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FINLAND TOUR REPORT
On Monday 16th July, 102 excited young players, and 12 nervous staff from Luton Town's Performance Centre met at Stansted Airport ahead of their three hour flight to Helsinki, Finland.
The Performance Centre is the middle tier in the club's Talent Identification Programme, and the tour to Finland was the climax to the first season of this programme.
The boys will be competing in eight age groups in the "Kokkola Cup", an International Tournament with 350 teams from 12 different countries.
The teams landed at Helsinki at 2 am on Tuesday morning, and then boarded luxury coaches for the six hour journey through stunning scenery to Kokkola, which is situated half-way up Finland's West Coast.
The boys and staff managed to ignore the effect of the midnight sun and catch up on their sleep through the journey to arrive in one piece!
Tuesday started off in relaxing fashion with a leisurely stroll into the town centre to stock up on fruit and drink to ensure the boys had plenty of fluids throughout the tour.
After lunch, there was a balance of study periods and light training, with the group's Education Officer, Ken Slatter, ensuring that all of the players got stuck into the homework set by their schools.
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Action from the Performance Centre tour in Finland |
In the evening, all of the teams played warm-up games against the local club, who play in the Finnish First Division, the results were as follows:
1998 Boys: Luton Town 12 - 0 Kokkola
1997 Boys: Luton Town 3 - 2 Kokkola
1996 Boys: Luton Town 11 - 2 Kokkola
1995 Boys: Luton Town 4 - 2 Kokkola
1995 Boys: Luton Town "Hatters" 4 - 0 Kokkola
1994 Boys: Luton Town 2 - 1 Kokkola
1993 Boys: Luton Town 5 - 1 Kokkola
1990 Boys: Luton Town 6 - 0 Kokkola
In addition the 1996 squad were invited to play an additional friendly against the prestigious Calcutta Academy from India, Luton Town won the game 3-1 in front of a massive crowd.
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The squad line-up for a photo call prior to the start of their tour in Finland |
Despite the Indian's terrific technical ability, Luton's young players showed a mix of gritty defending and efficiency from set-pieces; free-kicks from Ryan Bhatti & Jason Hurley and a penalty from Callum Mason ensured Luton Town finished the day with a 100% record.
Wednesday 18th was used for final preparation for the tournament, with teams working on team shape, patterns of play and rehearsing set-pieces.
Thursday 19th- Sunday 22nd: The teams competed on pitches throughout the town of Kokkola in a taxing schedule of matches. To their credit Luton Town won three of the six competitive age groups they entered, with every team qualifying to the knock-out stages.
The tour proved to be an enormous success with many players surpassing themselves in terms of the professional standards expected on and off the pitch.
Tournament Results & Summaries
1998 Boys: Played in non-competitive tournament, winning eight games and drawing one game. Player of the Tournament: Harry Lander.
1997 Boys: Champions. Won Final vs GBK Centenario at a canter after really tough quarter and semi-finals. Player of the Tournament: Parick McCafferty
1996 Boys: Third. Lost to Lokomotiv of Russia in the Semi-Finals but lifted themselves to beat JBK 3-2 in the ¾ Play-Off. Player of Tournament: Reece King
1995 Boys: We entered 2 Teams: Luton Town finished 5th , Luton Hatters were Champions, beating Daugava 6-2. Players of the Tournament: Cody O'Neill & Kit Ellam.
1994 Boys: Thirteenth. Lost in Second Round on penalties to FC Punaiset. Player of the Tournament: Andre Murell.
1993 Boys: Champions: Beat Russians FK Zvezda 2 - 0 in the final. Player of the Tournament: Pete Bampton
1990 Boys: Fifth: Lost to KPV 1-0 in the quarter-finals. Player of the tournament: Anthony Wright
Check out the tournament website at: http://www.kokkolacup.fi/etusivu_en/ for more details.
