Rob's Albania Football Tour Diary

Rob was one of our football team that visited Albania in June 2004

Sunday 6^th: 

Crikey – an early start! 

For those of you not woken by your loved ones leaving in the wee hours, we got the minibus ok at about 2am – it was a little cramped, but we arrived at Heathrow safely just before 4am, having taken a rather circuitous route to the A1.  Check in took ages because they lost Steve’s ticket during the process of allocating the seats, and another had to be produced but we got there eventually and made it to departures by about 5:30.  Just in time for our flight at 6:10.

The 2 hour flight to Milan was uneventful and the food even less so!  A ham and cream cheese roll (and a small one at that!), a small muffin and a small OJ provided enough energy for a short sleep before disembarking the other end to sit around in the departure lounge for 4 hours.  We passed the time by wandering around the one duty free shop a number of times, some slept, some read the paper or listened to their music and others played a variety of games with a tennis ball.  We also tasted some authentic Italian food, although I suppose we didn’t actually step foot on Italian soil!

Eventually our second flight to Tirana was ready to board, and again, we enjoyed an uneventful 2 hour flight with the same food as before.  Again, this provided just enough energy to muster a kip for most of us.

We arrived in Tirana very tired at about 15:30.  Tirana has one, very small, airport and we were surprised to see a number of armed guards around the place despite an apparent lack of perimeter security.  We later found out that this was because the Albanian president was due to arrive any time for a flight out, and not just for the British footballing superstars arriving on flight AZ0506 from Milan.

We paid our way in and collected our luggage.  Again Steve was on the receiving end of the bad news as it became clear he’d lost one of his football boots from his guitar case during the transfer process but aside from that all was well.  He also thought he’d lost two treasured music books, but he later found these, where he’d packed them!

We met Mat outside the airport terminal and to be honest we were all taken aback by the opening scene of our stay in Albania.  We were all immediately surrounded by clearly very poor small children no older than 8 or 9 who were trying to carry your bag so you would give them some cash, but we’re told they’re all part of a nasty system used to exploit them and we shouldn’t be tempted to give them anything as they themselves do not get to keep any of it.

We crammed into a small minibus and Mat’s 4-wheel drive for the 20 minute journey to the Stephen (pronounced Stefan) Centre, which is our home for the coming week.  The poor condition of all the roads is only surpassed by the appalling driving ability of the Albanian Nationals, most of whom buy their licenses and didn’t have to pass any test.  If there are any rules of the road it’s difficult to know what they are, except apparently you must use your horn when no-one else is and, if you see a pedestrian, it is your duty to speed up and see if you can run them over whilst cutting up as many other road users as possible in the process and, finally, thou shalt drive the wrong way round a round-a-bout at all times.

View from our hotel rooftop - Clouds over Tirana

The centre is nice.  It’s plain, but comfortable and has everything we need.  In the evening we all walked to Mat and Hannah’s house for a tremendous Chili and Baked potato and some local beer, called Stela!!, and a drop of the local stuff, Raki.  Afterwards it was back to the centre for a well earned, and needed, sleep.

Monday June 7^th

Our first breakfast in Albania was a good one.  The menu in the centre has mostly an American influence, but with an Albanian twist.  There is really too much to choose from, but we managed to eat well and not feel ill afterwards.  Today is an acclimatization day with some football later but we start with our daily devotions in the basement at the centre.  Surprisingly, we’re not too bad a group of singers and sound pretty ok I think.  Our verse for today was Mat 28 vs 19 with a theme from Mat of to know Christ and to make Christ known.

We learnt a potted history of Albania and some useful lingo, all the usual stuff, Hello, goodbye etc. but haven’t learnt how to order food or drink yet.  It was an inspiring, yet challenging meeting, we don’t really know what to expect but we do know that the opportunities for us to spread God’s word will be great and we need to apply ourselves over the coming week.  We’ve got a tough schedule, involving a lot of football – playing two times on most days – and tiredness is going to be a factor as the week moves on.  One other thing we learned was that there are a number of similarities between running a church in the UK and here in Albania, but other pressures are different.  On the plus side here, people are desperate to learn about Christianity, but being devoted and becoming disciples is much harder as it’s not in the Albanian culture to settle on one belief. 

Mat’s language lesson

The session was followed by lunch at the centre, which again was very good.  After lunch we had a short tour of Tirana looking at the main square, which is actually quite nice and probably the best developed area of Albania.  It also houses a rotating restaurant in the only building in Albania that has a lift!  Again we encountered some begging from little kids.  We got our hands on some cash (Leke’s), but still haven’t had the chance to spend any, although we already know that everything is cheap here.

