On 6th December 2003
the first team were at home to Waltham Abbey 'A' in the 2nd round of the Jubilee Cup. The opposition
were from Division three and were unbeaten in all games so far that season. They came with an attitude
and a belief that they could compete with a team from the Premier, so much so that they were giving it
large on the pitch as well. At 1-1 after thirty minutes and the game very easily balanced the banter
in the middle of the park went up a notch, especially between Rudy and a great lump of a guy in the
midfield. He was built for the job and had obviously tormented opposing teams from Division Three
all season, but he had not met Steve Rudolph!!A couple of tackles flew in between the pair, and
yellow cards were being dished out, it seemed, every two minutes, with one for Rudy and four for the
opposition, including the lump in the middle for Waltham Abbey. With honours fairly even on the bad
tackle count the guy decided to get personal and the banter went xxx rated. He thought, much to his
misery for the rest of the game, that Rudy was easy meat.
It came to a head when they faced up to one
another. Rudy promised the lump a visit to the local woods. He remarked that two would be walking
into the woods, him and the lump, but only one would be walking out. What he promised the lump
during their time in the woods can't be repeated, it had something to do with limbs, weapons and
wheelchairs. Suffice to say, Rudy's remarks to the lump seemed to put him off. He went quiet for the
rest of the game, staying away from Rudy as much as he could. When they did meet everyone could see
he had lost his bottle and every time a crunching tackle came in on the guy, the rest of the team
told him he had just been 'Blair Witched'.
Tackle after tackle flew in on the poor lump and each
time he lay there in the dirt, a Warner player would remind him of the local woods nearby. He was
being laughed at and humiliated at every opportunity. By the end of the game the poor lump was a
quivering wreck, and the Warner players were asking the oppositions manager to sub him before he curled up
into a foetal position and just gave up on life.
After this game the club applied to the local
council to have the few trees standing by the side of our home pitch renamed 'Blair Witch Copse',
until they can plant a few more of course and so rename it a wood!