Carl Busby

Carl (on left) with Cameron

Busby Intermediate (as Carl is occasionally labelled due to the fact that his dad, Dave, and younger brother, Cameron, often play in the same team as him) has acquitted himself magnificently in the two tournaments we have entered. In 1995, he and Joseph cunningly devised a set-piece which involved rolling a backheel to the player behind who then had more room to shoot (a move plagiarised by Scummy Sheringham and Shearer for England's qualifier in Poland). This was used in conjunction with Roger's talent for getting fouled, and we deserved better rewards (and would've got them if the ref had had his eyes open and seen encrouchment!).

By 1997, there were no more toepunts from Carl, and his technique had improved immensely. Evidence of this can be found in his goal in our last match. Having previously squandered a similar chance (set up by a stunning defensive volley by yours truly), Carl this time took his one-on-one chance with great aplomb. We were trailing 2-0 at the time in a match we needed to win to stay in the tournoi, and Carl broke through to flick the ball into the net with his right foot (nutmegging the keeper as a bonus), and give us renewed hope (alas it was not to be).

As good as his goal was, it was by no means Carl's only contribution to our cause. Carl helped set up both my first goal (with a solid challenge), and Joseph's only goal (through persistance and commitment). He also had a little skirmish with an opposing defender in the match against the thugs (who ran out eventual winners thanks to a one-footed black bloke), after he had been persistantly fouled without any sort of protection from the referee (insert condom joke here). Following one particularly dirty tackle, Carl took revenge by nudging the defender over as the ball was cleared. The little thug retaliated by viciously kicking Carl over which brought game to a halt and a dirty look from Carl (for the record the other guy looked dirty already). Inexplicably, the ref played a drop ball (should have been our free-kick) and Carl was so wound up that he lost his positional sense and this enabled the opposition to run through and score.

This could be a problem in 1998 if Carl allows himself to be rattled by mindless yobs (lucky we aren't playing Chelsea then!), but his temperament has apparantly been outstanding in the face of extreme provocation playing for Barclays (to quote Carl himself "...there are some fat muthaf***as who always try and hack me down")!

Overall, Carl is another pivotal player for the team and he will be in the best shape of his life come August. One sad fact is that Carl actually supports Leeds "One-Nil will do" United, but I'm sure he won't allow the fact that they are a team with a reputation for being boring, thuggish, foulers interfere with his own game (their manager has a fondness for brown paper bags of money as well - allegedly).

1999 Update
After a sensational 1998 season (see match reports for more on 1998s tournament), Carl surpassed himself with yet another goalscoring feast this year. Obviously some of Marks & Spencer's genetically modified veggies have helped our star striker as he rocketed the team to the final with some superlative strikes.
Forming quite a formidable partnership with Morgan (on the football pitch only!! for all of you with minds in the gutter!), Carl leads the line from the front, and even had words of encouragement for his younger sibling who made his debut in goal ("get off your fat arse!!" being particularly inspiring I'm sure!).
No doubt the tabloid press will resurrect the "toe-punts" jokes after a picture (which can be found in our gallery) with Carl seemingly rubbing the offending toe... but we have faith in our star to overcome this abuse and bounce back again in the new millenium!!

2000 Update
Carl scored 6 goals in the 2000 tournament, and this feat is even more incredible considering the fact he played in a much more defensive role than in previous years! Poor old Carl has suffered slightly from the constant transfers of his beloved Leeds players (Hasselbaink following Yeboah as the Busby Curse reared its ugly head once again), and the fact that the former signed for Chelsea will have also caused him to be the subject of much ridicule from his Blues supporting father, Dave. Nevertheless, Busby Intermediate returned with a vengeance, with the vow never to again mimic the goal celebrations of an Eddie Murphy lookalike striker!
All in all, a very successful tournament for Barbados' most prolific export (other than Rum!), and a relief to all his fans that meeting stars such as Posh Spice and Westlife at Virgin haven't gone to his head! Maybe he can get us a record deal for our cup final song in 2001...

If the subject of this page has any comments, queries, suggestions or complaints they should contact me and I will immediately rectify them. Nothing here is intended to cause offense, only comedy and opinion!
Copyright © 1998 S. C. Productions