Surrey 2 v 3 Chagos Islands

Sunday 28th April 2019
Friendly
Moatside, Merstham
Admission : £5.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 100 (estimate)

I decided to take in a rare (for me) Sunday game today, intrigued by this rather quirky "international" fixture, having very much got the taste for "Non-FIFA" international football at the ConIFA World Cup in London last summer. It would also be an opportunity to visit at a ground that I had not visited for over ten years, when it hosted Step 5 Combined Counties League football.

This match was staged at Moatside, the home ground of established Isthmian League Premier Division outfit Merstham, and is located in the east side of the village, about a ten minute walk from Merstham train station, although today I decided to drive, with plenty of on-street parking available close to the ground. Spectators pass around the clubhouse, and through a gated gap in a hedge, before paying admission at one of a couple of kiosks, entering in one corner of the ground. Just inside the entrance, there is a wooden hut serving as the club shop, but unsurprisingly this was not open today. Along the length closest to the entrance, there is an attractive looking brick building containing a boardroom, the changing rooms, and toilets. Straddling the half way line is a modern metallic all-seater stand, and behind this there refreshment kiosks. Behind the goal closest to the entrance there is cover of a flat standing area, along the remaining length there is just hard standing, whilst behind the remaining end, there is mainly hard standing, but with a small all-seater stand towards one corner, and next to it a portakabin usually offering refreshments, and also an area for changing rooms for youth teams. The ground has a nice, green, leafy setting, with the Surrey Hills just about visible in the background. The 32 page programme was very good, packed with plenty of background to the Surrey International Football team, good information about the Chagos Islands team and of international football outside of FIFA generally, and some relevant stats and facts for both teams.

Formed in 2014, progress to actually playing games has proved a rather stop-start affair for Surrey, and today would be only their third ever match, following a 3-1 victory against Barawa in May 2018 at Fisher's home ground, and a 6-0 away defeat against an Army XI last month. Drawing their players mainly from Combined Counties League clubs, there is little if no prospect of the "Surrey International Football" being able to join ConIFA as Yorkshire and Kernow (Cornwall) have done, and so will presumably need to satisfy themselves with occasional friendly games against ConIFA outfits, such as the Chagos Islands. With a current ConIFA ranking of 36th out of 40 representative teams, Chagos Islands are one of the weaker outfits within the organisation, and have lost their last six fixtures since their last victory, against Barawa in August 2016, and although they did not qualify for the ConIFA World Cup held in London last June, they were invited to play two friendlies in place of the expelled Ellan Vannin (Isle of Man), losing 0-1 against Matabeleland, and then 1-6 to Tuvalu, a game that I watched at Bedfont Sports' ground - the last game that the Chagos Islands have played before today.

A surprising feature of this game was that no linesmen were used. It proved to be a very closely matched game, but one that the Chagossians always had the edge in. On 13 minutes they had a goal correctly disallowed when their forward handled the ball before shooting home, and two minutes later, they really should have scored, after a Surrey player was dispossessed by the corner flag, and the Chagossian player dribbled along the byline before passing to a team mate in a central position in front of goal, but the ball was struck over the bar. But on 23 minutes they did take the lead, again a Surrey player was dispossessed on the byline, the ball was crossed to a central position and Hanslai Sagai slotted home. But Surrey were back on level terms on 34 minutes after Jay Jones dribbled in from the left and his cross was poked home by Nathaniel Williams. The game rather settled down after that, and the scoreline remained level at the break.

The second half started similarly quietly, until the Chagos Islands retook the lead on 64 minutes. The ball was threaded through the defence and although the initial shot was blocked, Sagai managed to fire the ball into the net. Surrey did have a good chance to equalise five minutes later, but following a corner, the ball was poked just wide from a crowd of players, but on 74 minutes, Surrey did equalise with a superb goal, the ball only being half cleared to Roberts, who lashed the ball on the turn from the edge of the penalty area into the top left corner, giving the keeper no chance. But just two minutes later, the Chagos Islands were awarded a penalty for a clumsy trip in the box. Sagai stepped up to fire the ball into the bottom left, sending the keeper the wrong way and to claim his hat-trick. The Chagossian support was really in the mood to party now, singing and dancing in support of their team. Surrey did have a couple of chances to equalise for a third time, Jason Neachukwu heading the ball against the bar on 77 minutes, and Felix Ahorlu firing a shot just wide from the edge of the area. But the Chagossians were not to be denied, and they claimed a rare win to the unconfined joy and pride of their players and supporters.