For Cambridge’s Harry Bomans, there was only one way to celebrate his 70th birthday — playing a pre-season match beside some of his favourite teammates.
A squad of teammates from seasons past (wearing the red and white of Cambridge FC) played a side filled with players who have lined up beside Bomans in recent seasons.
Main photo: Harry Bomans (front, centre, in tangerine strip) … celebrates his 70th birthday with his football mates.
Bomans strapped his knee, put on the tangerine kit that matched the national uniform of his native Netherlands and then did what he always does in March … jogged onto the pitch at John Kerkhof Park, ready for another season.
“Age is just a number,” he argued at the after-match function. “Who won? I don’t know. Does it really matter?”
Bomans, who has filled almost every volunteer role at the club since he joined in 2002, said he enjoyed the football, the friendship and the post-match banter that came with every game.
“I love my football. I love this club,” he said.
His first game of football was played when he was 8, in the Netherlands. After he moved to New Zealand in 1983, and after a midlife break from the game, he put on the boots again as a “mature player”, turning out for Waikato Unicol.
Playing against Cambridge, he was impressed by their team’s aftermatch speech and he warmed to the idea of joining the club.
Bomans played his first game for Cambridge in 2002.
On Saturday March 16, 2024, he played his latest game, missing a sitter with minutes to go.
But he did it with friends, some of whom had played more than 350 games beside their teammate and, sometimes, coach.
Registered already, Bomans (70) is set to turn out again with the youngsters in the over-35s competition.
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