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Soccer team in world record attempt

Friday, 26 June 2009

A football team based in South Dublin is claiming they have broken the world record for the longest continuously played five-a-side soccer game. Some 16 members of the men’s Grosvenor Lane Football Club, which is based in Bushy Park, Terenure played five-a-side indoor football for 25 straight hours last week at UCD. They now claim they have beaten the record of 24.5 hours of consecutive play that was previously held by a team from Yorkshire in England and which was subsequently given the seal of approval by the Guinness Book of Records. They are now awaiting the Guinness Book of Records to confirm the validity of their achievement, which they hope will be rubber-stamped within the next three months. The South Dublin team carried out the world record attempt in a bid to raise money for the University College Dublin Volunteers Overseas group who travel to Tanzania in Africa this week. The group is bringing computer equipment to several schools in the African state and will train the teachers there how to use the technology in the classrooms from the e5,000 raised for the charitable cause. Rested Paul Ryan (26) from Ballinteer who organised the football marathon explained that players participating in the world record attempt played in a rotation system. He said that out of 16 players five played on one team at any one time while three others rested for scheduled periods. Paul said the team had adhered to a strict set of rules laid down by the Guinness Book of Records. The team began the marathon game at 12pm on Saturday, June 13 and finished at about 1.10pm on Sunday. Paul explained that midway through the attempt was the most gruelling part of the challenge. “From midnight until eight in the morning was the hardest part because we were doing it in rotations,” he said. “At one stage you had to play for three hours in a row and you only got another hour break before you were back on for two more hours.” Paul said that the advice the team received from their main sponsor in the event, Premier Physiotherapy in Ballinteer, proved invaluable and helped the players to avoid sustaining any significant injuries and also helped them play through the pain barrier. “When we finished it was just a feeling of pure relief and desperation to get the hell out of there,” he added. “Half of us went to the pub for a few pints but it just didn’t work and we left straight after we had finished our meal. I went to bed at 6pm and got up the next day at 8pm.