Euratom Cricket Club - Ispra

The little Italian village of Ispra is on the eastern shore of Lake Maggiore, about 50 kms west of Milan and 25 kms south of the Swiss border.

 By early 1981 the number of Britons at the Euratom Joint Research Centre Ispra had reached a critical mass. One afternoon Phil Kerrison & his brother Andy were playing cricket with Jerry Wells in his back garden when one of them suggested starting a cricket club. 

The rest is history.

 Euratom Cricket Club started life on 15th April 1981 when it was officially recognised by the European Commission as one of the sports clubs of the J.R.C. Ispra.

 The summer was spent practising in a ploughed field in Barza in preparation for the first game against near neighbours Milan C.C.. An inauspicious start to that game, including golden ducks for both Dai Berry & John Powell off the first two deliveries, led to the instigation of the “Mario Mallard” award, to be kept by the most recent player out for a duck (see News page for update). Although Euratom lost that match they came back with a vengeance the following Spring to win the return game without losing a wicket. The club still had no home ground so the next game against a combined team from Rome was again played at the American School playing field in Milan. Later in 1982 Euratom ventured as far as Rome to win a famous victory against the champions of the Rome league, the Villa Doria Pamphilli C.C..  1982 also saw the first game against the European School Varese, a fixture which never became a regular event in itself but which eventually led to the foundation of the E.S.V. C.C. & the development of the E.C.C. junior section. 

   By 1983 the club had negotiated use of the “Le Bettole” racecourse in Varese for its home games & this was to be the site of a good-natured thrashing at the hands of the New Zealand Ambassadors on world tour. That year also saw Euratom win the first edition of the Italian Championship in Rome against Spes Travel C.C.. In 1984 the club was forced to move to a small soccer pitch in nearby Ranco where on a bitterly cold & wet Autumn day ECC claimed another National title against the Roman champions. 1985 then turned out to be probably the club's most successful season so far, losing only to a strong Geneva C.C.  side & to the Castle Rising club from near King's Lynn. The A.I.C. Championship was won again but the highlight of the year was undoubtedly the win over the Luxembourg Optimists who were highly rated (mostly by themselves!).  By 1986 the club’s reputation had spread & Euratom was invited to the Upper Engadine to participate in the Lyceum Alpinum’s Annual Cricket Festival in Zuoz. To be placed third out of eight strong teams was an exceptional result & Euratom went on to win the A.I.C. Championship for a fourth successive year, this time beating Roma C.C. in the final in Bologna. During this period Andy Rice, Jerry Wells, John Powell & Dai Berry all represented Italy on three national tours to Britain.

  Exclusion from the championship in 1987 changed little for the club & during that year E.C.C. again beat its Italian opponents & lost to the Swiss ones, including C.E.R.N., Basel & Bern. By the following year the players seemed to have lost some of their competitive spirit, although the standard of cricket being played was undoubtedly higher than ever. New friends were made at the Zuoz Festival, whereas curry & cricket were the order of the day on a trip to Vienna as guests of Sushil Vadehra's Five Continents C.C..  Basel & Florence also visited us at Ranco but the increasingly cramped conditions there forced the club to move to the new sports stadium in Ispra.  1989 then saw some of the best E.C.C. performances ever, including wins over F.C.C.C. Vienna & the Amsterdam Hippos & a narrow defeat against the Lyceum Alpinum in the final of the Zuoz Festival.

 The early '90s saw the club settle into a circuit of fixtures with the clubs in the Milan & Turin area, plus the usual sprinkling of touring sides from Munich, Vienna or Switzerland & trips to Monte Carlo & Cabris. Close relationships were established with the Idle club in Lodi & Euratom also supplied material assistance to fledgling club Ivrea & to Como, whom Dai Berry initially both coached & captained.  July 1992 also saw the Euratom club's first tour to Britain, playing a series of matches around the Yeovil area with an unexpected degree of success. 

