Playing the slow game
Tour programme and announcement
Read the press release on the Slow Food website
'Is another kind of football possible?' – John Foot
Owen in praise of black pudding
Squad
Click on the photo to enlarge it.
(Click on a player
to see their profile)
Ally
Clow (c)
Filippo
Ricci
Bryan
Green
Alan
Johns
Paul
Clarke
Matteo
Patrono
Rob
Cawston
Damian
Evans
Owen
Mather
Joe
Boyle
Luigi
Coldagelli
Franco
Baldini
Geoff
Andrews (m)
Ally
Clow (captain)
Midfield
Favourite PF Meal: Casa Real
(Madrid)
Favourite Cheese: Dorstone's goats cheese
Occupation: Musician/music sales
Skipper since 2003, when he led the team to championship glory, he has come
to embody PF’s philosophy on
and off the pitch. A pacy midfielder, he has nevertheless embraced the club’s
‘slower’ values in the post-match conviviality of his beloved West London
tapas bar. His Slow Food diaries have become a regular feature of PFFC’s tours and they have high hopes
of him in Ludlow.
Filippo
Ricci
Defender
Favourite PF Meal: Il Pommidoro (Rome)
Favourite Cheese: Toma d’la paja
Occupation: Journalist
Now in Madrid as Gazzetta
dello Sport’s correspondent
after a six-year London adventure during which, in his unique double-act with
the Gaffer, he helped transform the team’s culinary, sartorial and philosophical outlook. Although his recent
appearances on the pitch have been restricted to European matches, his personality
remains imprinted on the collective memory of the club. A long-standing supporter
of Slow Food, he often hosted the team for dinner in his various London residences.
Bryan
Green
Midfielder
Favourite PF Meal: Brazilian restaurant (Madrid)
Favourite Cheese: Edam
Occupation: Electrician
This plucky and cultured midfielder, brought in to the team by the skipper
– whom he partnered in schoolboy football – is now on his third
PF tour. One of the most vocal on the pitch, off it his quiet, reflective
persona conceals a large appetite for robust local cuisine. His Glaswegian
drawl will be a match for the Piemontese spoken in these parts.
Alan
Johns (‘Cornish Al’)
Midfielder
Favourite PF Meal: Il Pommidoro (Rome)
Favourite Cheese: Cornish Yarg
Occupation: Barrister
Now PF’s longest-serving player and still to resist the leftward lurches of
the club, he is a big match performer, at his best in foreign parts. The spread
of Cornish cheeses and the music of Pete Berryman will make him feel at home
here, however. His cries of ‘awesome’ and ‘get rid’ will be heard all over
the Langhe. Unshakeable in his faith in God and Gaffer, he reaches the remarkable
milestone of his tenth PF tour.
Paul
Clarke (‘Clarkey’)
Striker
Favourite PF Meal : Giovanni Verga restaurant, Acitrezza (Sicily)
Favourite Cheese: Cambezola
Occupation: Barrister
Close colleague of Cornish Al, Clarkey has a ‘special relationship’ with Italy.
After losing his bag and wallet in quick succession in Palermo on PF’s Sicily
tour, he travelled all the way to Catania without any money or Italian and
then produced a match-winning performance on the volcanic ash that same afternoon.
Also won over PF’s London Italians when he hosted the end-of-season party
on his Kensington roof terrace the night the azzurri beat Ukraine in the World
Cup quarter-final. In form and PF’s player of the year for 2006/07.
Matteo
Patrono
Central Defender
Favourite PFFC Meal: Meson Bilbao, Maida Vale (London)
Favourite Cheese: Parmesan
Occupation: Journalist
First played for PF in Rome in December 2000, the week before a bomb ripped
through the offices of Il Manifesto (where he is sports editor); an event which started the Gaffer’s long
Italian journey. A cultured central defender, capable of bringing the ball
out of defence, it will be no surprise if he pops up in the opponents’ penalty
area. One of the original advocates of Slow Foot, he is about to launch a new magazine of that
title later in the year.
