Football : TRNC beat Italians to progress to final

[iancrumpy]

Yeah, I presume most of you guessed that I wasn't talking about the FIFA World Cup - the tournament is actually the Paddy Power-sponsored CONIFA Cup, which this year is being staged at various grounds across London. CONIFA stands for the Confederation of Independent Football Associations - it allows unrecognised regions, such as the TR-of-NC, Tibet etc to participate, along with, say, ethnic minorities within other countries. It's often described as the Rebels' World Cup and many would claim the tournaments, comprised this year of 16 teams, are not to be taken seriously, but the Turkish Cypriots here in North London are certainly getting excited about it all

In any case, as I wrote for the subject above, TRNC beat the Italians - they did indeed - albeit they beat the team representing the Italian region of Padania, which covers most of Northern Italy and where, according to Wikipedia, 45% of the population seek independence from the rest of Italy. In any case, Padania were apparently the pre-tournament favourites, but, in yesterday's semi-final, the TRNC defeated them 3 - 2.

So yes, the TR-of-NC are through to the final where, tomorrow at 6pm, they'll play Karpatalya, a team representing Hungarians living in Western Ukraine. The match will be played at Enfield Town's Donkey Lane ground ... and yep I'll be there with my "Haydi Gıbrıs".

The sources below are the CONIFA web-site and an article on Billy Mehmet, a former Irish U-21 and current Alsancak player :
http://www.goal.com/en/news/coming-home ... sa7eso2o25
http://www.conifa.org/en/wfc-2018/wfc-results-tables-2/

I hope you're all well, by the way.

[turtle]

What an excellent post...thanks for sharing.
Come on the TR of NC

[iancrumpy]

Apparently TRNC went through to the final thanks to an 84th-minute winner by the aforementioned Billy Mehmet.

Source : http://www.skysports.com/football/news/ ... -cup-final

[Groucho]

This thread is wonderful and thanks to there being no absolute freedom of speech we don't need to wade through a quagmire of Greek 'victim' inspired postings aimed at spoiling the fun....

Now, if only we could get a live feed! I bet direct flights would be next...

Will somebody please video the final and post it on YouTube....

[iancrumpy]

Hi Groucho et al,
As one would imagine, the Greek Cypriots were rather upset that TRNC were able to compete. In particular they were upset that Enfield Council was allowing the Enfield Town ground to be used for many of TRNC's matches. I presume, though, that at £11 to enter and with so many Turks/Turkish Cypriots living withing 10 miles of their ground, Enfield Town FC were very happy with the arrangement
This link takes you to a south-side web-site, where you can see the letter written in April to Doug Smith, leader of Enfield Council:
http://www.parikiaki.com/2018/04/a-so-c ... d-stadium/
However, the Enfield Council replied to the GCs with "The Council does not have any power over the way Enfield Town Football Club is run”.
http://www.t-vine.com/enfield-council-r ... world-cup/
So, the the TR-of-NC played all their group matches at the Donkey Lane ground ... and will play the final there this evening at 6pm ... with Mark Clattenburg to referee.
https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/05/2 ... tball-cup/

[Groucho]

Hi Groucho et al,
As one would imagine, the Greek Cypriots were rather upset that TRNC were able to compete. In particular they were upset that Enfield Council was allowing the Enfield Town ground to be used for many of TRNC's matches. I presume, though, that at £11 to enter and with so many Turks/Turkish Cypriots living withing 10 miles of their ground, Enfield Town FC were very happy with the arrangement
This link takes you to a south-side web-site, where you can see the letter written in April to Doug Smith, leader of Enfield Council:
http://www.parikiaki.com/2018/04/a-so-c ... d-stadium/
However, the Enfield Council replied to the GCs with "The Council does not have any power over the way Enfield Town Football Club is run”.
http://www.t-vine.com/enfield-council-r ... world-cup/
So, the the TR-of-NC played all their group matches at the Donkey Lane ground ... and will play the final there this evening at 6pm ... with Mark Clattenburg to referee.
https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/05/2 ... tball-cup/

Hi Ian,

I posted this link on their website... now awaiting moderation... ha ha ha 100/1 it does not survive 'coz they can't handle the truth...'

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/c ... 13we45.htm

[iancrumpy]

Although CONIFA don't seem to be too concerned as to who they upset, one can see that the name given to TRNC on the CONIFA web-site is "Northern Cyprus" - that might, at least, in part be due to not trying to annoy the GCs too much. However, the reason for omıtting "Turkish Republic of" in the name might sımply be because the full name was too long and (for use of "TRNC") CONIFA didn't want teams to use abbreviations.
However, as I wrote above, CONIFA don't seem too concerned as to who they upset - allowing Tibet to participate being a case in point - maybe, though, no one in Beijing has heard of CONIFA

Here's an article in the Guardian, where CONIFA claims it is "politically neutral"..
https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng ... -world-cup

[turtle]

Apparently it can be watched online here....
http://www.conifa.org/tv

[Trigger]

Tricky game. They played Karpatalya in the group stages and drew 1-1. I was listening to James Richardson’s podcasts the other day and the pundits on there were saying that Karpatalya have been playing very well throughout the tournament.

Fingers crossed for them.

[iancrumpy]

Hı again,
Just back from watching the game ... was thinking of wrıting a match report, but what with CONIFA themselves doing such a good job of that, I'll let you read that instead :
http://www.conifa.org/en/2018/06/09/wfc2018-final/
If you can't be bothered to click on that link, then suffice to say, Northern Cyprus were by far the stronger team, but we lost on penalties. It was a great atmosphere and certainly won't harm TRNC's desire for a bit more international recognition.
The penalty shoot-out might also be a good reminder for Gareth Southgate and his boys to practice a few of them.

[Groucho]

Ah well it's a shame Billy Mehmet couldn't deliver a coup de grâce but on the night one Turkish team did win a penalty shoot out.... unfortunately at expense to Bryony and Rory's home team...

[rocking]

Saw match last. Night on BRT they played great. Trnc for ne t time

[Trigger]

Shame.

Hope that is not a sign of how this summer is going to turn out.