Football in the evening was good.  We played against the Way of Hope church, some good, and not so good football was played, but honours were even at the end of the evening despite Mick picking up an injury fairly early on which saw him having to sit out the rest of the football that night.  It provided us with a few lessons on how our games and attitudes differ and what we will have to do in the next week if we are to make the right impression.  We enjoyed good fellowship afterwards singing songs in English and Albanian followed by a nice meal out at a restaurant, which was surprisingly plush.

Nick in Action after Football

Tuesday June 8^th:

We had a fairly early start again today with Breakfast at 8am.  The weather was bad in the night, having chucked it down for most of it, but was a little brighter in the morning, enough for us to sit outside.

Prayer and devotions was held at the Church this morning at 8:45am – It was inspiring, we’re getting into better and better voice as our meetings go on but I think we were channeling some of our nervous energy into our devotions this morning as today is our first time spent with the orphanage kids.  Our rendition of Light of the World was nothing short of fantastic and Graham’s piece on being the light was just what we needed.

We moved to a local complex of football pitches and the kids arrived at about 10:30am.  Initially only four of us were there because the other taxi’s got lost!, so some of us were a little overpowered initially, but the kids were so full of fun and energy, we soon got up to speed.  We were all apprehensive about how we’d feel meeting the kids and how it would affect us, but they made it easy for us – they clearly enjoyed it although they didn’t want to be organized they just wanted to run around and play with the balls and cones that we’d brought with us.  They were desperate to have our football shirts but then we wouldn’t have anything to wear for the rest of the week!  They ran us ragged. 

Orphanage Kids – Trying to control the uncontrollable.

After such a great time in the morning, we were up for a good game in the evening against the church and some people church members had invited.  It went ok, although we didn’t win and there were a few bruised egos.  We’ve got a lot of chances to make up for it though.

We again followed the football with a nice meal out at a surprising oasis in the middle of the squalor.

Wednesday June 9^th

We started this morning with breakfast at about 8am followed by devotions at the church centre.  We were supposed to be going to Ali Demi prison this morning but the rain has meant the pitch is not playable and the trip cancelled.  This is actually a bit of a God send, because last night’s football didn’t go according to plan and we need to talk about it, plus the schedule for the day was a bit tough anyway, what with the prison in the morning, the kids from the orphanage in the afternoon and a football tournament for 3 hours in the evening!!

Instead the orphanage children will get brought forward to this morning and we’ll get the afternoon to ourselves before the football tonight.  It will also allow those presenting tonight’s seminar at the church before the football, the chance to prepare some more.  We also found out that we are expected to be leaving two 6-a-side kits for the prisoners to wear when we go tomorrow to Vjarr prison.

Our devotions focussed on our shortcomings last night.  Before last night’s matches, some of the group had given a seminar on the character of Christ in sport.  However, we had struggled to demonstrate this in our own actions during the evening and we needed to remind ourselves why we were here and to try to ensure we didn’t come out looking like hypocrites at the end of all our hard work both before and during the week.

We didn’t really need telling, but a great time of worship in a small group of men worked wonders and after some more great singing we were off to 21 December (a sports centre) to meet the orphanage kids.

Less of them turned up today for a variety of reasons, but sadly one of the smaller ones had woken in the night and had to be taken to hospital after suffering a seizure.  The rest of the kids seemed unperturbed and I think it affected us more than them to see just how frail they can be having suffered bad upbringings and just how much we should be thankful for.

Despite this, we had another great morning being run ragged again and left having known that we’d been working with a bunch of 20 odd lively kids in 30 degree heat.

Playing games with the kids

By 13:30 we were back at the Stephen Centre ready to meet up for lunch in the restaurant.  It was so hot that for a change we actually sat inside where it’s air conditioned!

Whilst we have one kit to leave with the prisoners, we now need to find another.  Over lunch we decided how we could get a second kit together.  Several of us had discussed wanting to buy an Albania national team football shirt to take home, as we’d seen them hanging in one of the very few souvenir shops.  It occurred to someone that the prisoners might like to play in their national strip, so after lunch a few of us set off in search of enough shirts to meet our own and the prisoners’ needs.

It was a very successful trip – we managed to get everything we needed and more as the shirts came with shorts also, and all for just £12 a kit.

Tonight’s seminar was “Sharing the Gospel through Sport” – not sure why the capitals are where they are, but they were!  The seminar was presented by Russ, Malcolm, Mick and Bruce, in that order.  I think all Russ was supposed to be doing was giving a reading with a short explanation but, as he does, he milked it and it was very funny.  Malcolm delivered the main message from the reading, which was powerful and well presented and just what we needed after the night before. 