In 1993 E.C.C. moved to the secluded Taino Sports Ground. The improved playing conditions & friendly relationship with the local football club seemed to inspire new enthusiasm in the players & the pleasant surroundings saw more families attending the games again.  But, with a relatively small influx of new players in the mid-90's & several of the original "hard core" starting to fall by the wayside, some of the performances started to look a bit laboured, especially in the bowling department. Then the departure of founding President Jerry Wells & a few other key players, combined with a whole series of games being rained off, saw the end of an era & the club sank into the doldrums for a few seasons. 

  Rejuvenation came in 1998 from several unexpected sources.

Firstly the renamed Italian Cricket Federation, now recognised by the I.C.C. & C.O.N.I., began to promote junior cricket at all levels. Thus Chris Coldwell from the European School started to organise regular weekly nets for a group of  Under-13s who then performed creditably at the first ever tournament at national level that Autumn in Bologna. By the following year the group had grown so much as to necessitate the official creation of the E.S.V. C.C. to allow all the players to participate in games. That year the two teams flew to Catania at Autumn half-term with a large group of supporters. To the spectacular backdrop of an erupting, snow-covered Mount Etna & a gangland shoot-out, both teams played exceptionally well to reap the rewards of regular practice & good coaching. In 2000 the tournament moved to Rome & despite two more good performances the results reflected the improved standard of junior cricket all over Italy. Then in 2001 a preliminary round was introduced to the competition. Euratom hosted this Northern Group tournament at Taino in early October with both the E.C.C. & E.S.V. C.C. teams qualifying for the final in Rome. After a long bus trip, the boys played an excellent week-end's cricket with E.C.C. losing narrowly in the final to traditional rivals Capannelle C.C. & the European School surprising many of their opposition with the standard of their play. The spectators were then treated to the sight of the two Ispra teams push-starting their 40-seater coach which had developed a flat battery! 

 With the Junior Section up and running, all that was needed was a shot in the arm for the First XI! This came about when an unlikely series of events suddenly produced a group of talented Sri Lankan players. Not only was the bowling attack revitalised overnight but for once it was our batsmen who were setting the records. Reinforcements also appeared in the form of several South Africans who were working locally at Westland Agusta on a helicopter project, boosting the ever increasing contingent of non-JRC employees playing for the club. 

 The 1999 season was thus highly successful & although many of the games in 2000 were washed out, ECC looked to field its strongest team ever in 2001.The fixture list was duly strengthened to include several touring sides from Holland, Britain, France & Switzerland. For the first time some of these "Home" fixtures would be played at Lodi for logistical reasons. As it turned out, a combination of terrible weather & an unforeseeable player shortage at critical moments meant that 2001 again proved to be a lean season with the 1st XI playing very little cricket. Two highlights though were the opening game against a team from Surinam & the visit by the St.Andrew's Club from London who only scraped home against E.C.C. through the presence of a couple of Geordie "ringers".

Despite the problems of the previous couple of years, enthusiasm still ran high in Ispra under the guidance of new President, Martyn Dowell. The arrival of several good, new players to boost the ranks led to high expectations for the 2002 season. The increased number of fixtures was maintained & a trip to Grasse at the beginning of June to play the Cabris Goats  was preferred to  participation in the Zuoz Festival.  In May a strong First XI just lost a great game against the Groenland touring side from Holland & the season was rounded off at the end of September with the traditional trip to Nice to play Monte Carlo C.C. at their Levens ground. 

Mention must also be made of three ECC stalwarts who had sadly passed away during this period, Mike Ward, Ray Allardyce & John Powell. John in particular was E.C.C.'s outstanding player over the years & in recent times had also been its Captain. In Spring 2001 John had finally lost his struggle with cancer & was sadly missed.  Thus on the last Saturday in July 2002 former ECC President, Jerry Wells brought his Wethersfield club from Essex to play a John Powell Memorial game at Taino  against a team of Euratom's "Golden Oldies".  The old-timers performed creditably well against their British opposition & the occasion was suitably rounded-off by some moving speeches & an excellent dinner together.

