South Manchester Maccabi won the years six to eight competition at Jom Ha Voetbal in
Amsterdam.
Celebrating its 60th anniversary, the club took a group of 68, including 22 juniors. Chairman Johnny Davis and manager Neil Collins were presented with cut glass decanters by the senior players for the work they had done for the club over the past 40 years. Junior members of the delegation visited the Anne Frank museum and the Van Gogh museum.
“Winning was not important for us,” said Davis. “The main thing was to let the children play against fellow Jewish children from across Europe. For most of them, it was a one in a million chance. As one said to me on the way back home ‘this has been the greatest day of my life’. Now I know it was all worth it.”
The trip had an extra highlight. The youngsters met Holland keeper Edwin Van De Sar at the airport.