Russ in Action

However, next was Mick.  I think he thought all he was doing was reading from a script he’d prepared earlier about how we shouldn’t sit on the fence in sharing the gospel and how we should set foot in the garden on one side of the fence, but it came across much more powerful than that.  Everyone in the audience could tell that this was from the heart and a struggle Mick was having himself, but others were also.  He was fantastic and got an ovation at the end which lasted a good two minutes and brought a tear not only to Mick’s eye, but to most in the room also.  I did not envy Bruce who had to follow it and pull all three together, but he did an admirable job in recognising that there wasn’t much more he needed to say.

After the seminar we enjoyed a great ride up the hills to Sauk, a small village just outside Tirana where a guy called Mark and his wife are trying to plant a church.  There will be two teams from Sauk, two from Way of hope and two from BBC.  I don’t think we’re really sure what’s going on here, because we’re told that there will be two round robin leagues with one BBC team in each and a final at the end between the two teams winning their group.

However it doesn’t seem to go like this.  Each BBC team played one half of a match against Way of Hope.  After that there’s a lot of waiting around and an hour later one of our teams gets to play again although it would appear that this will be their last game.  They play very well in a close game, which is hard fought, but played in just the right spirit and was everything we had talked about over the last two days.  They lost by one goal.

Another half an hour later and it was the turn of the team I was playing in against one of the Sauk village teams – a team of non-Christians.  Again it was a very hard fought game, but played in the right spirit, especially when you consider that we knew before the game that because our two teams were being counted as one for some reason, that we couldn’t get to the final even if we won.  It all became academic anyway as we lost 3-2, but there was some great football played by both teams, and the friendly spirit was there right to the end.  We came off having known that we’d been in a great game and despite having lost, we were happy – in fact the whole group was on a high after the best football yet and played in the spirit we’d been seeking to achieve and had talked about achieving on many occasions.

And all that without any dinner!! – Mat had said he’d take us for a kebab at 17:30 before the seminar, but it didn’t materialise, so when we finished playing at about 23:00, we were on a high, but hungry!  We all went back to Tirana, but everyone declared they wouldn’t sleep straight away because of the adrenalin, so we all went to the local for a beer – and very nice it was too.

Thursday June 10^th

A very early start (6:30) this morning as we have to be at Vjarr prison by 9:00.  We ordered breakfast before we left yesterday for 7:30, but as usual it’s a bit slow in arriving and eats into a bit of our devotions time.  That said devotions, whilst short, was still rousing with some more very good singing – I’m beginning to think we should consider a male voice choir on our return – it was also useful to focus on what for most was going to be a nerve racking moment, going into a prison.  I guess that for most of us it would be the first time we’d been to such a place.

The journey was quite a long one, heading back out of Tirana but in the opposite direction to the airport.  We went past the city confines into the countryside, which was just more poor housing with the odd scattered finished house amongst all the unfinished ones.  We also passed a lot of horse and carts and almost as many car washes as there were cars – car washing seems to be a national pastime in Albania.

We arrive safely at our destination and climb out of the taxis.  It’s fairly barren and very dusty.  There are some women and children by the gates, obviously waiting to make a visit – it occurs to me that that means not everyone will be watching us play football and I can’t decide what that means to me.  We’d talked before about how focussed on this the prisoners might be because they don’t get the chance to do things like this, and I suppose we weren’t sure what to expect.  I think I took comfort from the fact that for some, this wasn’t going to be the be-all and end-all for their near future in Vjarr prison, which we had been warned it might be.  But then again, maybe I was just being vain.

Our greeting wasn’t something we had expected.  We met all the high officials from the prison and the Deputy National Governor of all prisons in Albania, and apparently we only had to make do with him instead of the big cheese, because he was too busy on that day otherwise he’d have been there.  We had a meeting with the top brass in the offices where they laid on drinks and snacks – I don’t think any of us could quite believe it and sitting there for half an hour was more than most of us wanted, we just wanted to get out and play football and go home.

It was hot that day – easily the hottest day so far – and we made our way out to where the pitch was.  There were lots of prisoners there and two teams who were by now sporting the kits we’d brought.  The majority of prisoners were being kept back by armed guards, but not too far away that we couldn’t speak to them if we wanted.  Along the length of the pitch but set back about ten yards was a long table draped in a white tablecloth with two rows of seats behind for those not playing and the dignitaries to sit, although having said that, it wasn’t for the prison team not playing to sit on.

