Das Foote
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Das Foote is a soccer club that was first established in 2003 at Turner Fenton Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario. The main members of the club are John (Hovhannes) Martirosyan, Greg Mendes, Dhiren Mistry, Edward Ng and Dallas Read. Although not officially recognized by the Turner Fenton Student Activities Council (SAC), Das Foote remained a prominent and well known club.
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[edit] Introduction
Das Foote was originally a simple lunch-hour hobby in which the original members as well as other students such as the legendary Mike, Dave and Andrew Roebbelen, partook in a friendly soccer match. Other notables include Amandeep and the infamous Ooter, who later left the group to upon meeting more urban-oriented friends. The group quickly became synonymous with playing soccer regardless of the weather as each player returned to the after lunch classes completely drenched with rain or shivering as a result of the freezing weather or covered with mud from the poorly-maintained pitches of Turner Fenton.
[edit] History
In 2004, the members of Das Foote decided to officially create a lunchtime soccer club via the SAC. During the initial stages, the members thought of several different names for the club such as Foot, The Soccer Clinic, Das Soccer, Soccerball, etc... In the end, however, the Germanic-based Das Foote was decided upon because of the power and elitism represented by Prussia and later Germany throughout the 19th and 20th century. Furthermore, the International Baccalaureate programme placed emphasis on the need of a global perspective whilst learning. As a result, this I.B. ideology then influenced Das Foote to choose a name accordingly.
The winter of 2004 was unlike any other for Das Foote as the game of soccer was replaced by other activities such as Folf and Ice Soccer. The Cricketeers of Turner Fenton were in their off-season phase during the winter and so the tennis courts were readily available. In addition, the weather, which featured rain followed by freezing conditions, yielded a perfect ice rink on the tennis courts which several rough patches upon which the players could grip onto and change directions. Ice Soccer became quite dangerous, with a few slippages occurring. One of the most memorable moments for a non-Das Footer occurred with Nilabjo B. as he attempted to retrieve the ball from the field when the ground beneath him collapsed as he fell into freezing knee-high water in the ditch. Fortunately no injuries were sustained and to this day, no major injuries have suffered by any of the members or participants of Das Foote.
The other prominent game of 2004 was Folf; a combination of golf and soccer, but played in the winter. The large amount of snowfall in the winter of 2004 provided ideal conditions for this game, which was also the main reason why the Folf season was unfortunately cancelled in 2005. Across the massive mounds of snow built up on the edges of the school parking lot lay the infinite fairways and greens of Folf. Although Folf resulted in cold feet (literal sense) because of the immense amounts of snow-climbing required, the rush of the playing the sport outweighed any pain. Another game, albeit short lived, was created during the winter of 2004: capture the flag (soccer ball).
In the winter of 2004 the club suffered a loss at the hands of one of the many careless drivers at Turner Fenton. The ball, destroyed after being run over by a car, was immediately buried and given the respect it deserved. That was not the only tragic event during the time. February, 2005 saw the loss of one of Das Foote’s founding members due to outside relations. Martirosyan became intimately related to a girl of one of his classes which consequently hindered his ability to participate during the lunch-time. A truce, however, was formed with Martirosyan’s relation who thus enabled him to join in on the lunch-time football matches thrice a week.
The summer of 2006 was the last summer Das Foote would spend together at Turner Fenton. As a result stoppage time was lengthened during matches which resulted in late arrivals to class. One popular method of finishing a match, which became synonymous which Das Foote-syled football was the method of “last goal wins.” Once the final lunch bell had rung, any member of Das Foote would call “last goal wins” at which point the following goal scored would result in a win for that team, regardless of the number of goals scored during the rest of the lunch period. This policy was unfortunately compromised due to the strict rules of an English teacher who did not accept tardiness to her class. The “last goal wins” call was simply announced prior to the end of the lunch period. Many of the members of Das Foote at this time were legal drivers which provided an opportunity to partake in lunch-time excursions to the nearby Sportsplex (Powerade Centre). The well-kept pitches in addition to the availability of appropriately sized goal posts provided better conditions for playing football.
[edit] Recent Events
May 2006 saw the conclusion of the I.B. programme with exams and thus the end of an era for Das Foote. School could no longer provide an opportunity to play soccer and so the initiative was taken by Das Foote to arrange friendly matches throughout the summer. One of the most memorable matches during the history of Das Foote occurred at Six Mile Lake in Muskoka, Ontario. With the assistance of the Das Foote-intern Hui Jin, Das Foote challenged “The Rest of Turner” in a soccer match on the beaches the lake. The combination of cool water from the lake with sand from the beach yielded painful playing conditions. In the end, however, Das Foote managed to hold off the opposition and walked away victors of the match. The honorary members of Das Foote: Ed the striker, the all-star Dallas, the “workhorse” Greg, the captain of NTN - Dhiren, and John the Armenian attacker managed to uphold their reputation of skill and endurance.
[edit] Present Status
Das Foote is featured on Blogspot as well as having a group in Facebook and mostly recently an article in Wikipedia. Currently Das Foote is on temporary hiatus as each member is studying at their respective universities.
