Adecco MVP BEFC vs King George - Ben Palmer

  • Adecco BEFC MVP vs King George - Ben Palmer

In the first round of the Footy Japan Cup, BEFC had been drawn against old rivals King George and the sayonara game for BEFC Captain Ben Palmer. When the captain took over from Fernando Bermudez, King George were a new arrival in Division 2 and that season posed plenty of threat for a BEFC who just avoided relegation. Things quickly changed and since that time BEFC have had an impressive record against King George, and likely the team King George don't want to see, especially now with BEFC is Division 1 and KG back down in Division 3. However for those who remember it was a classic fixture and a fitting opponent for the Captain's sayonara match!

BEFC began brightly and it wasn't long before they were through on goal from a beautiful pass from Yoshikawa to Katase threaded straight through the lines, only for the one on one to be off target. Then shortly after Bato cutting in from the left and what looking to be a certain goal, cannoning off the far post. This was set to be the theme of the day, with King George having employed some dark KG magic on their goal line to prevent the ball from crossing. Although even their footy voodoo was not enough to keep BEFC out for long, with a lovely weighted switched cross followed by fantastic long range effort from Bato again cutting in and curling from long range.

Credit to King George who tried to play good football and risking build up play against a high pressure BEFC side, who didn't give them a moment to breathe. And that was largely the theme of the match, King George kept in their half and BEFC searching and pushing for goals. The final score was a very humble 4 - 0 when in the first half alone 5 chances on any other day would have probably found the back of the net.

It was a comfortable win for BEFC, although with some uncanny finishing of the ball just not going in. However despite inexplicably blocking two almost certain goal bound attempts himself, Captain Ben Palmer got to finish his final match against an old rival in venerable comfort.

When it came to MVP nominations, there weren't really any because as tradition goes, it goes to the departing Captain for all his hard work for the club. That's not lost on the fact that he is also having to write his own MVP report! And in doing so, happily will pass the MVP onto Ririo Bato for his fantastic effort and hat trick.

Many players now won't know the BEFC the Captain inherited and likely take a lot of the things that have been improved and developed over time for granted. That in some ways is a good thing because our standards and expectation are a lot higher, and that as an expectation is good! However we must also recognise that all the things that allowed us to evolve as a club not just BEFC in D1, but the formation of the Ladies, BEFC Lions, sponsorship, relationships took the efforts of people in the club working hard to make it better.

And that is the parting message. First think of BEFC first as the entire Club, not just your team. Also think of kaizen, and if you see something that can be improved, think about how to make that improvement, and then when you have a way to do, go and do it! BEFC is everyone's club and it only gets better when the members in the club are committed to doing so.
It can be something big, but it doesn't even need to be, just the little things are equally important, from managing kit, running the line, helping organise warm ups, doing more socials.... it's all there for you!

So for his last match as Captain for BEFC and his work growing and evolving not just Embassy FC, but BEFC the club for 5 seasons, winning promotion to Division 1 twice after a 10 year wait, and reaching the FJC Cup Final also for only the 2nd time in BEFC's TML history the Adecco MVP for BEFC vs King George is Captain Ben Palmer.