Balleyard Wanderers: The Worst Football Team in the World

By Chris Pearson

The purpose of this book is to introduce youngsters who like football to the story of Jesus and some of the basic elements of the Christian faith. It can be read as a straight story, but there is the option of discussion in the form of questions at the end of each chapter. The questions relate to what they have just read but also give the group the opportunity to reflect on their own lives and their experiences. There are also leaders notes at the end of each chapter.
It is the story of twelve characters who play for a truly dreadful football team. Their manager quits, and they are left wondering whether they might never find a new leader.
Then a new manager, James Cooper, comes into their lives and teaches them about the true nature of success. Eleven of them accept his message and begin to change. However, Jude Lucas refuses to accept the message and wants to win football matches at all costs.
The story follows the eleven youngsters as they try to put into practice the new way of life they have learned about and compares their story with Judes, who continues to live the same way.
It is a story about the everyday problems which youngsters face, temptations to cheat, and the battle to be accepted and be popular among peers. It includes the battle against irrational fears and dealing with loss.
By the end of the story, Jude has left to join a better football team, but he does not find the happiness that the other eleven do. Right at the end, James Cooper announces that he must also leave. He leaves with the message that he is proud of the team who are winners in the true sense of the word.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Oct 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477230138

Chris Pearson

Christopher John Pearson was unleashed on an unsuspecting world on August 30th 1964. His father, a true Yorkshireman, instilled in him a love for cricket, Yorkshire pudding and Bradford City Football Club. One of his earliest memories is being chased out of a graveyard by an irate vicar who obviously took exception to an off-drive which rebounded off the headstone of ‘dearly beloved wife and mother.’ His own sporting history has been littered with failure which provided much of the inspiration for this book He is a local preacher in the Methodist Church who loves to tell people something which he has learned for himself the hard way. That is that Jesus has a different idea about success and failure and that he has an overwhelming love for those who consider themselves to be failures. He has a quirky sense of humour which reveals itself in this book in which he includes some of the wonderful characters he has encounterd in his journey. Chris is also a family man who is utterly devoted to his wife, Suzanne, and three beautiful daughters, Naomi, Lydia and Abigail.

Book preview

BALLEYARD WANDERERS

The Worst Football Team in the World

Chris Pearson

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© 2012 by Chris Pearson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   10/08/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-3012-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-3013-8 (e)

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1—THE END

CHAPTER 2—THE BEGINNING

CHAPTER 3—THE FAIRFAX MACHINE

CHAPTER 4—A SPELL OF TROUBLE

CHAPTER 5—A TALE OF TWO PLACES

CHAPTER 6—WHEN SATURDAY COMES

CHAPTER 7—A TASK GIVEN

CHAPTER 8—SUNDAY’S COOL

CHAPTER 9—STEIN AND DALY EXPRESS

CHAPTER 10—TEN TO SEVEN

CHAPTER 11—JUDE LUCAS

CHAPTER 12—EXIT

CHAPTER 13—FAREWELL

CHAPTER 1B—ANOTHER END—ANOTHER BEGINNING

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this story is to introduce youngsters who like football to the story of Jesus and some of the basic elements of the Christian faith. It can be read as a straight story but there is the option of discussion in the form of questions at the end of each chapter. The questions relate to what they have just read but also give the group the opportunity to reflect on their own lives and their experiences. There are also leaders’ notes at the end of each chapter.

‘Balleyard Wanderers’ is the story of twelve characters who play for a truly dreadful football team. Their manager quits and they are left wondering whether they might never find a new leader.

Then a new manager, James Cooper, comes into their lives and teaches them about the true nature of success. Eleven of them accept his message and begin to change. However, Jude Lucas refuses to accept the message and wants to win football matches at all costs.

The story follows the eleven youngsters as they try to put into practice the new way of life they have learned about and compares their story with Jude’s, who continues to live the same way.

It is a story about the everyday problems which youngsters face, temptations to cheat and the battle to be accepted and be popular amongst peers. It includes the battle against irrational fears and dealing with loss.

It deals with conflict and the need for forgiveness and reconciliation. The youngsters learn about acceptance and the importance of not judging people by their appearance.

By the end of the story Jude has left to join a better football team but he does not find the happiness that the other eleven do. Right at the end James Cooper announces that he must also leave. He leaves with the message that he is proud of the team who are winners in the true sense of the word even though they are not football champions.

Discussion Questions before reading

1/   What do you think it means to be a winner?

2/   What do you know about Jesus?

3/   What do you think it means to be a Christian?

4/   Would anyone be able to convince you to change the way you live your life?

CHAPTER 1—THE END

Clenching his fists, and desperately trying not to swear, Barry Gaskett stood on the touchline and began to let off steam. It was escaping from his ears, nose and throat as he built himself up for his biggest and grandest rant since he had taken over as manager of Balleyard Wanderers Football Club four, long, depressing, years ago.

His mood was as black as the sky on this particularly miserable day as he had just witnessed the five-hundredth goal conceded by his team during his managerial reign. Drearily, his best shoes sinking deep in the clingy mud, the forlorn figure made his way to his team’s dressing room and waited for his twelve apprentices to arrive.

He thought, briefly, about delivering his usual, upbeat, after-defeat speech:—

Unlucky lads, definite signs of improvement though; we just need to tighten up a bit at the back.

But this day was different. This was the day the sparks had to fly. Gaskett waited as the twelve figures waltzed in, grinning inanely as usual, something which always wound Gaskett up.

He waited until they sat down on the old, blue, wooden chairs.

He waited until they had stopped congratulating each other for keeping the opponents down to single figures today.

He waited until they had seen how wet he was and how ruined his suede shoes were.

He waited long enough for his captive audience to think to themselves ‘here comes the same old boring pep talk’.

Nothing could prepare them for what