By now  "Man-of-the Match" awards had started to appear in the Match Reports & “Mario Mallard” continued to flutter from one hapless batsman to the next. But 2002 also saw the introduction of a new award, the "Golden Banana”, made on a match-to-match basis for the most inept performance by an E.C.C. player. At the end of its inaugural season this magnificent trophy, fit to grace any mantle-piece, rather surprisingly found its way into the hands of South African superstar Shalan Chetty amidst muttering of match-fixing from some of the older members. 

 At Junior level the logical shift from six-a-side to eight-a-side for national tournaments necessitated the re-assimilation of the European School players into the E.C.C. so that the Ispra club would be able to field teams for the first time in both the Under-13 & Under-15 age groups. The two strong squads both benefited from a week's coaching in March from I.C.C. Regional Development Officer Richard O'Sullivan. Two of the Under-15 players also made appearances in the First XI during the season, with Jamie Speed putting in a remarkable bowling performance against the Scaligero club in Verona & David Coldwell out-bowling his father & coach Chris in the game against Idle.

 Euratom again hosted the Under 13 Finals at Taino in early July in a round-robin tournament against the winners of the Bologna, Rome & Sicily groups. Torrential rain unfortunately ruled out any play on the Saturday, meaning an early start for all concerned on the Sunday morning on a pitch which resembled a steaming, primordial swamp. The Euratom lads then pulled out some exceptional efforts all round to finally take their long overdue place as National Champions. Four of this team, Matthew Kilroy, Luke Jackson, Kristof Starost & Stephen Starost went on to represent Italy in the European Championships with Stephen selected as National Captain. At Under 15 level though, the competition was stronger than ever. In the qualifying tournament in late September, ECC first beat both Trentino C.C. & local rivals Brera C.C. in some nail-biting 15-over games. But then the finals at the Rastignano Oval, just south of Bologna, against a strong Capannelle team proved too stern a task for the Ispra squad, especially in the absence of opening batsman & wicket-keeper Darragh Connolly who had recently broken an arm. But in the end manager Chris Coldwell's "everyone gets a game" policy proved to be justified when in the last game of the tournament  Tom Finetto & Zac Cole produced some outstanding performances to beat the talented Pianoro team & earn themselves the Runners-Up place. 

In 2003 Graham Starost took over as President from fellow tyke  Martyn Dowell who was retiring to umpire in the West Yorkshire league. It proved to be an exciting season with some new players arriving at the J.R.C. Ispra & with the inception of a new “friendly” league competition for the clubs in north-west Italy. The two major clubs in Lombardy, Milan & Euratom, were involved in league cricket together for the first time since they had both dropped out of the Italian Championship in the mid-80s. The Presidents’ Cup, as the league came to be known, consisted of a series of 40-over games with most of the other clubs in the area, Trentino, Scaligero from Verona & the Idle club in Lodi. Despite an early victory against Idle, Euratom then took an unexpected beating from Scaligero’s rather quick, young Sri Lankans. Trentino were forced to withdraw from the league due to their Italian Championship commitments but then ECC were proud to inaugurate their new Ispra Cricket Ground with their clash with the “auld enemy” Milan. Milan won that game by 3 wickets but it looked to be the start of a new lease of life for the ECC. The “La Betulla” stables were an idyllic setting for a cricket pitch & the club had negotiated use of a large paddock for its games. With the mat laid for once on bare earth rather than grass, the pitch played quite well, although the rather rough outfield was to cause the occasional casualty & a large bruise right between the eyebrows came to be known as a “Starost”. That season the E.C.C. fixture list also included a game against the Monte Carlo club, a first encounter with the new Kingsgrove club in Milan & an experimental trip as a representative Lombardy side to Grasse to play the formidable Cabris Goats. At the end of August the club's six-a-side enthusiasts also trecked up to Trento for the annual Trentino Sixes festival.   The Under 15s did well to qualify for the National Finals in Bologna in early July & David Coldwell & Stephen Starost were both selected for the Italian Under 15 team to play in the European Championships in Bordeaux in early August.  Also the young but now experienced Under 13 squad successfully defended their title as National Champions in their competition in October, largely due to the contribution of talented all-rounder Oliver Makin.

