Swansea City Under 12/13 Easter Tour to Italy
18th April 2003 - 23rd April 2003

On Friday 18th April 2003, a squad of 18 players and 4 coaches flew from Cardiff Airport to Milan in preparation for one of the biggest Italian Professional Football Tournaments called The Margine Coperta Professional Football Tournament. The first game of our tournament was against the Italian Giants AC Milan.

The players were a little nervous as it was their first game of the tournament, however, once they got on to the pitch they played superbly well. The score was 1-0 to Milan for 30 minutes of the match and the players dominated for long periods. However, Milan’s older more physical side took control of the game in the last five minutes, eventually winning 4-0 (which was very flattering to them).

Our second game was on an unfamiliar sand pitch against Sampdoria. Sampdoria man for man were a lot bigger than our lads and took control early on with 3 goals in the 1st half. The players were very tired after the game in the morning against Milan, but showed great character in the 2nd half, dominating the half, but conceding another goal from a corner.

The final score was 4-0 and we went back to the hotel determined to win tomorrow’s games. On Sunday 21st April, the players played a team from the Italian 3rd Division called Riccione. The players were SUPERB, winning their tackles early on and creating a number of chances. We passed the ball excellently and as one Italian said in the crowd “like Brazil!”.

The players thoroughly enjoyed this game winning 5-0 with goals coming from Andrew Lewis (2), Steve Berry, Rhys Owen and one of the goals of the tournament from Dale Otten. The belief was back and there was no stopping us now.

We finished 3rd in our group and that meant we were drawn to play Margine Coperta (hosts) who are a feeder club for the eventual winners Atalanta. Their side were big and physical, however, technically inferior to ourselves. We went down 2-0 in the first half, but again passed the ball well on a difficult surface (sand).In the second half we scored an early goal through Andrew Lewis (his 4th of the tournament) and then Marley Watkins was brought down for a penalty which Dale Otten expertly stroked home.

At 2-2 there was only one team who was going to win the match. Unfortunately, we couldn’t score that 3rd goal, and the match went to penalties. This was very nerve wracking, but we won the shootout 6-5 with Daniel Hanford our goalkeeper the hero, scoring our final penalty and saving their final penalty. Our other penalty scorers were: Steve Berry, Dale Otten, Andrew Lewis and Luke Chappell.

This result meant we were in the 9th and 10th place final against Audace Parma. The pitch was again sand, as the weather didn’t permit us playing on the grass. Nevertheless, we played the game correctly, passed the ball very well and played some attractive football. We scored early on from a corner, Josh Christopher scoring with a left foot shot. After that we dominated the game with Daniel Hanford our goalkeeper only dealing with a few crosses.

It was a tremendous victory and it meant we finished in 9th place out of 16, which is an unbelievable achievement considering the huge teams that were playing in this tournament.

After our final game of the tournament against Audace Parma, we went on a trip to Pisa, which the whole group found interesting. We then made it back to watch the final game between Atalanta and Milan. The prizing ceremony was very professional, with us winning a trophy for finishing in 9th position and Joe Allen winning ‘Player of the Tournament’.

This was a tremendous achievement for both Joe Allen and Swansea City Football Club. After the excitement of the tournament we then travelled north to Milan to visit the San Siro Stadium. The players enjoyed this experience and spent their pocket money. After the tour of the stadium, we travelled to Como to play against Serie A side Como.

In a very competitive game, we won 1-0 with Steve Berry scoring from 20 yards with a superb shot. This capped off a tremendous tour, with players, coaches and parents enjoying the experience of playing abroad in such a hospitable country like Italy. The players did so well that they have invited us back next year.