My own World Cup

BrenOS · 1 Jun 2006 at 16:17

It's time again for the annual P&G World Cup football competition. I used to work for P&G but have continued to play for the football team. Each year the company puts on it's own "World Cup" for P&G office/plant teams worldwide. This year there will be more teams that ever, with their aquisition of Gillette and inclusion of them and Wella in this years competition. 22 squads, both male and female will battle it out for the top honour. It's nice to fill in time between games supporting the Italian girls!

Co-incidentally it is being held in Germany this year. Last year it was held in Geneva (I missed out on the OcUK BBQ but have no regrets, this was possibly the best weekend I've ever had) and the year before was Clairefontaine in Paris (yes, where France train). The facilities and setup are always out of this world. Grand total cost to me, the player? £80. Flights, transfers, hotels, Wella welcome do on Friday night with free !drinks!/buffet/fashion show, players night on saturday with free buffet and drinks again!

Here are some photos, this year we have a swimming pool on site too.

This will be where the final will be held. There'll be a good few thousand spectators. There's some incentive to make it!

Fly out to Frankfurt tomorrow morning. Just off to get some final washing and shopping done. Great bunch of lads too which just makes it even better. I'll post back with some photos of the event as I'm taking a camera this year. Will ask someone to get a few of me doing a Crouchy when I inevitably score!

Gilly · 1 Jun 2006 at 16:18

Good luck dude

I'm missing ours this year

Nedved11 · 1 Jun 2006 at 16:23

Lucky sod! that sounds amazing. Why cant my workplace do something like that

Good luck though.

kaiowas · 1 Jun 2006 at 16:36

We played our equivalent a few weeks back. As shirt sponsors Of Norwich City Lotus get to run a 6 a side tournament for the staff on the Carrow Road pitch every year. Obviously it's nowhere near as posh as jet-setting across europe but we get to use the proper changing rooms as well and all that jazz plus we have an ex-player running the competition/comentating (Bryan Gunn used to do it but we had Jeremy Goss this year).

Unfortunately the sponsorship deal has ended this season and it's not being renewed so we won't get to play anymore.

nin9abadga · 1 Jun 2006 at 17:00

dude that looks awesome! we are tying to organise the same thing where i work (company called ZF - make transmissions, locations world wide) but getting the company to put some funding into it is rather difficult. if we got half of the we'd be happy!

good luck!

nin9a

Vandle · 1 Jun 2006 at 18:17

We used to do a similar thing a few years back until they stopped us going.*
It was organised by the French division of our firm and held in the wining teams city or town.
It was always France and we were under strict instructions not to win it , which we had no hope of doing anyway due to the fact we were usually still boozing 4 hours before the tournament start time.

I was always very impressed with the French facilities even in the smallish towns.
Its little wonder France have been churning out good quality young players for a while now.

If we had of won it I cant think of anywhere up here we could have hosted it.

*It was my fault.
Got very drunk on the first night and slept with the girl from our London office who organised our regions entrance.
Once back in the uk I never spoke to her again until it was time for the following years tournament , I sent her a polite email enquiring about our entrance and recieved a torrent of abuse in return.
Bitch.

Gilly · 1 Jun 2006 at 18:18

I have played 3 tourneys up in Newcastle. Hosted between the Uni and Newcastle United

By the way, shocking behavior from the girl. I hope you responded in kind. How dare she not contact you at all

Vandle · 1 Jun 2006 at 18:22

Gilly said:
I have played 3 tourneys up in Newcastle. Hosted between the Uni and Newcastle United

By the way, shocking behavior from the girl. I hope you responded in kind. How dare she not contact you at all

I was thinking the uni / newcastle academy.
More of a logistical and money thing more than much else tbh.

She was a bit weird like , arranged to come up here when we built the bonga for the press launch.
Obviously I stayed in the local that night , just to be safe.

BrenOS · 1 Jun 2006 at 18:30

Vandle said:
we were usually still boozing 4 hours before the tournament start time.

Always the case for us too. It's strange observing people at such an event, the europeans are a funny bunch. At 7pm on the Saturday last year they were up on the dinner tables singing daft songs and being very poorly behaved. Sober. Yet they'll pack up and be in bed at 11pm. Wheras the good old English will be plastered waking everyone up at 5am.

Two years ago in Paris I just cannot comprehend how much it must have cost P&G to put us where they did. Coach takes us into Paris after the Saturday footy and pulls up round the corner from Champs-Elysees and L'Arc de Triumph. I could have booted a football and scored a goal in L'Arc de Triumph, we were that close. We are ushered down what looks like a London tube station staircase (black railings, steps underground) into the most outrageously plush night club I've ever seen. Myself and another lad are at the head of the queue and we look at each and think "**** it's going to be a tenner for a beer in here". We get to the bar and tentatively ask for a beer. We are handed them and the bartender walks off. I ask, and yes, it's a free bar. Later they bring out wine and the best buffet ever. Buffet doesn't do it justice. It was help-yourself-to-french-gourmet. After more exploration there were 6 pool tables, all free, and get this, an eight lane bowling alley, free too! All this for approaching 1000 people!

The coaches left to take us back to the hotel at 1am, but we weren't done. A few of us got a taxi and asked to be taken to "the best night club in Paris". He took us back to the same place! The doorman recognised us and let us in half price (still 20 euros) but this time it was no gratis drinking, 10 euros for a bottle of water!

I don't think the night out this year will touch that, but I'm sure it'll be great nonetheless. Anyone know the name of the club in Paris? If that was in England, it'd be completely trashed in a week.

Vandle · 1 Jun 2006 at 18:36

Hehe , canny.

We got nowt like that , Arras was the last place. Went to Nantes , Montpellier and Lile in previous years.

All pretty small places but excellent football facilities.

Is P&G proctor and gamble?
My mates missus is an HR gaffer there , gets over to Rome quite a bit.

Gilly · 1 Jun 2006 at 18:37

Gizzajob

BrenOS · 1 Jun 2006 at 18:49

Vandle said:
Is P&G proctor and gamble?
My mates missus is an HR gaffer there , gets over to Rome quite a bit.

Yup, there's a few sites in and around Newcastle, she's probably at Cobalt, who I play for. There's a lot of contractors/outsourced employees there, but if you can get in and actually work for P&G, you're incredibly well looked after. They make bloody everything afterall

Vandle · 1 Jun 2006 at 19:13

BrenOS said:
Yup, there's a few sites in and around Newcastle, she's probably at Cobalt, who I play for. There's a lot of contractors/outsourced employees there, but if you can get in and actually work for P&G, you're incredibly well looked after. They make bloody everything afterall

Aye , thats the one.
Unlimited supplys of Boss aftershave , duracel batteries , shampoo and bog rolls!