Thus Euratom entered 2004 with high hopes, a good player base & a nice ground.  Apart from the usual friendly fixtures & its Presidents’ Cup commitments, the club entered with confidence the Under 17, Under 15 & Under 13 competitions as well as the new First XI Serie B Championship, the Italian Federation’s first national competition with no restriction on foreign players.  

In May the Under 17 squad, which included some very young players, put up a very creditable performance at the National Finals held at the Gallicano Club near Monte Prenestini, but were predictably outplayed by strong teams from both Pianoro & Capannelle. In their competition the Under 15s beat a weak Bologna team but then just lost to the experienced Pianoro. 

The First XI 2004 season started with narrow defeats by Milan & Scaligero at the ICG. But unfortunately, despite the high hopes that had been held for the new ground, it soon became obvious that skitty Arab stallions were not compatible with flying red leather & the Euratom zingari were forced to up stumps & return to their former home in the woods at Taino.  Strangely the First XI continued to struggle in the Serie B all season. The highlights of the year though were undoubtedly the visit to Taino by the GWR Cavaliers from London, who fielded 9 unrelated Patels, & the ECC return trip to Wethersfield in Essex to play the second edition of the John Powell trophy. In this game Euratom were again just outgunned by the locals despite valiant efforts from many of the ECC former players & guests, who included Roddy Gibson, Trevor Walton, Tony Melvin, Graham Pasley, Ian Weitzel, Moreno Dalla Val, Rhys Berry & Bob Elston.  Surprisingly the Ispresi seemed to play better on the Sunday despite a night spent sampling real ale in a medieval barn.

In the Autumn the First XI managed just one more game, which they contrived to lose from a strong position against Idle C.C. at the Radish ground in Lodi . Disappointingly Monte Carlo were then forced to call off the traditional end-of-season fixture in Nice, which meant that for the adults the season fizzled out inconclusively.

Fortunately though the Under 13s had continued their winning ways with another successful defence of their National Title in July, with the result that four players, Kristof & Harry Starost, Kyle Berry & Murtaza Abbas Shamsi, were all selected to play for the Italian National team in the European Championships in Gibraltar.  Gareth Berry was also selected as travelling reserve. 

With the proposed expansion of the Serie B competition in 2005 & in view of the season’s poor results, the winter of 2004 saw protracted negotiations between Euratom & the Idle club with a view to fielding a stronger combined side in the First XI championship. At the end of the day though Idle decided, probably quite rightly, against the merger.  Despite player resources which now seemed quite meagre, ECC decided to sign up anyway for the Serie B. They say that fortune favours the brave & out of the blue the club was unexpectedly contacted by a large group of talented Pakistani players. Added to the existing contingent of Sri Lankans & a couple of new recruits from the JRC, the prospects for a successful season suddenly looked much better.  At Junior level the club had a pool of youngish players & decided to forgo the Under 17 competition, limiting itself to playing in the Under 13s & Under 15s.

The Under 15s beat Pianoro in the preliminary round of their competition to qualify for the National Finals which were then held in July in Tione di Trento. With none of its players over 13 & some only 10, the young team did well to gain one victory over the Roman champions Lazio, giving them third place overall in the national championship of ten teams.  From this tournament Kristof Starost was chosen to Captain the Italian National team in the European Under 15 Championships to be held in August.

