Longest soccer marathon-world record set by Joeys
Soccer Club
[Feb
5]ARMIDALE, Australia--JOEYS Soccer Club broke the record for the
longest soccer marathon, with a 32 hours and 50 minutes game.
Photo: Phil Donnan, from Joeys FC, with the
teams that broke the record for the world’s longest football match
(enlarge
photo)
The previous world record for the longest
game was 30 hours and 10 minutes.
The longest game was also one of the highest
scoring. Joeys’ blue team overcame a second Joeys side 315-296.
Seamus Jabour was the star of the match, scoring
an amazing 82 goals. Joeys players from Grafton, Tenterfield, Inverell,
Armidale, Moree, Tamworth, and Lightning Ridge took part in the
memorable feat.
Joeys FC founder Heinrich Haussler said it was an
amazing effort by the players who faced challenging conditions.
Organiser Phil Donnan said a number of factors meant the big
match could not go for 40 hours as originally intended.
“We had a late start, which meant we could only
go for 32 hours,” he said. “We were also a few players short, but
they did very bloody well to get there.”
The club needed three attempts before they even
got onto the park to try and break the record.
“We were rained out on two occasions in November,”
Donnan said.
“Then on Saturday the weather bureau was
predicting severe weather, and when the storms came we thought ‘here
we go again’ but it managed to clear up in time for the match.”
Haussler
said event organiser Phil Donnan did a fantastic job along with
Sharyn Donnan, Rob Eccles and the dedicated referees and parents.
He also said the organisers appreciated the support of sponsors
Goodman Fielder, Country Energy and Hungry Jacks.