There was no shade to be found anywhere and by now it was 10:00 and getting hotter.  Our first team got underway for the first 20 minute game on a sandy pitch with a goal at either end that was about 2ft 6in square – not very big at all!  As you’d expect, there weren’t many goals and the prison side managed to sneak a 2-1 victory.  Our next team then took to the pitch, the side I was playing in.  Again it was a very close game, so much so that the first 20 minutes ended in a 0-0 draw.  After much discussion the referee declared that we’d play another 5 minutes each way – he was going to go straight to penalties, but the prisoners persuaded him otherwise.  The prison team scored in the first half of extra time, but we managed to get one back in the second, and that’s the way it stayed – so on to penalties we went.

It would be 6 penalties each.  We lost 2-1, but to be honest we all agreed that we couldn’t have then gone on to play another 20 minutes in that heat anyway so we were glad of the rest.  One of the teams asked Nick to play for them, which was a very nice gesture and one he enjoyed I’m sure.  After the final, there were some brief speeches and thank yous and the best player from the winning team was presented with a trophy, which he was very clearly touched to receive.  We came away with lots of stories to tell, not least one of a guy who had lived in England for a number of years and spoke English very well and who, when he had found out the day before that some English footballers were coming to the prison the next day, couldn’t sleep very well because he was excited about having the chance to speak English again.

When we got out of the prison, we were told that we would be going straight to the pitches to meet up with the kids from the orphanage.  This was a bit of a problem, because that meant none of us had anything because we’d been told to leave it at the centre as we wouldn’t be able to take anything except ourselves into the prison.

A compromise was for three people to return to the centre to pick up some stuff, but of course they wouldn’t be able to get too much.  We got to the pitches at 12:00 but the kids wouldn’t arrive until 14:00 so we had to amuse ourselves – which I have to say we didn’t find too hard.  I think a lot of us were relieved that there were no problems in the morning.  This free time also gave us the opportunity to sample a culinary delight from Albania for lunch.  It was called a sandwich, but I think the message got mixed up on its way from the Lord to Tirana.  What arrived was a toasted panini roll stuffed with a hot dog sausage, tomato, some vinegary mayo and chips.  It tasted very odd but I quite liked it, and it was another experience to savour although I think some struggled with the concept.

This afternoon was to be our last with the kids so we were determined to make the most of it.  However, because this session was later than the other days, a lot of the kids had gone missing from the home in the morning and had not turned up so we’d have a lot less to deal with today.  It was still a great time though and if anything the smaller numbers helped us to spend more time with individuals than we had before.

Some of the Kids from David’s House Orphanage

It also meant that as we were now starting to feel the effects of almost a full week playing too much football and those of us with aches and pains could take it a little easier today.  We still had a great time though and it was sad to say goodbye at 15:30, despite it being amazingly hot and we were in the full sun, but we had the consolation of knowing we’d be able to say a proper goodbye to all the kids when we visited the orphanage the next day.

We then made it back to the centre for a short break before the evening event at the church.  Russ, Dan and I had to be back at the church for 17:00 to cook up a barbecue before an evangelistic night at the church which people we’d met throughout the week had been invited to as a culmination of the evangelistic side of our visit.  The turnout was good although I know Mark was disappointed that no-one from Sauk came.  I have to say the Chofte (sausages) were cooked to perfection and we discovered a new culinary delight, Kosovan Sausage, which a guest had brought with him – it was stunningly good, a bit spicy but very nice.

After the event we had a “Pub night” organised, which saw our first venture into the block area of Tirana.  An area previously reserved for the top brass in Albania, which only got opened up to the public in 1990 when Albania became free.  It really is the posh end.

We found a bar and enjoyed a couple of drinks before moving onto somewhere else to eat.  After eating some decided to go back to the centre, it was about 00:30 by that time, but others of us decided to stay out and go to another pub for another drink.

Now isn’t the time to go into too much detail, but suffice to say, some of the group didn’t get much sleep tonight and we really saw the awesome hand of God do his work among us and this would set the tone for the rest day tomorrow and a long time to come.

Friday June 11^th

As I said, last night was an eventful one, which turned Thursday into a very long day indeed and whilst today is officially a rest day, some of the group needed a rest more than most.  We started the day with a very emotional devotions, which lasted longer than normal.  We then made our way to the orphanage to have a look round before saying our goodbyes.  Whilst it was quite shocking to see how they live, crammed into a relatively small house, we took consolation from how happy they were and that they were better off where they were than being on the streets, which is where a lot had come from.