On the basis of this performance the Under 13 squad also had high hopes of retaining its National title at the Capannelle racecourse in Rome in October.  However at that tournament they were to face some stiff opposition. Kristof & Harry Starost produced some miraculous bowling for Ispra to qualify from their group & then to win their semi-final against a team of Bangladeshis from Bologna, one of whom had scored a century in the previous 15-over game! Then in the final Euratom looked to be on course for another victory but some tight bowling at the death from Capannelle’s guest player Jakub Peret was enough to see the Roman team scrape home by a few runs.  

The First XI, in spite of its abundance of newly-acquired talent, had a surprisingly disappointing season. Batting collapses in winning situations were still all too frequent & the team encountered to its cost some very competitive umpiring (sic) in the Serie B games. This said, the standard of cricket in what had virtually become an Asian-dominated competition was very high & Euratom did well to gain the few league points that it did.  Perhaps the best fought battle was the game in Goito against newcomers Ayubowan Mantova, a game which in the end was abandoned in a torrential hail-storm.  

By the end of the season though many of the ECC hardcore had realised that the influx of non-JRC players was a double-edged sword & that the club was no longer providing games for the very people for whom it had been created. Reluctantly therefore in 2006 the committee decided to withdraw from the Serie B competition & to concentrate on providing cricket for its social players. Although this was a shame, it could best be seen as the club settling into its rightful place in an Italian cricket scene which was developing at lightning pace. The year in Serie B had also been positive in that it had allowed the club to make many friends within the multitude of new clubs springing up in the region.  

 The First XI fixture list for 2006 included the usual Presidents Cup games against Idle  & then against the still vagrant Milan CC in an ill-fated experiment playing in the park at Monza.  The friendly at CERN was as usual very enjoyable & then September saw Euratom contrive that rare cricketing beast, a tie, against the Maladroits C.C.  visiting from London. A last minute unavailability of Taino saw this fixture played on the small soccer pitch at Barza, the very  place where the club's first practices had been held nearly 30 years hence. In the meantime the juniors were starting to find it heavy going in their national championships with the standard of many other clubs improving rapidly. The Under 15s scraped through their regional qualifiers but then struggled to get a win against the more established teams in the National Finals played at San Lazzaro. The Under 13s also managed just one win the following week in their competition at Rastignano. However their most enjoyable games were on the usual trip to play against CERN in Geneva, with the Saturday game played this time at the Cossonay ground.

By 2007 recurring availability problems at Taino forced the club to renew its search for a more permanent ground. By chance the club managed to negotiate use of a field adjoining the Mascioni textile factory in picturesque Cuvio. Thus in the Spring Dai Berry again took up his hoe,  helped by club stalwart Sathiya Dasarathan who was released on bail after "borrowing" the  roller from the local tennis club. Unfortunately the noise of towing it behind his Twingo right past the local "caserma" had alerted the normally dormant Carabinieri.  Pitches were dug & rolled to be ready just in time for the Under 17 National Finals to be held on 19^th May. There were some frowns at the exposed earth alongside the wicket  but the pitch played alright &, to the consternation of some of the more fancied teams, Euratom carried the day for another National Title, largely due to the aggressive batting & bowling of Ollie Makin. 

In the meantime the First XI had kicked off the season taking part in a very enjoyable "Cricket against Racism" tournament in Lodi at the end of March.  The Presidents Cup league games became known as the "Golden Triangle" & some interesting friendlies were played at Cuvio, including a picnic game against James Petrie's friends from Lugano & a swingeing victory against Nationwide C.C. of Swindon.  In June the First XI also competed with great success in the inaugural F.I.Cr. Serie C tournament held over a W/E at the new pitches in Medicina just east of Bologna.  The previous week Dai Berry had acted as Team Manager for the Italian President's XI which played against the Australian Crusaders from Victoria.

The season was then rounded off in style for Euratom with another famous victory at Cuvio against the world's third largest club, The Forty Club.

