Monday, June 30, 2008

An unusual retirement plan...

...becoming a professional footballer.

So my entire family are massive Newcastle United fans. Both sides of my family are from the region, where football is THE thing, and have supported the team since they formed in 1892.

My Dad, Tom Dunn, is a particularly crazy fan, and even had trials for the club once. Needless to say, he didn't make the cut, so he likes to tell people that the same thing happened to Alan Shearer on his first attempt to join the club. The difference, of course, is that Shearer was snapped up by another top club soon after and went on to an illustrious career with Southampton, Blackburn, Newcastle and England, whereas my Dad taught high school French and German for 40 years instead.

But now Newcastle United have signed him up for a trial!

Oh, wait - it's some other guy named Tom Dunn.

My Dad is pretty stoked anyway. In fact I think he's even happier than when he found (and stole a beermat from) the Thomas Dunn pub in Quebec City. He's hoping this kid makes the team so he can cut out and keep all the headlines about Tom Dunn being a Geordie hero.

2 comments:

  1. There's a Jamie O'Hara at Spurs now. With parents called Janet and John (that helped me learn to read), and a brother called Jeffrey (named after Boycott), that could have been me.

    Naturally, there are other Bob O'Haras in this world.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Why would a Spurs fan have a brother named after a Yorkshire cricketer? I am confused...

    I've met two people with the same name as me (before I got married) and am aware of at least two others. One of the two that I met lived in the next block of student flats in Glasgow and we got each others' mail all the time.

    My sister-in-law shares my married name, but Ennis is less common than Dunn so I don't think I'll be meeting any more exact namesakes!

    ReplyDelete

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