by Rhia Daniel

For spectators in Peppermint Park / Wita Wirra (Park 18) on Saturday, September 9, there was only one question: do you support the team with the horizontal stripes or the vertical stripes?

Round 18 in Division 4 of the Collegiate Soccer League featured the Mercedes Old Collegians Soccer Club, playing against Rostrevor Old Collegians Soccer Club.

The Mercedes players wore green-and-white, horizontal-striped shirts, and Rostrevor players sported red-and-black, vertical-striped shirts.

The direction of the game was immediately obvious with Rostrevor players going hard from the start. In the first five minutes, Rostrevor had had two attempts at goals. The team scored its first goal at the 15-minute mark, after a particularly strong drive down the left side of the field.

Mercedes had done well to fend off goals until that time, forming a rectangular defence around the goal. Their green-and-white stripes were like lopsided prison bars, blocking Rostrevor players from getting in.

Their goalkeeper, Gus, was a clear stand-out player, even in the first five minutes, precisely booting the ball down the field with a pointed-toe kick.

Already in the first half of the game, it was obvious that the umpires had a lenient outlook on pushing and swearing, with multiple instances being observed across the field. This grace seemed to be reciprocated as some players were inevitably frustrated with some of the umpiring decisions but chose not to dig in too hard.

Halftime saw Rostrevor at a 4 – 0 advantage. Most of the goals were a result of Rostrevor’s faster manoeuvres, but Mercedes had not helped themselves with some of their decisions in the defensive square.

Late in the first half, a Mercedes player had kicked the ball across their defensive goal not once, but twice. Another Mercedes player had decided to softly kick a free out of the defensive square into the left wing – right where Rostrevor’s player 47 had led two successful attacks on goal.

Rostrevor started off the second half not as strongly as the first half. Mercedes was more successful in holding the ball and making better decisions with it. In particular, they played stronger in the midfield, which allowed them to keep the ball out of their defensive half longer.

Rostrevor was not without embarrassment during this game either. Most notably, taking a penalty shot, a key Rostrevor player completely missed the goal, much to the amusement of his teammates and spectators.

It was also much more noticeable when the Rostrevor players were frustrated or stressed, with more negative talk between their team and soccer balls flying over the goal and into the adjacent Park Lands trees many times.

At least seven times players needed to call for a back-up ball to be used as the ball in play had been kicked too far to retrieve.

Once a Rostrevor player threw the ball from the sidelines overhead into a tree, and another kicked the ball into the northern tree-line of the park.

Ultimately, Mercedes wasn’t able to hold their defence for very long into the second half. Rostrevor scored another three goals for a lopsided final score of 7-0.

Mercedes had a few more convincing attempts at goal in the second half, but none came to pass unfortunately.

The CSL Cup Grand Final is scheduled for September 16, although not in your Park Lands but Clarence Gardens.

As neither Division 4 team is playing in this final, it’s fitting that Round 18, their final round, was played in Park 18.