Who could ever forget the pain of playing football in Aden.
Notwithstanding the previous post, it 'never' rained in Aden. The pitches consisted of sun baked hard compressed sand/rock granules and were prepared by the locals who watered (with filthy stinky water) and then rolled the pitches flat with a heavy roller.
We used to play a full game at least five times a week in the afternoons after finishing work at 1300. During the game you would tackle and slide and fall over or be fouled and every time you hit the sand you would incur a graze. No problems I hear you say.
Wrong! Because every graze would turn septic because of the filth put on the pitches.
You could always tell a footballer by the bandages around each elbow and both knees in his vane attempt to heal the infected wounds!!
These 'injuries' could mostly only be healed by spending full time in air conditioning and , if you spent too much time off work could lead to being banned from playing football altogether.
I was eventually banned from football when I was cruelly fouled by some Khormaksar joker who hoiked me about 3 ft in the air from behind. The ensuing slide on my hip bone led to a gruesome injury which I tried to ignore but it went very septic and led to 2 weeks in air conditioned SSQ and a permanent ban from the Boss. Hey ho!
Last edited by Dundiggin'; 25th Nov 2017 at 12:45.