St Albans Rangers U12s, U13s, and U14s visited Holland during the recent school half term break at the invitation of their Dutch exchange club FC Zelos, based at Zelhem near Arnhem. This was the 14th annual exchange trip, and is unique in as much as the players and leaders stay throughout the trip with Dutch families to fully experience the Dutch culture.

On Saturday, the teams participated in separate football tournaments organised by local clubs. The U14s were victorious at the Erix tournament in Lievelde, winning their group and finishing overall champions across the two groups. In the same tournament, the U12s were runners up in their group, recording a fine 1-0 win over Tub Mussum from Germany, the eventual group winners and overall champions. The U13s took part in a very strong tournament hosted by AZSV in Aalten, where they held their own in six matches but couldn't quite record a win which would have been thoroughly deserved.

On Sunday, the leaders' match was played in great spirit on the show pitch at FC Zelos. After going 3-0 down, Rangers staged an excellent comeback with two goals just before half time. However, Rangers eventually succumbed 7-4 to the Dutch, whose average age was subsequently calculated to be half of ours!

On Monday, we took in a tour of the Gelredome indoor football stadium of Vitesse Arnhem, followed by some swimming before the prestigious challenge matches against FC Zelos. The U12s and U14s drew their matches, but came out victorious in the tense penalty shoot-outs, whereas the U13s narrowly lost their match 3-2.

Everybody had a great time participating in the various football matches, taming the theme parks, staying with the Dutch families, learning some new words and sampling a different cuisine. A number of firm friendships have been made, and we look forward to hosting the Dutch players and leaders in 2007.