A thank you and goodbye from all at David’s house

After that some of the group went to a pool as planned and others just stayed behind to catch up on lost sleep or take in what had happened, or both.

The evening was taken up by the group splitting up and visiting Albanian families for dinner. It was a very humbling experience, seeing people with not a lot give you more than they could afford, and willingly.  Everyone had different experiences, but I know tonight will be one of the lasting memories I take away from Albania with me. We can learn an awful lot from these people about the gift of hospitality.

An early night beckoned.

Saturday June 12^th

Baptist union football day – a 5-hour football tournament.  We see the more frustrating side of Albania today as a number of the teams due to play drop out last minute.  We again have two groups of three teams, with each team playing each other before the two best meet in the final.

We’re conscious that whilst we’re all very tired and a number of us are carrying injuries, we need to make sure our last games are good ones to remember.  We were warned on our first day that we would be remembered by the Albanian’s for our last actions and we should be mindful of this.  We hadn’t forgotten.  Both teams fought hard and the team I was in drew our first game and had to play our second one straight after.  It was the hottest day of our stay and we were flagging after the first 30 minute game, and by the looks of it were up against a decent side, which had a Brazilian influence apparently!  Certainly one little guy on their side did – Russ is still convinced he’s been in Pepsi ads or something showing off all his ball juggling tricks, he was very good.

However, we were playing well as a unit despite our injuries and general feeling of tiredness and with five minutes to go it was still 0-0.  However, we started to fall apart as the fatigue started to settle in after nearly a full hour playing in 35 degree heat at the end of a very tough week.  The other team were the hardest we’d come up against too and were going in hard.  We started to have a few niggles and a couple of us reacted.  Dan got injured after going over on his ankle in a tackle, however, far from this being the catalyst for melt down, we used the time to re-compose ourselves and despite losing 3-0 in the end, we managed to keep our pride and accept defeat graciously, a new experience for all of us on the pitch after such a game.

The other team lost their first game and then had a break in between.  They drafted Nath into the team and managed to win their second game 5-0, but because Way of Hope had won both their games in that group they were into the final.  However, again our team displayed the right attitudes and we’d succeeded in making our last games good ones to remember for the Albanians.

Way of Hope were to meet the team we lost to in the final, however the other team started to argue because a few players for Way of Hope had played for both their teams, which they took exception to and because of the arguing, which lasted a good ten minutes, the final was not played.

Instead the two BBC teams played each other, which for us was a very nice way to finish the week, as we hadn’t done that at all during the week before then.  We subbed the injured players and replaced them with players from other teams, including the little guy with all the tricks and we played for about 25 minutes between ourselves in a very gentle but fun game.

Our team after our last games and before “the final”

Saturday evening, I think we were all ready to go home now the football was over and we’d pretty much done everything we’d come to do, but tonight was the opening game of the Euro 2004 Championship, which again people we’d met in the week had been invited to and also church members had invited non-church friends along.  It was a nice ending to the week and a lot of thank yous were said all round before our final meal out at another great restaurant.

Sunday June 13^th

Home today, but first we start with our usual dose of devotions and, this time, communion.  We held it in the restaurant of the Stephen Centre.  We had a good time, many shared thoughts about the week and prayed or read from the bible.  We again sang our hearts out and we had a collection to leave for the Way of Hope church as a gift.  It was a fitting way to end a fantastic, eventful and emotional week.

We had breakfast and returned to finish the last bits of tidying up before meeting again at 10:30 to get the minibuses to the Airport.  At least this time we had some room as there was one van for our luggage and another for us.  We sang choruses on the way to the airport which showed how far we’d come as a group of unacquainted men who over a hard week had got to know each other.

All that was on our minds now was getting home to our loved ones and thankfully our check in’s, flights and transfers were all fine.  The food on the Alitalia flights was still the same rubbery cheese and ham roll etc. but somehow we were less bothered about it this time.  Our transfer, in Rome this time, was very brief, just enough time to refuel for those who found the roll insufficient!

When back in Heathrow, after enjoying great panoramic views of the city of London during our approach, we collected our bags and made our way outside to meet up with our minibus.  It was at this point that most of us realised we’d not said goodbye to Gary who’d gone off with his lift in another direction, Sorry Gary!  We all crammed in and knew we weren’t going to make it back for the start of the England game, but the spirit was good, if a little deflated – or was it reflective? -  now we were back.

We returned to BBC at 20:00 to a great reception from our friends and family, some stayed to watch the footie, others went home to spend some time with their family, but each and everyone one of us knew that he’d experienced something special and made friends that they would cherish for some time to come.

We can’t wait to go back!