The Under 15s & Under 13s had again competed in their relative championships with some success, as a result of which Euratom's outstanding players, Murtaza Abbas Shamsi & Kyle Berry were invited to attend the Italian Cricket Academy in Grosseto. Subsequently Murtaza was picked for the Italian National Under 15 team to play in the European Championships in La Manga, Spain, with Kyle  selected as a reserve.

2008  saw the Serie C develop from a one weekend tournament into a nationl league. The E.C.C. First Xl signed up with enthusiasm but despite fielding probably one of the club's strongest ever teams, they took a series of thrashings from the mostly mono-ethnic clubs in  Trento, Castellucchio & Castelfranco.  The team fared somewhat better in the Presidents Cup games & this competition was extended to included a 15 over tournament held in July at Idle's  Radish ground in Lodi. The First XI also travelled to Geneva in June sharing a victory apiece with CERN. The Autumn then saw two great victories at Cuvio against the visiting Monkswood club from South Wales.  

The Under 13s on the other hand both hosted for the first time in April 2008 the Geneva Region Youth team and then paid them a return visit in the Autumn. But the most memorable trip of the junior season was to the Under 15 National Finals which were held at the much vaunted Sesta Polo Club just south of Florence. As frequently happens, reputation often flatters to deceive & what were certainly beautiful pitches for polo ponies turned out to be totally unsuitable for Under 13 cricket. At least the accompanying parents were kept happy as they mellowed over Sunday lunch in the Polo Club restaurant which served both an excellent Charolais fiorentina & some very palatable home-grown red.

The club's new motor-mower had gone walkabout during the winter months so in an effort to raise some much-needed funds, Euratom opened the 2009 season in March with a Car Boot sale organised by Club Treasurer Phil Cake.  Unfortunately a torrential downpour spoilt the day, although there was much demand to repeat it later in the year. The playing season saw Kingsgrove added to the Presidents Cup competition, which this time was continued after the summer break as well. In early April all the local clubs took part in Milan's Twenty20 tournament which was held to inaugurate their new ground at Settimo Milanese. Soon after Euratom also took a team to the Milano Sri Lanka Twenty20 tournament, played over Easter at their ground in Cernusco sul Naviglio. The successful picnic cricket day against Lugano C.C. was  repeated in June & the First XI also travelled to Geneva to play CERN.  Milan came to Cuvio in early September & the season was rounded off in early October with the traditional game against a touring team, this time a producing a good win over the Intellectuals C.C. from the European Commission OAMI agency in  Alicante.

The Under 15s went first to Bologna  to play against Venezia. Pianoro, Capannelle & Lazio in the National Finals. Strong performances from Harpreet Singh & Harry Starost resulted in them both being selected to play for the Italian National team in the European Championships to be held in Bologna that August. . The combined Euratom juniors entertained the Geneva Region Youth at Cuvio in May & then in late September the Euratom Under 13s flew to Rome for their National finals. These were held at the Howzat C.C.'s Tor Carbone ground just off the Via Appia Antica. Then at the end of November the club received its first invitation to participate in the Zurich International School indoor tournament in Adliswil. The games were organised in a very professional manner by Italo-Australian Ivo Favotto. The young Euratom players enjoyed the friendly hospitality & in particular the Chinese meal on the Saturday evening. On the way back on the Sunday they then inevitably all  slept peacefully while the club factotum battled his way home driving through a blizzard ! It was a memorable way to end what had been a busy season for everyone.  

By the end of the 2009 season, it had become obvious that, as must happen in many small clubs, the number of hard core  pitch-preparers & sandwich- slicers had dropped to a mere handful. Furthermore the new artificial pitch at the Italtel site at Settimo Milanese was not only an excellent playing surface but also had the relative luxury of adjoining showers, bar & restaurant. It was also no further away than Cuvio for most of the Euratom players. 