Rob
Cawston
Midfield
Favourite PF Meal; Mexon Txistu (Madrid)
Favourite Cheese: Emmenthal
Occupation: Editor/writer
Recently married a woman he met while coaching a ladies’ football team, it
is hoped that his new responsibilities will not restrict his promiscuous surges
through the middle or on the flank. Formerly with Open Democracy, where his
writing carried a cutting edge capable of opening up any opponents’ defence,
he is now performing with BAFTA.
Damian
Evans
Central Defender
Favourite PF Meal: L'Ecureuil, l'oie et le canard (Paris)
Favourite Cheese: Parmesan
Occupation: DJ/music sales
Like Baresi with Costacurta, for many years had to cover for the lack of pace
and skill deficiencies of his partner, Mr Ricci. He survived, as did the team,
and now, finally flanked by a decent central defender, has finally been able
to move to a more creative role inside the team, both on and off the pitch.
Briefly a vegetarian, he has seen the light in time to enjoy the salsicia
di Bra.
Owen
Mather
Left back
Favourite PF Meal: Meson Bilbao, Maida Vale (London)
Favourite Cheese: Lancashire cheeses
Occupation: Teacher
The longest-serving member of the team after Cornish Al. In almost a decade
of PF militancy he has been the youngest and sometimes the drunkest; he took
a sabbatical year in the Scottish Premier League, got married and climbed
the financial ladder of the team, becoming a treasured treasurer. This will
be his ninth PF tour, and potentially a decisive one: his love for beer will
be put under severe pressure by Piemontese wines.
Joe
Boyle
Right back
Favourite PF Meal: Pizzeria Balestrari (Rome)
Favourite Cheese: Stilton
Occupation: Freelance journalist
His Shakespearean account of the first (of three) PF trips to Rome will remain
in the club's philosophical and cultural history. Poetical and inspired, acute
observer of the costumes of both foreign countries and opponents, he left
the team when he moved to Wales but his legacy to the Thinkers’ Euro expeditions
is intact, as is his status of ‘Legend’.
Luigi
Coldagelli
Midfielder
Favourite PF Meal: Mexon Txistu (Madrid)
Favourite Cheese: Pecorino Romano
Occupation: Journalist – press office of Mayor of Rome
Since the year 2000 he has often troubled the PF midfield and defence as an
opponent in hard-fought games on Rome’s grass. Switching allegiance, he’s
been brilliant for PF on a few occasions. His debut in PF colours on the green
pastures of Regent’s Park in an epic cup tie (a 1-0 victory) is one of the
most vivid events in the club’s history. Currently in the holding role, protecting
the playmaker of the new partito democratico.
Franco
Baldini
Midfielder
Favourite PF Meal:
Favourite Cheese:
Occupation: Football coach
Should make his PF debut in Bra. As a true lover, promoter and leading example
of ‘good, clean and fair football’, his honorary place in the team was granted
a long time ago. A former professional of the game, he first met the Thinkers
in the Roman cathedral of Pommidoro in San Lorenzo. Food, foot and philosophy:
the ideal midfield in his personal 4-3-3 of life.
Geoff
Andrews
Gaffer
Favourite PF Meal: Il Pommidoro (Rome)
Favourite Cheese: Robiola/Pecorino Romano
Occupation: Lecturer/writer
The mind, the spirit, the driving force behind Philosophy Football Football
Club. It’s now 14 years since he set up the club and since then he has used
his incredible vision and tactical nous to recruit player (often unknown)
after player and to organize tour after tour. In the past ten years almost
150 people have worn a PF shirt on English soil, and more than 60 around Europe
since 2000. Despite his efforts in trying to explain the unexplainable (Berlusconi’s
government) to the British audience, he still found the time to inspire and
guide the team from abroad. A true philosopher.