Dave Simmons, manager of Westmorland Football League Division I side Greystoke, jetted out to Qatar this week for his seventh World Cup.
Dave, who is 58 and lives in Penrith, has been in charge of the village side for the past seven years.
He is heading to the tournament for the last 16 stage onwards, and will be writing a diary for the Herald in the coming weeks, detailing life in the Middle East as he cheers on England. Here, Dave tells his story so far:
Lucky number seven is what I thought watching England dismantle Iran 6-2 in their first 2022 group game.
This will be our seventh World Cup adventure, one which started back in 1986.
Myself and my mate Nick, from Manchester University, with his brother Greg and mate Graham went on a trip of a lifetime to Mexico. It involved a motor cavalcade around Monterrey after a Gary Lineker hat-trick against Poland — probably the best 17 minutes of football ever watched with the possible jeopardy of going home after eight days on a planned four-week holiday.
Mexico 86 ended for England as we all know with Maradona’s infamous hand of God and then probably the best goal I have and will ever witness with his mazy dribble.
Unfortunately I missed Italia 90 which was a great tournament for England with Gazza in his pomp. And in 1994 England couldn’t make it so there was no trip to the USA.
At France 98 we resumed our quest for World Cup glory, Shearer and Scholes opening up against Tunisia in the Marseille Velodrome.
Decisions go for you or don’t but it’s fair to say we have seen some howlers: The hand of God; Frank Lampard’s no goal ball over the line against Germany in 2010; Sol Campbell’s disallowed headed goal against Argentina in France. Maybe luck is on our side this time after USA hit the bar against England last week!
Germany in 2006 was my third tournament and how well organised it was with the introduction of fan parks. You had to get a ticket for that, but it was with dismay that the ticket I had for England’s game against Trinidad & Tobago was for a seat sold three times over.
As I was marched into the security office and had to explain I was not Wolfgang Smitzas as advertised on the ticket, I left for the fan park light of a few euros but with a smile on my face as I told the security team about the ticket being sold three times. They had no answer when I said: “I thought you Germans were supposed to be organised!”
For 2010 in South Africa we invested in a T7 ticket which meant we followed England or then the winning team all the way to the final. We met some great lads from Germany and a couple of ex-pats from Sunderland. They put us up in Johannesburg and also gave me the task of trying to organise our very own 11-a-side match against our German/South African friends. It ended up a five-a-side affair and an England victory.
In between times we had experienced the big five on safari and signed a disclaimer on any accident in our exploits of bobbing around in a cage in the Indian ocean near Cape Town with a great white shark staring back at you. An experience not to be forgotten.
Brazil and the Copacabana followed in 2014. It was my 50th birthday but didn’t work out as planned. I stepped on to the infamous beach just as Costa Rica beat Italy 1-0, so knocking England out of the tournament after two narrow defeats.
We had experienced a night adventure up the Amazon, camping out to all sorts of noises and swimming in the Amazon. Both Italy and England failed to progress from their group having played in Manaus. And no team throughout this World Cup would win a game after having played at that venue.
FIFA, in their attempts to stage this great game in all corners of the Earth, have taken me to places in which I would never have expected to watch football.
Russia 2018 was an all together different experience.
England actually had a team that started winning. I remember looking around the stadium at half-time against Panama in disbelief while winning 5-0. As an England fan, such luxuries had never been previously witnessed!
Russian people were great and were quite happy to share vodka once the beer ran out so it’s with a heavy heart that I watch the events unfold in Ukraine. As someone once said, on your travels most people want to get on with each other but it all gets out of hand once the politicians get involved.
We had a day/overnight train to one of the matches which was a great experience — totally packed with no England supporters in sight. You got to see and experience the real Russia.
And so to Qatar. Who holds a World Cup in the middle of a desert? Why FIFA, of course. Qatar’s human rights issues are appalling and need to be addressed.
They should have been addressing these over the last 12 years not the last 12 days.
The world will meet briefly in Qatar for a festival of football. I cannot think of any other event at which multiple cultures meet and share with each other the fact that we are all human beings.
Life is far too short for people to be cruel to each other. The one slogan that should remain on everyone’s armband is “respect”. That is the English FA’s mantra and is one we all carry with us.
World Cup football is an opportunity to see other sides of life and have a good party to boot. Experience it once in your life. We are hooked. Come on England!