For 2010 therefore an amicable agreement was reached with the Milan club to share the rental expenses of this ground, reducing the time needed for pre-match preparation by 95%.  Soon many of the Indians living locally in Settimo Milanese started their own club as well & their team was rapidly added to what was to become the fledgling Lombardy League.  As a result of this increased league activity the First XI played mainly against other local teams in this competition.  The only away trip was to Geneva in June but in return CERN were finally tempted to venture as far as Settimo Milanese to play a combined Milan area Vets team on the Saturday & Euratom on the Sunday.  In July the four Milan area clubs took part in an expanded Twenty20 competition held over two W/Es  at Settimo Milanese.  The Senior season then ended in mid-September with a repeat visit by the touring Forty Club.  For the first time in many years the junior section started to struggle for numbers, especially the Under 13s who were forced to withdraw at the last minute from their national tournament in April, leading quite justifiably to a heavy fine being imposed by the Federation.  The Under 15s fared a little better, given that they could draw on the services of several of the more experienced Under 13 players as well. The Under 15s again played a series of home & away pool games, this time against Kingsgrove, Milano Sri Lanka & Genoa. Despite some brave efforts the team just failed to qualify &  so for the first year ever Euratom failed to send a team to any of the junior national finals.  Hopefully this situation will start to be remedied in 2011 with the reintroduction of cricket coaching at the European School Varese. The intention is also to make use of the nets & pitch at Settimo Milanese to promote junior cricket at all age-groups in the Milan area, & the local clubs are all cooperating to this end. In any case the move from 8 to 11-a-side cricket at Under 15 level may well necessitate fielding combined junior teams.

Overall 2010 was a year of consolidation for Euratom CC but the move to the Settimo Milanese ground (henceforth known as the I.C.G. – Italtel Cricket Ground) was a very positive move with a view to guaranteeing the club's future. 

The forthcoming 2011 season will see the Euratom First XI taking part in a Lombardy League competition which has now expanded to two pools to accommodate a total of eight local teams.  Undoubtedly friendlies will also be played against those traditional local opponents which we don't come up against in the draw.  For the moment the only confirmed away trip is the game at CERN on June 19^th, with CERN coming back to play at the I.C.G. on August 20^th & 21^st.  Our Euratom/ Milan combined Vets team (a.k.a. i Protesi, the Lumbards, ???)  will also travel to CERN for two games over the W/E of 24^th/25^th September. 

As far as the junior section is concerned, the limited player resources within specific age-groups this year have meant that Euratom has preferred not to enter teams in the Italian Championships. Instead it will work in close collaboration with the Kingsgrove club to supply players for teams at Under 13, Under 15, Under 17 & Under 19 level. As a club however, Euratom will look to expand its junior fixture list of friendlies & will undoubtedly make several away trips, twice to Geneva to play both the Geneva Region Youth team & the Gingin club & to Zurich again in November to take part in their indoor tournament. Junior players from all the local clubs are most welcome to participate in these trips & we are hoping to build on the fact that many senior players have just completed a junior coaching course.

to be continued…….

  Any other offers of games willingly considered. Sides interested in organising a game with E.C.C. in 2011 should contact Fixture Secretary Dai Berry at   david.berry@cec.eu.int

   Follow Euratom's progress each season  in the regular match reports. Learn the fate, game by game, of Mario Mallard, the Golden Banana & the prestigious MOM awards!

This is undoubtedly a very subjective view of our history but I appeal for leniency on the grounds that it is written by someone who has been an integral part of the club since that first day of practice in a ploughed field in Barza. My apologies for any selective memory lapses or straightforward mistakes. I have tried to be diplomatic, sometimes at the expense of detail. Any suggestions for improvement willingly accepted. 

                                                                                                                Dai Berry         25/12/02

1^st Revision      21/07/05

                                                                                    2^nd Revision     24/01/06 

                                                                                                                   3^rd Revision     09/03/11