The only English team in the 14-side senior competition, WHAFC travelled with a squad of 10 following the late withdrawals of Darren Saffer, Robert Pearl and Lee Dicker.
On arrival in the Netherlands, they drafted in two local players in a tournament also featuring teams from France and Belgium. But WHAFC failed to score in their opening two matches, which ended in defeat. The “highlight was a 4-2 victory over Maror Ze in which Ben Simons scored all our goals,” according to player-manager Lustigman.
But their celebrations were short-lived as they were crushed 7-0 by eventual winners Koetjes & Kalifas in the following game – WHAFC’s “heaviest-ever defeat”.
Lustigman remarked: “We crammed all our matches into a few hours to ensure we could watch England’s World Cup game. We played six 40-minute matches in four hours which certainly took its toll on the boys.
