eyelid.
But any contact with a branch or leaf resulted in a goal kick.
It was that simple.
Like everyone else on the field, Charlie’s eyes shot to the branch above Billy’s head.
And almost directly above him, a branch wobbled where the ball had clipped it.
It was tight.
Adam’s shot would have been a goal in normal football.
But this was park football.
It had its own rules.
No goal.
Time was up.
The game had finished 10-10.
And then the arguing began.
Moss Green thought the goal should have stood.
Backed up by the rest of their team, Emma and Wrecka pointed toward the still-wobbling branch that proved it could not be a goal.
No-one would listen to each other.
Finally the bickering stopped.
Kev looked drained.
He turned to Emma: “So what do we do now? Penalties?”
But Charlie interrupted before she could reply.
“It is a draw. So ... why don’t we share the Rec?
“You play at the bottom end and we play at the top.
“There’s plenty of space – as long as we both play in the direction of the trees rather than sideways.”
Everyone looked at Kev.
“No way, Kev. Let’s do penalties and send this mob packing,” Adam Knight sneered.
Billy snapped: “Shut up, unless you want another slide tackle coming in your direction.”
Adam began to move towards Billy but Kev stopped him.
“Fair enough. You had fewer players than us and we still couldn’t beat you.
“You’ve played well enough to keep your turf.”
He ignored Adam’s complaints and thrust out a hand to a delighted Emma, who had shaken it without hesitation.
The grudge match for Crickledon Rec had ended in a score draw.
There were no losers that day – just an agreement to give each other some space.
The Boy Wonder was chuffed – he had been dreading having to explain to Peter and Joe that he had lost their football pitch while they were away.
“Charlie! What are you doing?”
Charlie had been in a complete daydream, remembering Thursday’s game. He had completely forgotten that he was in the middle of another match.
So when Billy lobbed the ball in Charlie’s direction, the Boy Wonder did not move a muscle – causing his friend to shout out in frustration.
Charlie threw a hand up in the air as a lazy apology.
He turned and began to scamper after the ball, closely chased by Emma.
He was home.