Setting the scene

Inspired by the heroics of many of our sporting idols over the past year, a group of friends from the south east of England (two of whom happen to be princes of the world’s smallest nation - The Principality of Sealand) decided to embark upon a grand tour to raise money for Sports Relief. Buoyed by the successes of events such as the 2012 Olympics, the Ryder cup, the 2013 Ashes, the Lions tour and various football championships, an itinerary of 5 sports, to be played in 5 countries over 5 days of the Sports relief weekend (March 18^th-22^nd) was declared. The plan is:

 Rugby in England

 Handball in France

 Golf in Belgium

 Football in Germany

 and Cricket in Holland.

Sealand’s own story is that of the underdog, the little guy remaining resolute in the face of adversity. A second world war Maunsell sea fort off the Suffolk coast, ‘liberated’ by the Bates family in the 1960s, Sealand had already formed it’s own football team and played a handful of games against other non-FIFA affiliated sides. Through a number of, not at all pub centric, negotiations it was agreed that we could represent the tiny island nation in the various sports to hopefully pique public interest and raise shed loads of money for charity.

In charge of this rag-tag group of sporting hopefuls is one Simon Barnes. Barnes’ own motivations for organising the tour remain shrouded in mystery, though are likely to include the desire to make up for the abject failure of our Sunday league team in the previous season. The convenience of having a sporting weekend away with friends so close to his birthday probably doesn’t hurt either.

As for myself, other than pure altruism and the desire to help all those in need, my inspiration is the prestige of earning an international rugby cap (the only sport in which I’m likely to feature) and the chance, however slim, of putting one over on the cheese eating surrender monkeys at their own sport in their own back yard.

So as we currently stand, a group of about 30 men, with 6 months to prepare for 5 days of sporting mayhem. This blog will endeavour to chronicle the many challenges we’ll face; from the battles of personal fitness regimes to the hunt for teams crazy enough to actually take part in the fixtures. All in the name of charity, of course.